Our Power in Their Hands, Their Apathy vs. Our Anger

[unhappycamper]

Our Power in Their Hands, Their Apathy vs. Our Anger
by Daniel Joseph Black | Mon, 07/23/2007 - 12:18am


As indeed thousands of other Americans who oppose the Iraq war must, I have found myself trapped at an impasse these recent months, mulling over what action appropriately follows electing a congress unable or unwilling to enact the people’s desires.

My principal issue with the 110th Congress is as simple as it is indelible. The will of the American people is to withdraw from Iraq. Paint that incontrovertible truth in whatever foul, derisive language you wish -“cut and run”, “defeatist”, “strategy to lose”- but it is our will, nevertheless. Your juvenile name-calling and chastisement of the very families and communities that have most heavily borne the brunt of this unjustifiable conflict are needless and unproductive. Your incessant pandering around issues, placating the gold-star families with hollow pragmatics, and distaste for meaningful political engagement have cost the lives of too many of our women and men in uniform. The people have made clear their wishes, and that is all that you, the congress, needs to be concerned with.

Further distressing, the government lags inexcusably behind in relevant political dialogues, failing to grasp fundamental realities that have been investigated and published by scholarly authorities, sometimes years ago. While these scholars (Ward Churchill, Fawaz Gerges, Robert Jensen, Richard Falk, etc.) are frequent targets of immeasurably hostile ad hominem smear campaigns, their arguments are never refuted with the same objectivity and academic integrity with which they’re put forth -an unspoken but sobering testimony to their truth. The chronic want of such arguments in the halls of government permits Senator Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) to mask his ensuing reluctance to face nitty-gritty Iraq war issues with such logical fallacies as the “only way” senators can “seal the pledge” to “support the troops” is through “funding their mission,” a nonexistent binary logic that persists only in the delusions of his mind. Conjuring pseudo-realities in place of meaningful political perspectives becomes an attractive option, as well; take, by way of example, Senator Saxby Chambliss (R-Georgia) claiming that establishing a time table for withdrawal “tells our enemies when they can take over in Iraq,” a badass stance easily taken from the comfort and safety of Capitol Hill, but that does not contribute any new or useful information to the discussion.

Democrats cannot realistically expect debate of a higher order until they’re willing to bring level-headed, fact-based arguments to the table. The Iraq conflict’s proper closure is not a matter of party-loyalty, neither is it appropriate space for grandstanding or reelection-motivated posturing.

Eclipsing the significance and urgency of all issues publicly explored by our government is the only one never discussed. The U.S. campaign in Iraq is an international war crime. Here the road forks; we either turn the president and his accomplices over to an international tribunal where they may face justice, or we proceed forward in accordance with the president’s wishes and facilitate exponential growth of the international community’s actionable distaste for the United States. Prosecuting our president for his unconscionable acts as a gesture of cultural reconciliation will work wonders for deterring future acts of terrorism in our homeland -a material reward for doing what is basically morally right. The democratic congress plays a vital role in this intricate process of moral recourse; its members occupy strategic places from which they may react prudently and influentially to the infractions of the president and his men. They would do well to realize that the concurrence of observing egregious violations of international law, holding a position of authority, and failing to intervene and restore justice will likely incur harsh judgment when viewed in retrospect. Unless swift action is taken against the administration that so perversely and cheerfully commits war crimes in our country’s name, inaction on the part of political leaders will share negative space with that tyrannous regime in the historical record.

~snip~

Protesters and activists of every sort are routinely ignored and their messages are lost on our leaders. The American people’s struggle will essentially boil down to their apathy vs. our anger. In an authentic democracy, the power is ours and they represent, but somewhere along the way, our power has found its way into their hands, and now that they’re abusing it, it becomes our concern because their crimes are committed in our name. It becomes ever a higher priority as we begin to grasp that the more powerful they grow, the more dispensable we, the citizens, become. De-fund the Iraq war; de-fund all such violent methods of imperialism. Do this because it is right and because it is smart; you will save the innocent from despair, but you may also save yourself from exclusion and extermination.


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