Call It Off

Note: The following was submitted to the Seattle Times' Op-Ed page, but declined as the editors "have more guest commentaries lined up than we'll be able to use" -- and after so much care was taken to fit it within the 750-word limit! Oh well.

The bill of goods upon which Americans' support of this war has been premised is dissipating item by item. We were told to expect a quick, easy, relatively bloodless war, in which we would be welcomed as liberators, and in which we would "disarm" the Iraqi regime of its Weapons of Mass Destruction, and strike a mighty blow against fundamentalist terrorism.

Instead, barely two weeks in, the President and all his men are now warning that the war will be protracted and costly, inflicting many casualties on both sides. Thousands of enraged suicide bombers are pouring into Iraq, and U.S. intelligence regarding supposed WMD sites has proved so far to be wholly inaccurate. We couldn't be bothered to ascertain the feelings of the Iraqi populace before the advent of hostilities, but since war's inception every day has brought new reports of its growing hostility to the American invasion. Furthermore, a website keeping track of Iraqi civilian casualties finds that no fewer than 596 have been killed as of this writing (see iraqbodycount.org for the current total). Nobody knows how many Iraqi soldiers have been killed, but it should at least be noted that in an illegal war undertaken without Security Council authorization, military casualties should be considered no less abhorrent and illegitimate that civilian casualties. It should also be noted that the full health and environmental consequences of the Untied States' use of radioactive munitions and cluster bombs will not be known for some years -- though it is expected to exact a horrifying toll.

Yet even though only 10% of the world's population is in support of this war, roughly 70% of Americans are still on board. Given that the planners' projections -- besides being illegal and immoral -- have been exposed as either deceitful or negligent, why (besides the shocking belief of 40% of the American public that Saddam Hussein was directly responsible for September 11 -- a supposition the Administration's own intelligence apparatus considers absurd) are so many Americans still voicing their support? Two reasons appear to be most prominent.

First is the notion that, however abhorrent, once begun the war must be allowed to be seen through to its conclusion. This argument is analogous to saying that a group of horrified onlookers, watching a serial rapist attack his latest victim, should not attempt to intercede, but rather allow him to finish; whereon he would not be apprehended, but would immediately begin to stalk his next victim, while the onlookers, having already forgotten about the previous crime, hold forth on the merits of the next one. This war is an abomination. That it is has already begun does not make it any less so, nor diminish the urgency with which it should be opposed.

Second is that whatever our feelings on the war itself, we must support the troops, lest their morale plummet. Setting aside the question of what sort of warped mind could consider the exposing of the troops to our Uranium weapons, while at the same time slashing veterans' benefits, to be a sign of "support"; one must ask exactly what it is we should be encouraging the troops to do at this time. Given the Nuremberg Principles' admonition that, "The fact that a person acted pursuant to order of his Government or of a superior does not relieve him from responsibility under international law, provided a moral choice was in fact possible to him," it is clear that the responsibility of those of us at home is to embolden the troops to disobey their orders, and to provide support for those willing to make this exceedingly courageous "moral choice".

This war could, and should, be discontinued short of its having achieved its repellent objective -- subjugating a society of 23 million people to -- just as surely as was the Vietnam War. And just as that war was called off by a combination of massive public protest and soaring budget deficits, so can this one be. Power being what it is, only the American people can shepherd our country back from its present state of barbarous militarism into the civilized world. We must demand the immediate, unconditional withdrawal of American forces from the region, the payment of reparations to Iraq, and the apprehension of the planners of this war to stand trial for war crimes. Those who would have us eschew this responsibility are committing treason upon not only the Iraqi people, but also the entire human race, and the concept of "civilization" itself.

Update: In answer to Jason's question, the source is Gallup polling from January. One needs to subscribe to Gallup's premium service to gain access to the full panoply of Gallup offerings, but Chomsky cited these particular poll results in a recent interview. In response to "Reginald"'s comment, note that the piece was submitted as an Op-Ed ("Guest Commentary", if you prefer), not a letter to the editor.

Posted by Eddie Tews at April 7, 2003 06:15 PM