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03/19/2008: "Five Long Years"

It's been five years now since the term "shock and awe" entered the lexicon of popular culture. On March 19, 2003, the first airstrikes in the invasion of Iraq commenced, first as an unsuccessful attempt to take out Saddam Hussein and his family, and then full scale surgical strikes on the infrastructure of Iraq. We all know what happened next. US, British and other allied forces invaded Iraq and rolled up the army like rolling up a carpet. Within 3 weeks, the coalition was in charge of the country and Saddam and his kids were on the run. It all looked so easy.

Five years later, Saddam and many of his henchmen are gone, most at the end of a hangman's noose. Debate continues over the legitimacy of the evidence that led to war in the first place, and American soldiers and Iraqi civilians continue to die. What's worse, there's no indication of when it will all end.

History will debate the decision to go to war, and I'll leave that fight to others. To me, it became a moot point the moment the first bomb dropped. At that point, only one thing matters: How do we end this? I was too young to appreciate the political quagmire that the Viet Nam war became, but it's clear from watching this one that our leaders have learned very little. Here, in a nutshell, is where we've gone wrong:

- War must always be the last option ... not the first. Only the most ignorant pacifist would try to deny the need for war, but even the most ardent hawk needs to understand that going to war is itself an indication of failure. Only once diplomatic efforts have failed, and force remains the only option, should war be considered - and only with the solemn understanding that people will die on both sides because of that failure.

- You cannot go to war without a plan. The lightning success of the initial invasion and the quick toppling of the government showed that our military leaders were able to map out a successful strategy for war, but the pathetic efforts that followed leaves me wondering if anyone ever planned for peace. Either the morass that followed the military victory was a complete surprise to our leaders - which would be a pathetic statement on their skills - or they consciously went in knowing that this is what would happen - and that is criminal.

- You cannot bullshit the public. We live in the Internet world, where news is available from a hundred sources at any hour of the day and every jackass with a keyboard can write his own blog (yours truly included). Hell, there are soldiers in the field who take digital video of their daily firefights and upload them for the world to see every night. To say this is a transparent war is an understatement. Yet from the beginning, the government has tried to ignore the obvious, hoping instead that a string of vapid spokesmen mouthing the half-truths of the administration would drown out what the rest of the world was seeing for themselves. At some point it should have become apparent to even the most dogmatic in the White House that no one was buying their shit any more - and yet they keep right on shoveling.

- Those who demand accountability are not unpatriotic. From Day One, there has been a call from segments of the public to end the war and bring the troops home. Some of those voices, like the screetching of Cindy Sheehan, are easily ignored. But a large number of people from a wide spectrum of political beliefs simply wanted to see the plan. They might even have accepted continued warfare if the President had only provided a clear plan and set of milestones that would represent his idea of victory. It doesn't matter what you are planning, from a military campaign to a software rollout - you need to show the milestones that represent achievement and your plan to meet those goals. But from the start, those who asked for accountability were branded as somehow unpatriotic, because by questioning the actions of the president they weren't supporting the troops. Another load of crap. You can support the troops and disagree with the mission they've been asked to perform, and questioning that mission - and those who advocate the mission - isn't just the right of every American; it's your duty. Being unwilling to address the concerns of the people who question your mission? Now that's unpatriotic ...

I could go on, but the longer I think about it, the angrier I get. It's hard to imagine that someone could waste the vast political capital that George Bush banked after 9-11, but he found a way. From a war with more contractors than soldiers, to forward bases with Pizza Huts and ESPN, to an absolute unwillingness to even consider that any of the decisions made over the last five years might - just might - be the wrong ones; this war should scare the hell out of the next couple of presidents to the point that we might not see another conflict in my lifetime.

And wouldn't that be lovely ...