Guest Editorial: David Howard
Also available here.
COMMENTARY
Never again to antiwar battle fatigue
By David Howard
Mar 1, 2007, 00:49
An explanation of writer’s block may not be a good way to begin a political essay or to preface an exhortation to protest the infamy of the war on its fourth bloody anniversary. But the truth is the Iraq catastrophe has many of us peace activists despairing, almost to silence. The war, criminal from its inception, has gone on far too long and is increasingly painful and frustrating to write and talk about.
Scores of editorials, op eds and letters to the editor have already been written to express outrage over the invasion, the slaughter and the continued occupation. Those of us who can’t help ourselves scour progressive media outlets and read a half dozen stories of murder and mayhem every day. Why write one more?
Isn’t the immense redundancy of protest by now an exercise in futility? After all, the antiwar movement has already been effective in persuading a majority of the nation that there must be no more escalations, and that going to war in the first place was a grave mistake.
Who is left to convince? Isn’t the 2007 surge the final anticlimactic blunder of a cowboy regime already repudiated by a disgusted electorate?
So why not give in to the peace movement’s battle fatigue, and let the present carnage play itself out until Congress finally emerges from its stupor, grinds the occupation to a halt and brings our soldiers home?
The answer to the temptation of silence is the moral imperative to say, “Never Again.” Over and over again. Forever.
“Never Again” in the peace community is a preventive philosophy rooted in historical experience. We are inspired by our ancestors and elders --Holocaust and Hiroshima survivors, descendants of slavery, genocide and occupation -- who have devoted their lives to bearing witness to violence of such unforgivable magnitude as to teach us all the lesson that fear of redundancy is a luxury we can ill afford. We must awaken each morning from our Iraq nightmares and follow in their brave footsteps.
Just as Holocaust survivors have never stopped telling their stories of the Nazi extermination camps; just as African Americans never forget the narrative of the Middle Passage and nearly 250 years of slavery; just as Cherokees never forget 4,000 dead on the Trail of Tears; we must join our sisters and brothers in Iraq and never stop telling the story of this horrific war. We must tell it today, tell it all our lives long, and teach it to our descendants.
These are the stories of the Shock and Awe campaign that resulted in 6,616 civilians dead in the first three weeks of the 2003 invasion. The stories of waterboarding and porno-torture at Abu Ghraib prison. The stories of perhaps several hundred thousand Iraqi civilians dead and maimed, whose beautiful names we never learned. The stories of over 3,100 dead US service men and women; the stories of our wounded and disabled, including 500 with amputated limbs. The stories of the attacks on young students at Mustansiriya University, killing over 70 on January 10, 2007 and another 40 on February 25. The stories of a suicide bomber blowing up in a Mercedes truck at a Baghdad market, killing 130 people and injuring 300 on February 3, 2007. The stories of a series of attacks on the prayerful at both Sunni and Shia mosques, starting with the 83 dead at the Imam Ali Mosque in Najaf on August 29, 2003.
From the Holocaust witnesses we have learned to say never again to regimes of racism and fascism. From Hiroshima and Nagasaki survivors we have learned to say never again to nuclear weapons. From the Iraq War we must learn to say never again to preemptive war, to torture, and to the insidious ideology of democratizing by the sword.
On the weekend of March 17-19 demonstrations against the war will be held all around the world. Find one in your area at United for Peace & Justice. Join us in stopping the war and ensuring that it will never happen again.
David Howard is a member of the Ventura County California Peace Coalition and serves on the Board of Citizens for Peaceful Resolutions/CPR. Contact him at DavidHoward@aol.com.
(evan's note: specific to the Ventura County area, the March 17th events are listed HERE.)
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Comments (5)
Evan,
Sorry I missed the pizza party, I have been extremely busy. I am dissapointed with both the democrates and the republicans, It looks as though the democrates are going to attach a whole bunch of special interest pork amendments onto the military spending bill coming up. They know Bush wants more money for Iraq so they're attaching stuff on there to benifit their individual districts. They're not going to do anything to bring the troops home, just a "non-binding " resolution. If I were a democrate I would be upset. And now the Bush Admin. is saying we are going to negociate with Iran, which we should not because they are responsible for killing our guys. The democrates are afraid that if they are successful in bringing the troops home and a worse blood bath ensues against the 12 million Iraqis who were brave enough to go out and vote for the first time in their lives, that they will be blamed for it. So both parties are doing the political expediant thing and trying to appease all sides. In the grand scheme of things our losses in Iraq have not been great, still it's terrible that our military is getting killed. But if we care about other people in the world, not just ourselves, the 12 million Iraqis that do want a better life should be something we are concerned about. If we are successful those people will become a good allie to our country. If we are not successful, the whole region will fall into the hands of the Iranians and we will have to battle them down the road. Comparing our efforts in Iraq, in which we are promoting democracy, to what Hitler did in Nazi Germany shows an ignorance in education of history.
