"Debating" the Iraq occupation
Submitted by Charley Underwood on May 7, 2008 - 3:44pm.
Just over five years ago, Minneapolis South High sponsored a debate about the advisability of the looming invasion of Iraq. I wasn't there, but by all accounts it was a rousing discussion, with hot opinions and urgent facts thrown back and forth.
Five years later, there was nobody left to debate. There were exactly four people who agreed to be on a panel this morning, all completely against the ongoing occupation of Iraq: Iraq Veterans Against the War Andrew Huff and Brandon Day, as well as local D.F.L. peaceniks Faith Kidder and myself. Not a single person could be found to claim in public that the invasion and occupation had somehow been worth it.
It wasn't for lack of trying, explained South High social studies teacher Michael Boucher. They had contacted the state Republican Party, Republican senators and congresspeople. They had contacted right-wing Star Tribune columnist Katherine Kersten and her friends at Vets for Freedom, but neither Peter Hegseth nor any of his friends could make it. Not one single person could be found who would debate the assertion that the war and occupation of Iraq was a total disaster.
The Vets for Freedom, of course, had complained long and hard a few weeks back because the Forest Lake principal had excluded them from giving a big presentation there. They were a non-partisan group, they protested, as they relocated to a local VFW hall. But given the chance to actually debate the merits of the war they promote, they declined. So at South High today there was no real differences of opinion about the war, only opposition from different perspectives.
Faith Kidder spoke about the transforming power of nonviolence and the necessity of creating a cabinet level Department of Peace. I gave a lot of statistics about Iraqi deaths, U.S. deaths, G.I. suicides and Iraqi refugee figures. Brandon Day and Andrew Huff spoke simply and eloquently about the deaths of friends and the deepening sadness of such horrible loss against the futility of the occupation. Those young post-911 volunteers didn't need to use a lot of words, since they had brought DVDs with plenty of pictures showing what happens after in IED explodes your vehicle. We could see the damp earth where the blood of their friends had been spilled.
It's been five years now. This week or next week, Congress will probably appropriate another hundred billion dollars or two. Next week a new batch of coffins will bring home sons and daughters, husbands and wives. And day after tragic day, an average of one more Iraqi will die every 3 minutes, because of this senseless war.
Can anyone tell me when this horror will end, or even how? Can anyone tell me why we are even occupying Iraq, or what in fact the mission is today?
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an update
Moments after finishing this, I got on my email. The Council for a Livable World says that the next Iraq appropriations vote will probably be tomorrow (Thursday, May 8), and that the amount is $162.6 billion. That brings the total of Iraq/Afghanistan appropriations to over $850 billion since 2001. And of course, the total will eventually pass three trillion dollars, when all the disability payments, medical treatment, vets benefits, equipment replacement and whatnot are figured in.
None of those figures, of course, factor in John McCain's 100-year scenario, nor do they figure in a possible war with Iran.
Thank you so much
Charley,
I can't thank you enough for the work you do in this cause. I was stationed in Baghdad in 2004, and my heart aches each day this travesty continues.
Sincerely,
Alec
Why the US occupies, and here's the real mission:
Since empires first developed in human history, the first purpose of invasion and occupation has always been the same: to control resources, both natural and human. The second purose has always been to gain power over rivals.
The third purpose has always been a matter of ego: be it the ego of the emperor ("He tried to kill my Daddy, so I'll invade his county and kill him") or the collective egos of the ruling elites.
All this is why Iraq is being occupied. The US is an empire and is there to control the oil resources. It intends to use the control of the region to have power over its rivals, China, India, Russia. Bush is said to have had a personal issue with Saddam Hussein. The collective elites around Bush, perhaps VP Cheney especially, seem to be supernationalists who are working for the greater glory of this nation, at the expense of destroying it and Iraq too.
The mission, the real one, is our mission: to build a lasting peace. Not just to end the occupation, but to take from this experience and go into the root of the problem. From that restore human society to its natural peaceful state. We can with passing the Department of Peace legislation. It will help our country transition itself into a culture of Peace.
Ever heard of google?
Hey Charlie, I realize you're not the organizer of the event, but do you think any of them ever heard of Google? If they had, they could find Vets For Freedom, the largest organization of Iraq and Afghanistan vets in the US. They could have then found dozens of VFF members who would be happy to explain, from our firsthand experience, why we need to finish the job in Iraq. But no one contacted us.
Or is it just easier to win a debate when you don't invite an opponent?
No, I wasn't the organizer
In fact, I was surprised and disappointed that no supporters of the occupation were there. It would have made the discussion more interesting. What the organizers said is that they had, in fact, invited the Vets for Freedom, but that none had accepted. It was even mentioned that the Vets for Freedom had a rather ample budget for just this sort of thing, but still not one accepted. The contrast was made, in fact, that Forest Lake had NOT been a debate and that the Vets for Peace had huffed and puffed about not being able to present their single "non-partisan" side, whereas they had specifically been invited to this debate and had specifically declined.
I'm fine with a debate, Dave. I am not shy. I am not concerned about my grasp of the facts. If I am wrong, I am not afraid to admit it. You know all these things from our previous online encounters.
In a way, of course, it's all just words. Whether they come from Vets for Freedom or Iraq Vets Against the War. After all the sounds die away, all that is left is the slow evaporation of human blood on the earth. Nothing you say and nothing I say will change that. It's a tragic war. My saying so isn't what makes it tragic.