wednesday, 7 may, 2003
last week, on a boy & his blog...
OK, so it's been more than a week, my nit-picky friends. And yes,
arguably Yours Truly is eyeball-deep in denial, but somehow it doesn't
feel like I've been shirking my blogging duties for all that long.
Truth is, though, my last multi-paragraph post was a regime
change, a heap of unsolicited AOL CDs, and two or three Madonna
reinventions ago. No way around it, I suppose: time to buckle down,
roll up my sleeves, and apply nose firmly to grindstone, huh? So be it.
All set, then?
I hear they're dandy for skeet shooting, too.
was it good for you?
Call me a pinko commie terrorist-sympathizing fifth columnist if you
like (myself, I prefer "informed, principled American"), but lately
I've been feeling like a dangerously conspicuous party pooper. I mean,
thanks to the bold strategic
vision, deft diplomacy, and courageous leadership of
President George W. "Top Gun" Bush, Operation Iraqi Freedom was a
brilliant success in every respect. (I
know, because Ari Fleischer and Fox News keep telling
me so.) Still, for some odd reason I haven't been able
to get in sync with the triumphalism that, for many, marks
a real American these days. In fact, the taller America
walks—and if we were walking any taller, they'd be issuing oxygen
masks—the more nervous I get.
Why
do I sound less than thrilled by recent events? Well, for starters,
an unsettling number of my fellow citizens are so bursting with pride
that we're cleansing the world of evil-doers and graciously bestowing
American-style democracy on certain benighted heathens, that they fail
to notice a few nagging problems inherent in all the
self-congratulatory flag waving.
Little
thought is given, for example, to how America's full military
might came to be on the field of battle with a crumbling Second World
nation—while making bitter enemies of most of our traditional allies in
the process. First we heard it
was all a question of weapons of mass destruction and U.S.
security in imminent peril. It had to be the WMD, after
all, since we long ago abandoned the awkward business
of toppling non-compliant foreign governments on a whim,
right?
Then,
a dramatic change of tune...but smooth as can be, and without
missing a beat. Even before the first JDAMs fell, it became clear that
the WMD spin was just that: more convenient smokescreen than reality.
It didn't help that "evidence"
of an Iraqi nuclear program put forward by the U.K. and the U.S. proved
bogus, with indications that London and Washington had been complicit
in
the deception early on. Rotten luck for the White House, given that
your
average pesky peacenik has no sense of humor when it comes to phony
excuses for war. It's almost like they've elevated truth to a virtue or
something.
So,
with the concept of regime change now officially rehabilitated,
the rationale for war was that yes, Saddam is in fact an evil-doer of
the first order, and it is America's solemn duty to free Iraq from his
yoke. Fine. No sane person is about to deny the despotism of Saddam.
But
with regime change now the pretext du jour, the central Bush claim that
immediate action was necessary flew out the window. After all, an evil
Saddam was hardly anything new, so why the unilateral headlong rush to
war now?
(Moreover,
some asked, what about hundreds of millions of people
subjected to one form of brutal tyranny or another throughout the
world? Are we an equal-opportunity liberator, or might the
Administration's motives be a tad less noble than advertised?)
Just
as troubling, ethically and morally, was something
perpetrated more subtly here at home. Despite a few ill-supported,
widely-contradicted assertions that Saddam harbored a significant group
of terrorists, Washington never demonstrated any meaningful link
between Iraq and those terrorists who seek to target the U.S., namely,
Al Qaeda. And yet, knowing that nearly half of all Americans mistakenly
believed Saddam to
be directly implicated in the attacks of September 11,
the Administration cynically exploited the idea that war against Iraq
was "payback" for 9/11. Sadly, too few denounced the disgraceful
defiling of the memory of the victims of September 11,
for the most unworthy of political ends—unjustified war.
One reason more protests weren't heard, of course, is that some were
intimidated by the old argument for conformism: patriotic citizens,
we're lectured, are obliged to keep their concerns to themselves once
the shooting begins. Forget that both Lincoln and T.R.—neither
generally regarded as unpatriotic, or subversive threats—were vocal in
their opposition
to ongoing American wars. For them, unlike many of today's flag-wavers,
supporting our soldiers and taking issue with American foreign policy
were hardly mutually exclusive.
Forget, too, that such muzzling of dissent would have meant
no protests against the war in Vietnam—for millions, an
unthinkable proposition.
Without
question, in recent weeks critical thinking and sober
reflection took major hits from unchecked emotion and TV-fueled
jingoism. Bucking the tide of "conventional wisdom" is often a
challenge, but times like these remind us that being an unpopular
advocate of free speech can be downright chilling, as well. Oh, well;
one thing we can all agree on is that life is nothing, if not
interesting.
So,
where do we stand now, as the President and his war cabinet milk
their victory laps for all they're worth? The United Nations and NATO,
for failing to march in lockstep with us, have been severely
undermined, as has the very concept of free nations acting in concert
to uphold humanity's highest values.
The U.S. has given the 21st Century the doctrine of "legitimized"
preemptive first strike, not excluding nuclear weapons.
What a comforting thought, in a world awash in nukes, and
with more potential flash points for war than you can shake
a stick at. (A bunker-busting, GPS-assisted stealth stick,
that is.) As for Iraq itself...well, its future remains shrouded in
doubt, to say the least.
Oh,
and lest we forget, has U.S. security been enhanced as a result of
Operation Iraqi Freedom, or has it won new converts to violent
anti-Americanism? A cursory glance at world headlines on any given day
would seem to supply the answer—and reassuring, it ain't.
Finally,
there's the little question of the erosion of
civil liberties here at home. The
USA PATRIOT Act, and Total
Information Awareness, with all its
Orwellian implications, are today facts of American life,
shaping—or rather, grotesquely disfiguring—political
discourse and elements of fundamental civil governance.
Many (like Tim Robbins
and Susan Sarandon) are speaking out in opposition still, but more
voices are needed, impassioned and intelligent. Your voice is
needed. And as a simple matter of course, all of us have to stay
informed...for the long haul. Read. Listen. Act. Politics is about your
life, and the lives of those you love. Politics matters. Give a damn.
My peace ribbon, one of many made and shared by Judy.
But
let's not wallow in the obvious downside to all this. Look instead
at the bright side. (Hey, there's always a silver lining.) Parents,
once upon a time, could tell their children that with study, hard work,
and a steady moral compass like that of, say, Honest Abe, anyone might
rise to the office of President. Modern parents, however, now have a
thoroughly updated role model to offer: in today's America, one can
snooze, booze, toke, and snort one's way through school and life,
contemptuous of learning, work, and fair play...and still have a shot
at becoming the swaggering, grandiosely self-righteous savior of the
world. What's that? You're not remotely qualified to be leader of the
Free World? Don't worry. Just give a little wink, and fake it. Go
for it, kids!
Yale Man
-With
apologies to Leonardo and Vitruvius, if not
to New Haven.
hello, I must be going...
Well, that's irony for you, I guess. Here I held off posting during the
war, in part to spare you yet another rant about the conflict and the
politics that spawned it. (For the record, my speaking out took various
non-electronic forms.) But what do I end up dishing out today?
Wall-to-wall war and politics, I'm afraid. Nary a word, sorry to say,
about movies, travels, work, music...or 10 Things Every
Man Wants from Morris Dancing. Maybe next time, though—if you promise
to be good.
So,
although it seems like we just got here, it's now time to call a
brief recess, I think. As always, thanks for tuning in, and for that
generous gratuity I know you're planning to leave. For today, then—take
care, keep smiling, and let's have another go at this soon, shall we?
posted
12:21 p.m.
