The Avocado Jungle » THEME: Iraq and Afghanistan Wars

The Toll of War

J Day — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 03:36:40 +0000

Iraq and Afghanistan Wars:

I have to say, I hate that “we are in the middle of war-time” for a couple reasons. First of all, I’m not the biggest fan of war or of military forces. Secondly, I think ex-President Bush’s proclaimed reasons for starting the war were not well thought through and have only been exacerbated over the years by his haughty, self-serving, frat boy attitude. Thirdly, “war-time” has become this relatively removed experience for all but the growing number of people with loved ones returning severely injured or not at all.

I grew up a military brat; my dad was a Captain in the Navy Reserves when he retired almost 15 years ago. For me, he makes a good example of the angst ridden youth searching for somewhere to belong and for somehow to “prove” themselves to whomever and along comes an opportunity to join the military. To make an even more blanket statement, I think militaries, esp the US (if only because that is with what I am most familiar), feed on the insecurities of their country’s youth. That being said, I have known a number of people who have joined for any number of reasons: for that kick in the tokhes they need to jump start their life; to gain an education they couldn’t otherwise afford; to learn about really big artillery and get to fire them (short of the part where you get limbs blown off or worse, who wouldn’t want to blow some stuff up?); or any number of reasons, none of which is wrong but many of which are precisely the reasons I have chosen to avoid becoming involved myself. I also recognize that war is bound to happen because the nature of being human will inevitably engage us in some level of violent miscommunication. I would certainly like to believe that having the level of cognitive skills that we do, the extreme of going to war should not be necessary. On some level, however, war is necessary to maintain a certain balance- “good” would not be “good” if we had nothing “evil” with which to compare it.

As for ex-President Bush, WMDs always felt like a lame excuse to go rub the Middle East’s face in the fact that Little Boy Bush was trying to fill Daddy Bush’s shoes- not that he was unprovoked by any means. Attempting to stay within the boundaries of my political awareness, all I can say is that I do not envy President Obama’s current challenges but I feel certain that he will at least clean up this mess to the best of his abilities while maintaining a modicum of grace that it seems to me the Bush administration sorely lacked.

Because of the information age, “war-time” has become a combination movie, video game and novel. We watch all these reports on TV but only recently as I understand have the dead been allowed on the air (with the family’s permission); so many people are tied up in whatever the latest shoot-em-up blood and gore video game; and with the bonus of the internet, soldiers blog about day to day occurrences making that the closest we could come to “war-time” without being there but more in the form of a good read. Once upon a time, the men folk going off to war had an effect on your whole community, local and more widespread. Women joined the workforce en masse because of WWII. It seems to me that this war that has been going on for nearly a decade does not impact my everyday life the way I think it would have had I lived during nearly any other war of this magnitude.

I recently realized that a good friend had worked on an HBO special called “Alive Day.” Although I have not seen the special, the website (www.aliveday.org) gives you a clear idea of its subject matter. James Gandolfini directs interviews with 10 military personnel who were sent home from the Middle East after having incurred massive trauma ranging from lost limbs to severe brain damage. The website gives the 10 individuals a chance to summarize their experience working on the film and to share what they have been doing since. There are a handful of photos, their statements, and, at the right hand side of each page, their stats including the date they shipped out, a list of injuries, the date incurred, and at what hospital they were/are being treated. What I find most interesting is a few of them make it clear that despite what seems to be pretty serious post-traumatic stress disorder- amongst other serious injuries- they would do it all over again. Whilst I find myself hoping that I would have the courage and bravery to do what I had to do to protect myself and my loved ones under such grueling circumstances, I am forced to admit that I don’t know if I could go through what these people have gone through and maintain any kind of positive outlook on life.

“Nonviolence requires much more courage than violence.”
− Mahatma Gandhi

“Ignorance breeds fear. “Education breeds confidence.
Fear breeds hate. Confidence breeds hope.
Hate breeds violence.” Hope breeds peace.”
− anonymous

The Iraq and Afghanistan Wars

Bronson Picket — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 19:00:19 +0000

Listen to this post as a podcast.

