As former St. Paul (MN) Mayor Kelly was on MN Public Radio explained the reasoning behind his support of President Bush (due to solidarity of support for the war in Iraq), I started musing about this and the Vietnam war, and why these two wars, despite billions of dollars and much political wrangling, are such abject failures. How these two wars are so ugly, so sad, and most damning, so unglorious. And really, that is why these two wars are/were true failures: the vagary and savagery and destruction of war, the extents of which are sadly so quickly forgotten by societies, has to be justified with some grander purpose. And because of the constant pain that war inflicts on both sides, that purpose must be true in nature, as the pain reveals all.
The American Revolutionary War is a particularly interesting one to me in this respect. Our disagreements with England were extensive, but ultimately they were about money and control of the local power structure freeing itself from the overseas power structure. In order to unite the colonies, however, the American propents had to portray the struggle as based on freedom, and in such stark contrast to the current malarky spouted on freedom, the American leaders developed a keen, deep, philosophical desire for freedom and a new way of governance. If the revolutionary war had not been so pitched, desperate, and painful, it is likely that the entrenched colonial power structure would not have enacted such an amazingly balanced, aspirational government such as ours. Regardless of the veracity of the desire and spirit of freedom that initiated our revolutionary war, it is clear that the war itself solidified and unified that desire, and so the founding fathers made such a magnificent philosophical and pragmatic leap ahead of the post-revolutionary French and representational monarchistic British systems of governance.
The Civil War, the most painful and destructive of all American Wars, testified to the strength of such values that the Revolutionary War brought upon us. It was about the strength of the union, and the true, maturing human conception of freedom. The first World War was fought against imperialism, and almost out of compassion to end the grand deadlock of the great trench war. World War II was the ultimate battle against evil and dictatorialism.
But the Vietnam and Iraq wars, both initiated under shady circumstances, both couched in familiar rhetoric of freedom, defense, and patriotism, ultimately show the true colors of their motivations, both being shadowy constructions of imperialistic smoky-back-room power think tanks (the domino theory for Vietnam, neocon conceptions for Iraq). Both are fundamentally about the maintenance of American Power, rather than any real notions of freedom, protection, or defense.
And thus the Iraq war is doomed to failure.
The American Revolutionary War is a particularly interesting one to me in this respect. Our disagreements with England were extensive, but ultimately they were about money and control of the local power structure freeing itself from the overseas power structure. In order to unite the colonies, however, the American propents had to portray the struggle as based on freedom, and in such stark contrast to the current malarky spouted on freedom, the American leaders developed a keen, deep, philosophical desire for freedom and a new way of governance. If the revolutionary war had not been so pitched, desperate, and painful, it is likely that the entrenched colonial power structure would not have enacted such an amazingly balanced, aspirational government such as ours. Regardless of the veracity of the desire and spirit of freedom that initiated our revolutionary war, it is clear that the war itself solidified and unified that desire, and so the founding fathers made such a magnificent philosophical and pragmatic leap ahead of the post-revolutionary French and representational monarchistic British systems of governance.
The Civil War, the most painful and destructive of all American Wars, testified to the strength of such values that the Revolutionary War brought upon us. It was about the strength of the union, and the true, maturing human conception of freedom. The first World War was fought against imperialism, and almost out of compassion to end the grand deadlock of the great trench war. World War II was the ultimate battle against evil and dictatorialism.
But the Vietnam and Iraq wars, both initiated under shady circumstances, both couched in familiar rhetoric of freedom, defense, and patriotism, ultimately show the true colors of their motivations, both being shadowy constructions of imperialistic smoky-back-room power think tanks (the domino theory for Vietnam, neocon conceptions for Iraq). Both are fundamentally about the maintenance of American Power, rather than any real notions of freedom, protection, or defense.
And thus the Iraq war is doomed to failure.
posted by constance eustace at 3:01 PM
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