Yet, to refuse to acknowledge the efforts of experts,
politicians (mostly liberal) and the millions of Americans who either
argued against the war or protested the invasion before it occurred is
to engage in a whitewash of the evil committed by the scoundrels and
dupes who wanted war.
Granted, in addition to the scoundrels
calling themselves neoconservatives and the criminals occupying the
White House, many feckless congressmen — Democrats and Republicans —
merit blame for fostering Bush's war. Democrats merit blame, because
many ducked their responsibility to challenge the warmongers. Thus,
they violated a norm of American political life: "Regardless of which
party holds a majority of seats in Congresses, it is almost always the
opposition party that creates the most trouble for a president intent
on waging war." [William G. Howell and Jon C. Pevehouse, "When Congress
Stops Wars,"
Foreign Affairs, Sept/Oct. 2007].
Two
additional observations by Professors Howell and Pevehouse also point
to the pre-invasion political irresponsibility of many congressional
Democrats: (1) the "media regularly follow official debates about war
in Washington, adjusting their coverage to the scope of the discussions
among the nation's political elite" and (2) "the airing of more
critical viewpoints led to greater public disapproval of the proposed
war."
Thus, all three observations by Howell and Pevehouse
support Dobbins assertion that "primary responsibility for opposing or
at least critically examining the case for war falls on the opposition
party." It's not only a responsibility that many Democrats ducked
during the run-up to war in Iraq; it's also a responsibility they
should keep in mind, when Bush/Cheney push for war against Iran.
Nevertheless, Dobbins' attempt to blame the "entire nation" still
doesn't wash. Although hardly alone, I was not among those who, "to one
degree or another, failed in Iraq." In fact, on 24 September 2002, I
went on record — in an Op-Ed published by the
Philadelphia Inquirer — opposing Bush's just-released National Security Strategy enshrining preemptive war as national policy.
Immediately after Bush's mad invasion, I called it "murderous and
illegal," and wrote that the world was now confronted with the
phenomenon of "an arrogant, willful, and, arguably unconquerable
hegemon capable of breaking things around the world to the enthusiastic
applause of its 'famously ill-informed' citizenry." [Walter C. Uhler,
"Undone by current events,"
Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, July/August 2003]
By the summer of 2004 I was quoting Gen. Richard Myers, Bush's chairman
of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who on May 12, 2004 told a Senate
committee, "there is no way to militarily win in Iraq." I did so,
because I took seriously the observation made by renowned military
historian, Williamson Murray and (Ret.) Major General Robert H. Scales:
"As has become apparent over the past two decades, intelligence
gathered by thinking human beings, with their ability to interpret
local languages, customs, and cultures, is a depressingly weak link in
America's attempt to grasp the nature of its opponents and their
capabilities." [
The Iraq War: A Military History, p. 182]
While quoting Gen. Myers, I publicly endorsed the sobering admonition
of Murray and Scales, writing that unless the technological superiority
of America's military "is soon coupled with intelligent thinking,
'improved technologies will ensure only that political and military
defeats will come later, and at greater cost.'" [Walter C. Uhler,
"Preempting the truth,"
Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, September/October 2004]
The expert insights of Murray and Scales found support two days ago, when the
New York Times
published the collective observations of six U.S. Army sergeants and
one specialist from the 82nd Airborne Division, just returning home
from a 15-month deployment in Iraq. They claim "we operate in a
bewildering context of determined enemies and questionable allies, one
where the balance of forces on the ground remains entirely unclear."
[Buddhika Jayamaha, Wesley D. Smith, et al, "The War as We See It,"
New York Times, August 19, 2007]
Consequently, when the criminals and liars in the Bush administration
(aided by politicized Generals) try to persuade you and the Congress,
in September, that the surge is working, keep in mind the words of
these seven combat-tested grunts: "We are skeptical of the recent press
coverage portraying the conflict as increasingly manageable and feel it
has neglected the mounting civil, political and social unrest we see
every day." [Ibid]
Bush's illegal, immoral war against Iraq
should never have been fought. But it was quickly lost in the wake of
his "Mission Accomplished" speech. Credit the defeat to his
administration's gross strategic incompetence — which allowed the
insurgency to develop — and (to quote Murray and Scales) its inability
"to grasp the nature of its opponents and their capabilities."
Finally, if we genuinely seek to assure that the current debate over
the United States' failure in Iraq yields constructive results, we must
ignore the advice of James Dobbins to blame all Americans and begin the
painful and potentially disruptive process of racking and stacking.
After all, in America's so-called meritocracy, the people who got it
wrong should pay a price. Public humiliations, remedial training,
demotions, resignations, dismissals, newsroom shakeups, think-tank
purges, criminal indictments, congressional investigations and
impeachments, where warranted, would mark the beginning of genuine
accountability.
What better way to yield constructive results
for future administrations than to expose the arguments of, and render
justice to, the ideologues, pundits and politicians who either mongered
for an unprovoked war or acquiesced in it?
Walter C. Uhler
is an independent scholar and freelance writer whose work has been
published in numerous publications, including The Nation, the Bulletin
of the Atomic Scientists, the Journal of Military History, the Moscow
Times and the San Francisco Chronicle. He also is President of the
Russian-American International Studies Association (RAISA).
waltuhler@aol.com
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