As is the case with every Avocado Jungle topic, this week’s topic begins with the familiar four words, “Searching for the truth…”. Considering the given subject includes the Iraq War, those four words are particularly significant, because, the truth is readily available for those willing to listen. However, for many, the truth is no match for an oft-repeated lie. Despite this sad and lazy irony, I will continue to fight this uphill battle against those willing to ignore facts in favor of their hearts beginning with:

“Bush Lied, People Died”

This popular rallying cry of the Left purported the despicable notion that President George W. Bush lied when he said he believed Saddam Hussein was in possession of weapons of mass destruction (WMD); a major impetus for the American war in Iraq. The problem with this statement is that it is a lie. Here are the facts:

•Almost every Western intelligence agency believed Hussein had WMD

•Hussein would not allow inspectors full access to make a determination, as was required by UN mandate

•The aforementioned UN mandate came as a result of WMD Hussein had previously used against his own people

•Following the first Gulf War, despite Hussein’s claims to the contrary, large stockpiles of WMD, in addition to an ongoing WMD program, were discovered, following the defection of his son-in-law, Hussein Kamel. It should be noted, this discovery was made after the U.N. had declared Iraq WMD free.

•Hussein had actively pursued a nuclear weapons program, as outlined by Khidhir Hamza in the book “Saddam’s Bombmaker”, which Hamza, was forced to lead, until his escape from Iraq.

•Hussein was the major foreign sponsor of Palestinian terror

Considering the facts, especially the consensus amongst intelligence agencies worldwide that Hussein had WMD, why would President Bush believe otherwise? Because Jon Stewart said so? Now bear in mind, I am not making the case for going to war with Iraq. I believe reasonable people could disagree as to whether we should have. However, it is neither reasonable, nor honorable, to categorically state the president lied about WMD when there was there was so much supporting evidence to the contrary. If one believes he lied, so be it, that is a matter of opinion. However, to say so as an assertion of fact is in itself a a lie, which does nothing for the credibility of the individual or group behind the claim.

Interestingly, for all the heartfelt pleas of the left to “Get out of Iraq now!”, most of the rank and file are virtually silent on this issue right now. Other than the president, what’s changed? We’re still in Iraq… have things gotten better? Double edged sword, that one, because if things have gotten better, the Left would have to admit some good came from a war they opposed. On the other hand, if things are just as bad now as they were before, there is no excuse for their letting President Obama off the hook for remaining in a country they so vehemently insisted President Bush abandon.

Next lie… “The idiots on the right think Saddam Hussein attacked the World Trade Center”

I live 12 blocks from where the towers used to stand, and was here on the day we were attacked. I, along with countless others in the neighborhood watched people jumping to their deaths to avoid the flames behind them, and saw the rush of men and women covered in the ashes of the South Tower after it collapsed. I vividly remember the smell of electric and fire charred rubble that permeated the neighborhood for the month that followed. Many people over the last eight years, both on the left and the right, have asked me about that day and NOT ONE of them ever claimed or implied we were attacked by Iraq. Nor have I, in listening to Rush Limbaugh, Dennis Prager, watching Fox News, C-Span, or any other media outlet including conservative opinions, ever heard such an obviously fatuous statement made or implied by any prominent member of the Right. Yet, the Left continued to promote a straw man that conservative support of the war in Iraq was due to this phony accusation no one ever made. This was made embarrassingly clear during the 2004 presidential election when during a debate, Senator John Kerry made the oh-so-clever observation to President Bush that, we were attacked by Osama Bin Laden, not Saddam Hussein. The eruption of applause from Kerry supporters only put an exclamation point on his ignorance that any serious person on the Right would believe otherwise. The reason the Bush administration acknowledged September 11th in the context of Iraq was to give perspective to the global situation we were in.

•America is under attack by Islamo-fascist terrorists and a mad man in Iraq is in possession of weaponry with which we believe he is willing to arm those terrorists.

I can imagine Senator John Kerry debating with FDR that it wasn’t Hitler who bombed Pearl Harbor, and that we “took our eye off the ball” by fighting Germany and not focusing our efforts on Japan to get Tojo!

Since our invasion of Iraq, were new WMD found? No. Does that mean they were never there? Not necessarily, but without categorical proof they were hidden or moved, I am not going to pretend I know for certain one way or the other, no matter how much I may believe otherwise. There have been many other lies regarding the Iraq War including horrific accusations of “Blood for Oil”, or Bush and Cheney were looking to enrich their oil buddies, or It was a scheme to raise the stock price of Haliburton, or September 11th was an inside job to promote a war in the Middle East, amongst a few grisly others. I can debunk any and all of these disgusting allegations with fact after specific fact, but it won’t make a difference coming from a conservative unless the Left is willing to hear it. As such, I hope I can count on truthful liberals, of which I believe there are many, to speak against these lies when they hear them. No matter your opinion on the war, the onus is upon us both to tell the truth, not as we assume it, but as it is. To be honorable, one is not required to believe our war in Iraq was just, but one is required to be honest in his dissent.

Look Right, Look Left, Look Right again, if All Clear, Quick March!