Brian
Comment #1 Posted by: Brian | March 2, 2007 09:05 AM
David,
Are you from France?
What twaddle...anyone who equates our efforts with Hitler in any way will never be taken seriously by any reasonable thinker or anyone educated on all the facts.
It's obvious you have never had to defend anything or anyone with your life. Defending your opinions is your right and totally supportive.
You words..."The war, criminal from its inception..." I suggest you bring criminal charges against ALL in the Congress who voted for our "invasion".
As far as Iraq is concerned, yes, there have been mistakes BUT:
If the US cuts and runs out of Iraq the following disasters will ensue:
1. The Iraqi government will immediately collapse.
2. All Iraqis who supported the Government and US will flee the country by the hundreds of thousands.
3. Iran will immediately step into the power vacuum supporting the seizure of Baghdad by their radical Shiite militia allies.
4. A radical Shiite Islamic government will be imposed on Iraq.
5. A holocaust against the Sunnis and Kurds will begin with millions killed. The survivors will be driven out of the country.
6. One million Hezbollah style fighters will be enlisted into the radical Shiite Militias.
7. This force, in alliance with the Iranian army, will be in Saudi Arabia within weeks and seize the Gulf States.
8. This force will then march on Jordon.
9. With 80% of the worlds oil under its control, oil will soar to $5.00 - $10.00 per gallon.
10. Israel will be attacked with rockets on all sides effectively shutting down the Israeli economy.
This is just the start of a total and complete disaster that will be effectively become WWIII.
And who will the world turn to for HELP?
Yep -YOU.
So figure out how you can help rather than standing around whining about:
- what HAS happened (you can't change)
- what IS happening (you really can't change standing in a protest line)
- what WILL happen (go over there and take a stand).
How do you think you would fare standing on the Iranian border with a "No More Nukes" sign?
Hints:
- I think you might want to take plenty of clean underwear (or Depends)and lots of facial tissue.
- Start doing alot of shoulder exercises so you can hold your hands up for long periods of time.
- Practice bending way over backwards so it'll be easier when you have to kiss your a** goodbye.
Didn't mean to get carried away with the hints but - getting carried away ranting IS contagious. More so, I guess, when subjected to cowardice.
Troy
Comment #2 Posted by: Troyster | March 2, 2007 09:55 AM
Brian--I agree with you (that's two times on as many threads, wow!) that the Democrats are not doing what they should be doing. A non-binding resolution is just lame. Rep. Murtha and some others in the House are starting to make the right noises, but we'll see where that goes and how fast. The Senate is too close and it does not seem likely that the cowardly Republicans and Indy Joe Leiberman will allow anything to get past cloture. Stalemate there sadly.
As to your "brave enough to go out and vote" theory, just how far are you willing to take that? This brave 12 million Iraqis have repeatedly asked us to stop occupying their country and leave. I guess they only count when the Bush regime is looking to gain a few points in the polls by staging a fairly reckless election that has installed a Shi'ite government that had to be forced to write a constitution that didn't totally exclude all non-Shi'a.
As to your let's not negotiate with Iran stance; we've already been through this. The vast majority of the insurgents are Sunni and therefore not supported by Iran. All the saber rattling against Iran is very similar to the run up against Iraq in 2002 and 2003. If you want an all out war with Iran, then by all means let's not negotiate.
Finally, the analogy with Nazi Germany does hold somewhat. The Iraq war, or the Second Oil War, was started by invading a sovereign nation that had not declared war on the US or threatened us in any way. It was a preemptive invasion against international law much like Hitler's invasion of Poland. In fact, one has to go back to the fall of 1939 to find a corresponding act by a first world nation.
Comment #3 Posted by: spk | March 2, 2007 10:29 AM
Troyster--Are you from a not very bright right-wing think tank? Sorry for that, but your tone begat my tone. I've already dealt with the correlation with Nazi Germany in my previous post so I'll just go through the rest of your list.
