America's Moment of Truth -- The Price of Freedom

[bemildred]

By TIMOTHY J. FREEMAN

Long, very impressive.

s the war in Iraq really about freedom? Before addressing this question, it first of all must be noted that there is considerable confusion about what is really meant when it is claimed that the war is justified in the cause of freedom. Is it really about our freedom or their freedom? Of course, before the war the Bush Administration's case for war was built on persuading the American people that it was our freedom that was threatened by Saddam Hussein and his stockpile and pursuit of weapons of mass destruction. After the war was launched and Saddam was deposed and no weapons of mass destruction were found, the Bush Administration began to put forth the idea that the war was really about their freedom --about liberating the Iraqi people from a despotic dictator. All the steps forward in the attempt to "democratize" Iraq --the turnover of the government, the elections, the attempts to draft a Constitution --are presented as evidence justifying the war. On our campus the College Republicans wave purple fingers (the mark indicating a vote in the Iraqi elections) in the air taunting those who opposed the war --"see those purple fingers are proof positive the war is about freedom, if you don't support the war then you must be against freedom and democracy."

This notion is so preposterous that it wouldn't even merit being taken seriously except for the fact that so many Americans have fallen for it. To begin with, its ludicrous to imagine President Bush, the one who had ridiculed Al Gore's attempts at "nation-building,"delivering a State of the Union address in January of 2003 in which he made no mention of the weapons of mass destruction, the attempts to procure nuclear weapons material, the ties to Al Qaeda and so on, and said instead that the American people must sacrifice a few thousand of their sons and daughters and spend a few hundred billion dollars in order to bring freedom and democracy to Iraq.

---

The cruel irony of course is that the elections in Iraq are only going to lead to something close to an Islamic theocracy and are likely to lead only to further bloodshed for the Iraqi people. As Riverbend, the Iraqi woman blogger recently put it," American and British sons and daughters and husbands and wives are dying so that this coming December, Iraqis can go out and vote for Iran influenced clerics to knock us back a good four hundred years."2 The war in Iraq is simply not about their freedom, and the atrocity of this war is certainly not justified in enabling the Iraqis to hold elections --their bloody purple fingers justify nothing.

---

Luban argues that the Bush Administration has selectively combined elements of the war model and the law model in the War on Terrorism in order to maximize its ability to use lethal force against terrorists, with the result that most traditional rights of a military adversary are eliminated as well as the rights of innocent bystanders caught in the crossfire. The War on Terrorism has thus suspended human rights for the duration of the war.

CounterPunch

[Demeter]

1. Freedom to Torture and Pillage, Maybe

Other than that, there's been no freedom for anyone.

[cliss]

2. I recall listening to AAR earlier this summer.

A caller was complaining about the fact that we have U.S. troops fighting in Iraq, supposedly to bring "democracy" to the Iraqis.

Randi said, "you're right. Our kids are actually over there, getting killed for an Islamic state". That sentence bounced back and forth in my head for a few days. It was really hard to wrap my mind around it. But it's nonetheless -

true.

[bemildred]

3. It is a true measure of these twits.

Hubris, arrogance, and mind-boggling incompetence on display.

It's not just that they don't know what they are doing, they don't know that they don't know what they doing, they think it's not their fault. It's bad luck, or the "liberal press", or the american people's lack of imperial will. You don't know whether to laugh or cry or marvel at the wonder of it.

[twenty4blackbirds]

4. "Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away".

"Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away".
- Philip K Dick

[bemildred]

5. Let's have a round for the memory of Philip K. Dick.

We could use a bit of imagination these days.
:toast:

[cliss]

8. Yes, I finally came to that conclusion, myself.

I recall tearing my hair out, going ga-ga over this administration and its insane ways. I thought to myself, what are they doing? Are they crazy? Then, paranoia struck. They're really criminal geniuses......they've got an evil plot to take over the world.....they're just acting like idiots, so we'll be fooled....

I know better now. Answer = they are idiots. Idiots with LOTS of power. They have a lot of money backing them, and that's why they get to walk, time and time again.

In a sense, they're just tools. They are being used by the military-industrial war machinery that's behind them. You're right: you don't know whether to laugh, or cry. Maybe marveling at the spectacular stupidity of it all.

[bemildred]

9. Yeah. Think Nero. Think Marie Antoinette. Think Lord Raglan.

A clueless and unaccountable aristocracy. That's the deal here.

[Martin Eden]

6. My favorite paragraph:

What does it really come down to in waving those purple fingers and claiming that the war is justified in bringing freedom and democracy to Iraq? If there really was no case for war as a response to aggression or the imminent threat of aggression, and no case for armed humanitarian intervention --if the war was not truly a last resort --then the war was not really necessary, and an unnecessary war is a war of aggression. To wave those purple fingers is thus an attempt to justify a war of aggression, and a war of aggression was condemned as the supreme crime at the Nuremberg Tribunal. The attempt to justify such a crime in the name of freedom and democracy is absurd on its face and does nothing but discredit the very ideals of freedom and democracy.

[bemildred]

7. Yeah, he really disembowels the war party, in a quiet, studious way. nt

[tjfreeman]

10. author is a DUer. . .

I know because I wrote this article. I am mostly a long time lurker at DU. I am usually so overwhelmed with teaching responsibilities that I don't take time to post. I am happy to see this article mentioned here. I hope it's worthwhile though often I have my doubts. This one took a great effort over the last few weeks, right in the middle of a demanding semester, and I certainly don't get compensated in any way for this, so I am heartened to see some people might think it is worthwhile. I wish I could find a way to get it in wider circulation. If only truthout could take a look....what do you say Will?

any responses are welcome at [email protected]
aloha

[Martin Eden]

11. Your efforts are appreciated

I especially enjoyed your observations on the Hobbesian worldview of the neocons and how that trait was shared by the Nazis.

They have something else in common -- their grandiose plans were/are resulting in disaster, and both were blinded by their own grandiose vision. Hitler bit off more than he could chew, and the neocons fail to comprehend a fundamental tenet of the democracy they claim to be spreading:

A national effort of the size and scope envisioned at the Project for the New American Century cannot succeed if the people of the nation aren't apprised, supportive of, and willing to sacrifice for it. The fact they had to deceive the public to gain authorization for the war helped doom it to failure -- that, and their utter incompetence at nation building.

They view themselves as hard-headed realists, but they refused to acknowledge any reality that didn't conform to their agenda. Josh Marchall wrote an excellent article about this in the Washington Monthly in September 2003:
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2003/0309.marshall.html

[bemildred]

12. As good a piece as I've seen of late, and a pleasure to read.

Don't let the relative lack response bother you.
The noise level is very high these days.

[newyawker99]

13. Hi tjfreeman!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast: