THE U.S. SHOULD END ITS OCCUPATION OF IRAQ
James A. Lucas
3/22/05
The toll in human misery being exacted on the U.S. and Iraq as a result of the illegal and immoral bombardment, invasion and occupation by our nation are in themselves sufficient reasons to demand an immediate withdrawal. The next step should be to pay restitution to Iraq based on a special tax on the corporations which make the money from war profiteering.
However, the major argument for a U.S. withdrawal is that it is essential for the safety of the world. If this occupation continues it will encourage our leaders now and in the future to attack other nations. The validity of this statement becomes evident when we review the history of U.S. military aggression since the end of World War II which has gone through three phases, each one more ominous than the preceding one.
The era of the Cold War was the first phase.
During that time span our government bloodied its hands, directly or by the manipulation of proxy governments, with attacks against the Dominican Republic, East Timor, El Salvador, Grenada, Guatemala, Honduras, Indonesia, Korea, Laos, Nicaragua, Panama, Thailand and Vietnam. Other techniques were used to undermine other governments.
The second phase started after the breakup of the Soviet Union which ended the Cold War and thereby freed the U.S. from Soviet military constraints. In 1991, as a result of this governmental change in our long time superpower adversary, Iraq was attacked during the administration of George H. Bush, and later in that decade Somalia and Yugoslavia were pummeled while Bill Clinton was at the helm.
The most recent phase of Uncle Sam’s military aggression came during the current presidential administration with massive attacks against Afghanistan and Iraq.
Many Americans are not aware that these wars were travesties against other peoples. If they did, they would realize that many nations have suffered far more casualties at the hands of our government than we endured on September 11, 2001. As members of the world community we should remember all of these tragic events with immense sadness and a commitment to prevent future such horrors.
Each time these onslaughts brought only a muted outcry of opposition by the American people. Sometimes they were heartily endorsed. Each time the next war was not far away. Each time our government found some plausible alibi for the next war. For example, in the case of Panama the alleged reason was to stop the flow of drugs into our nation, in the case of Yugoslavia it was for humanitarian reasons, and in Iraq it was supposedly because that nation had weapons of mass destruction and more recently the reason given has been to bring democracy to that nation. Each time the reservoir of good will in the world toward the U.S. transformed more and more into a cesspool of resentment.
That brings us to the present. At this point in our history which countries are most likely to be new targets?
The most likely ones are the other nations, besides Iraq, which have been labeled by the Bush administration as the “axis of evil”: Cuba, Syria, North Korea and Iran. In addition, U.S. animosity toward other nations such as Venezuela and toward civic organizations working toward economic and political reforms such as those in Colombia could escalate eventually into threats against them also. Threats can later evolve into disastrous action if our government is convinced that it has the support of domestic public opinion.
Getting out of Iraq will not be a complete solution to the current self-destructive march of U.S. imperial power, since our nation is likely to revert to a more subtle and hidden policy of aggression, a policy that relies more on airpower, fewer American deaths and the use of inhumane policies such as the sanctions against Iraq during the Clinton administration. Even these less reprehensible practices were creating antagonism in the world toward the U.S.
But the administration of George W. Bush is now moving like a bull in china shop in the direction of economic collapse, environmental catastrophe, continual war, nuclear annihilation, and a fascist state here at home. After an end to the occupation we will probably continue on that same track, but at a slower pace. This means that we will have more time to continue the struggle to turn our country around and eventually “we shall overcome.”
posted by lucas at 2:45 PM
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