The Congress did not vote to invade Iraq. In October, 2002 they voted to allow the executive branch to use force if necessary to stop Iraq from developing weapons of mass destruction(WMD). That said, I'd love to remove all of the Senators and Representatives that voted in favor of that poison pill resolution that was forced on them by the puppet Republican Congress ultimately controlled by the Bush Administration. If one is to intelligently analyze that particular vote, however, we have to recall the rhetoric being thrown out by Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Rice and even Powell from every media source in this country. Bald faced lies like "we don't want the smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud." They knowingly lied to Congress in the run up to the Iraq war, and they did this right after the horrendous disaster of 9/11. The mood in the country was for vengeance and they knowingly lied and manipulated the American People and the Congress into a war of choice against Iraq which has NOTHING to do with Sept 11. That is criminal and worthy of impeachment. If you don't think so, I'll just point you to the last guy who was impeached for lying to the Congress about a blow job. By the way, if we removed everyone who voted for the resolution we'd be left with 148 Democrats, 1 Independent, and only 7 Republicans.
1. The Iraqi government is Shi'ite with strong ties to Iran already. If it fell at all it would be because of a protracted civil war that arguably began the day Bush invaded Iraq.
2. As a result of the invasion and subsequent civil war, nearly a million Iraqi's have already fled and become refugees. This includes over 40% of Iraqi professionals. Iraq's population now is made up of people too poor, old or sick to flee, and of course the "insurgents" engaged in a civil war. It's odd how population of Iraq closely mirrors the population of New Orleans after Katrina, people who were unable to get out.
3. Iran is allied with the Iraqi government that Brian likes so much. To quote you "any reasonable thinker or anyone educated on all the facts" knew that any invasion and subsequent regime change in Iraq would lead to a civil war with Iran being the ultimate beneficiary. Everyone knew that including Bush's father.
4. Already is...
5. Civil war already in progress, but I wouldn't worry about an attack from the Shi'ites in Iraq against the Kurds. That attack is more likely to come from the Turks when they invade citing Bush's preemptive doctrine as justification.
6. Not even worth dealing with. Where did you even get the number one million, off the top of your head like the majority of your international relations analysis?
7. I agree that Bush and company have seriously destabilized the region, but again, anyone with a clue knew that would be the outcome.
8. Please, now we're in the realm of the Tim Lahaye "Left Behind" series.
9. It is true that the neocons and BushCO have probably handed the 2nd largest oil reserve to the Iranians who already have the 3rd largest oil reserve. Should a region wide conflagration ensue, it is entirely possible that they also gain the 1st largest oil reserve in Saudi Arabia. Of course, should that happen we'd already be engaged in something akin to world war--all because Bush is a criminal a la Hitler.
10. Shutting down the Israeli economy? Who cares about the Israeli economy? By this time in your little narrative the world economy would already be in tatters. By the way, Israel has already asked to fly over Iraqi airspace so they can bomb Iran--possibly with "tactical" nukes.
Finally, I hardly think it's appropriate to blame the people in the peace or anti-war movement who have repeatedly tried to tell the schmucks in the executive branch that this would all happen. The only real way to stop this freight train is to impeach and prosecute Bush et al and convene a war crimes tribunal at The Hague. If we could do that, there is the possibility that the people and countries in the middle east, not to mention the world, might listen to us and work with us to fix this breach in global security that the neocons and Bush have opened up.
Comment #4 Posted by: spk | March 2, 2007 11:30 AM
Interesting discussion. I agree with SPK but found the opposing views informative, too.
Every piece of information is another piece of the puzzle.
I got a hit from the opposing view to mine why the elites must divide and conquer the mass of Arab people. If the poor were ever able to unite, they might actually threaten the power structure.
The elites continually foment chaos and fighting among the lower classes because they know it means elitist survival.
I feel the burnout David Howard describes. It's clear that the democrats will not do what I think must be done.
I must keep participating because it's the right thing for me to do, even though it appears hopeless at times.
Here on the Ojai level, I've asked the council to speak out against the war. None of them can even conceive of why that would be a good idea.
The mass of Ojaians and their leadership are neanderthals when it comes to knowing what is really going on. If they do know and don't do, then they're morally deficient.
Much education needs to be done if we're not to go the way of Hitler's Germany.
This site is a refreshing breath of fresh air where people are at least willing to state their view and take a stand.
Attend Ojai city council meetings if you want to know what quicksand feels like.
That's unkind but you have to be cruel sometimes to be kind. How do you wake people up and raise the general consciousness?
Comment #5 Posted by: Dennis Leary | March 2, 2007 05:29 PM