Love it or leave it, you America-hating traitors!
To many University students, faculty, staff or citizens of this great nation, this line -- however tweaked -- should sound familiar. The fervently pro-war crowd has been especially vehement since the fighting began in Iraq that any protest now is "un-American," "unpatriotic," or somehow indicative that those who do not favor the war in Iraq actually back the other side. Unfortunately, this kind of jingoistic nonsense isn't a recent invention. No, the line above -- and all the chest-beating, myopic party kowtowing that goes along with it -- is much older than the United States' sudden interest in Iraq. Anyone who was around during the heydays of the Vietnam war will also remember the "love it or leave it!" slogans by people offended at the notion of protest during that war, too. So what does all this mean? Are citizens obligated to unqualifiedly "support" the American military wherever it is sent? For that matter, what does "support" really entail? These are questions you won't get straight answers to if you ask most hawks -- primarily because their lackluster answers would involve the same kind of specious reasoning and questionable policy that has involved the United States in this war to begin with -- so I challenge them to dispute mine.
I love America. I have friends in the military. My father is a Navy veteran. And I am proud to protest this conflict. None of those things are logically inconsistent, contrary to the cheap "love it or leave it" slogans that a few of the Bush administration's talking heads, conservative leaders and even a few hotheads at this University have espoused. Loving my country and disputing its policies because I have decided, after reviewing all the relevant information, that those courses of action are shortsighted, wrongheaded and harmful to it are not incompatible; in fact, they're mutually necessary. It is the patriotic duty of every American to be well-informed about the goings-on of their nation and world so that they can make informed decisions on the political process; and to the extent that a citizen fails in this regard, they ought to feel the shame of failing their country and those who have served it. The same is true of voting. Anecdotally, in my experience those who have expressed the most emphatic protests against the war are also the ones who are best informed about U.S. foreign policy and world affairs -- not areas that Americans have historically excelled in.
I suspect the reason for this disparity is because the overwhelming majority of the justifications offered for this war in Iraq are simplistic, misleading and founded on weak bases -- just the kind of policy that information-deprived Americans love (especially the conservative ones). Regardless of the self-righteous moral rhetoric the current administration impresses upon its populace, this is clearly not merely a war to oust a tyrannical and evil leader, to "liberate" the people of Iraq, nor to protect their human rights. Were that the real motive of this war, I would applaud it and jump aboard -- after Iraq, the next stop could be Robert Mugabe in Zimbabwe, the royal family of Saudi Arabia, and the governments of many other nations where many more people are killed or tortured and where human rights abuses are at least equal to, and usually far more egregious than in Iraq -- Angola, Sierra Leone, Ethiopia, Egypt, the Congo, Syria, Uzbekistan, North Korea and Chechnya, to say nothing of that great defender of human liberty, China. But this war has nothing to do with a broader U.S. policy of opposing brutal regimes by force, or of liberating oppressed people. In fact, it has much more to do with a cavalier arrogance in diplomacy and disregard for the world's poor and underprivileged that has characterized conservative United States foreign policy for decades, justified by flimsy and disingenuous claims.
The most oft-touted justification, that Iraq was actually a threat, is also questionable. There were no reliable ties cited between Iraq and terrorism that targeted the United States -- and definitely none between it and that new international celebrity, al-Qaeda. It turns out that a large piece of our evidence that Iraq was developing nuclear weapons was actually forged. While they might be developing chemical and/or biological weapons, the same is true of a host of other unfriendly nations throughout the world. While many well-intentioned policymakers in the Bush administration honestly concluded that Iraq could be a threat, a large number in the intelligence community disagreed. The vast majority of the international community, including most of our staunchest allies, all with vested interests in America's continued security, also failed to reach the same conclusion after examining all our best evidence.
I hope that no more people die in this war, but I'm afraid that's unrealistic. This is an unnecessary war carried out by an administration whose campaign was bankrolled by the oil lobby and who gave control of our national energy policy to the same corporations they themselves worked for -- and whose payrolls many of them will doubtlessly go back to when their term is up. I do not support this war or the people who sent our military there to fight it; and saying so is patriotic. I support our troops. I say bring them home.
(Blair Reeves's column runs Mondays in the Cavalier Daily. He can be reached at breeves@cavalierdaily.com)
Read More
PARTING SHOT: Without sorrow
By Jackie Bond | 3 hours agoAs difficult as college was, I did not drop out, I did not give up on myself or my friends in times of need and I shared my voice at every opportunity. And that is something worth celebrating.
PARTING SHOT: The myth of the “two Universities”
By Dan Freed | 7 hours agoThere’s a reason basketball has a color commentator in addition to play-by-play commentary — and it is the same reason why Opinion sections exist.
PARTING SHOT: Work that never felt like work
By Leon Arceo | YesterdayWhenever I list the titles I held during my time at the paper, I’m often met with surprise — or even sympathy — for taking on so much. But the truth is, it never felt like a burden.
