So Long, Suckers

Donald Rumsfeld's quick visit to Baghdad and his admonition that the Iraqis better get their act together on the constitution seems to be the latest manifestation of Operation Cut and Run.

Major troop drawdowns are being rumored for 2006, presumably timed to give that end 'o war fillip to the Republicans in the midterm elections.

And why not?

Among the many crimes of commission, omission, neglect, or indifference that can be laid to the door of the international community was its acquiescence to the transfer of sovereignty (or, as I prefer to call it, the sovereignty dump) orchestrated by the Bush administration in June 2004.

As occupying power under international law — a distinction the Coalition of the Willing eagerly sought and obtained from the U.N. right after the invasion, when it looked like Iraq was going to be a strategic, financial, and political bonanza — the U.S.-led administration was responsible for ensuring the security of Iraqis.

It makes sense. You can't bomb a country to flinders, destroy its infrastructure and institutions, disband its security forces, loot the treasury, and then hand the shattered nation back to a rump government of impotent collaborators with the airy dismissal "If you can't make it work, it's your fault".

But that's what happened, with Bush's "Iraq is sovereign: let freedom ring a ding ding" notepassing with Condi at the NATO summit.

So we get Donald Rumsfeld, who crapped on Iraq's rug and stepped in it, tracked through the whole house with his filthy shoes, then slid out the kitchen door saying, "You animals better take responsibility for your mess and clean it up before I lose my patience."

And you know what?

That's pretty much the only viable option we have in Iraq: wrinkle up our noses and walk away.

In fact, the only way we can salvage anything from Iraq is to stand back, let the country tear itself apart in civil war, then cut a deal with the last strongman left standing atop the bloody heap.

And, from the Bush administration's perspective, if that means a pro-Iranian Shi'ite regime has to spend a few years getting chewed to pieces in the Iraq meatgrinder, call it...

...collateral advantage.

And if we don't like the result, we can always invade again.

If we've learned anything from Iraq, it's that invading is the easy part. Occupation, nation-building, and creating a stable, progressive terrorist-free society by shooting people, stealing their shit, and turning the government over to brutal, incompetent kleptocrats are almost impossible.

The U.S. military, at least, has learned that the Bush and Cheney fetish of "state-sponsored terrorism" that justified the Afghanistan and Iraq invasions has simply bogged down American troops in brutal, unpopular occupations that multiply and intensify the terrorist threat.

So, by the insistence of the uniformed bosses of the military, it's no longer GWOT — Global War on Terror. That's been retired in favor of GSAVE — Global Struggle Against Violent Extremism or, as I prefer to call it, for God's Sake, AVoid Escalation (and keep us out of Syria and Iran).

I don't think there's much more to GSAVE than the Pentagon's anxious desire to extract its forces with their morale, manpower, and callous indifference reasonably intact, so they can rest, recuperate, and return to kill or be killed, hopefully in quicker, better-planned wars with easily attainable, closed-ended objectives.

For most Americans, and many Democrats, it seems that would be good enough.

You know, Support Our Troops.

And next time, let's make sure we can kill everybody we need to in the first couple weeks and make it home in time for Christmas.

And don't ask if there is a better use of men, women, money, and national honor than pouring them down a bloody red white and blue rathole in the Middle East.

The fact that we, as a nation, could eagerly commit hundreds of thousands of troops and hundreds of billions of dollars to a sordid adventure conceived in greed, arrogance, and ignorance; executed with lies and hypocrisy; and leaving a legacy of death, suffering, and massive failure, should tell us something about ourselves.

It might tell us that we've actually lost our belief that we can lead the world through our ideals, ideas, or example, and the only tools we have left are coercion and intimidation.

And it should tell us, when we pull the plug on Iraq, we should feel not just relief, but shame, and anger.

And the feeling that Bush, Cheney, and Rumsfeld have suckered us, and not just the Iraqis, with a cheap, degraded version of what freedom, democracy, and happiness should be.

Copyright 2005 Peter Lee

Peter Lee is the creator of the antiwar satire and commentary website Halycon Days. He can be reached at peter@halcyondays.info.