From the Bench
YES, BUT WHAT DO WE DO WITH THE MISTAKE?
An anecdote I heard many years ago sums up my feelings about war in general,
and Iraq in particular. It concerns a young man’s proposal of marriage.
"Let’s go ahead and get married," he urges his girlfriend. "Then,
if we find out it was a mistake, we’ll just get a divorce."
"Sure," she responded sarcastically. "But what will we do
with the ‘mistake’"?
As Bush, the Younger, drumrolls for war with Iraq, the Democrats, the media,
and most of the airhead radio talkshow hosts fall in lockstep behind the
propaganda barrage. After all, it would be "unpatriotic" not to
support our leaders.
Echoes of Viet Nam. I sat in an office next to many of those patriots back
in the ‘60’s who dared anybody to question the insanity that was going on.
Yet history has proven that Viet Nam was a mistake of the first order, with
bipartisan failings. Even our own Senator Russell, who warned two presidents
about the quagmire that an Asian ground war would bring about, was forced
to go along because to do otherwise would make the situation more untenable
for our youth who were dying for a losing cause.
Now we have another president, from another party, who has maneuvered public
opinion in the same manner to ridicule those who would dare question his
motives or methods. To their shame, the Democrats have caved in, proving
how gutless politicians can be at election time.
A few pertinent questions are in order concerning the Iraqi situation. They
all involve TIMING. Why Iraq, and why now?
What about Afghanistan? And what about Al Quaida? Are we masking our failures
there by turning attention to Iraq?
Why is Iraq, all of a sudden, such a threat? How long has this threat been
lurking?
And an overlooked, or buried, question. Who supplied Iraq with the original
wherewithal to start on this germ warfare mission? In case you didn’t know,
it was the good old U S of A, back when Saddam was our "friend"
and Iran our enemy, back in the Reagan days. You remember Reagan?
What part does OIL play in the Iraq scenario? An article in the current
issue of Forbes magazine brings out a little-known fact. Iraq sits on an
oil reserve, mostly untapped, which is probably the largest in the world,
exceeding Saudi Arabia’s. Furthermore, it is near the surface, and can be
extracted for an estimated one dollar a barrel, less than half the cost
of Arabian oil, and one fourth that of the U.S.
Would our leaders and those who bought the offices for them, stoop so low
as to go to war for oil? SURELY not.
What about the domestic economy? Would Bush divert our attention to Iraq
to keep the Democrats off balance until after the election? Many of those
who were quick to ascribe such devious behavior to his predecessor become
incensed at such a suggestion.
Last, the original question. Assuming we go to war, and "win",
what do we do with the mistake? Occupying Iraq, and setting up a puppet
regime in the middle of Arab/Muslim geography, might be a short-term victory;
however, it would become a long-term mistake, a nightmare…….for us, and
for Israel.
Yet we will fall in line, because we love our country. As Stephen Decatur
put it, "Our country. May she always be right. But our country, right
or wrong."
Sadly, our leaders leave us no choice.