An Excuse for War: We Fight Them There So We Don’t Have to Fight Them Here
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We fight them there so we don’t have to fight them here. In those days, the days I wish I could forget, the days I supported the Bush/Cheney invasion of Iraq, I didn’t buy what I considered to be a foolish argument. It was all mushroom clouds for me.
The fight-them-there theory was a variation of the Vietnam era domino effect. We would rather fight the communists 10,000 miles away than 9900 miles away. Because, next thing you know, we’ll be trying to hold the line at the continental Fault of San Andreas.
During the Vietnam era, the domino effect was not unintelligent. It was a lesson learned at Munich. Appeasement hadn’t worked with Hitler. It would not work with the little band of apparatchiks operating from a single room at the Kremlin.
The Domino Effect was a case study of the power of an idea. It was a power that swept away opposing evidence. It took over 58,000 American lives, and countless numbers of Vietnamese to demonstrate that the unspoken assumption had been wrong. Independence movements that embraced the help of communist nations were not controlled from any single room or any single country.
We had been involved in a largely sectarian war in Vietnam between a mostly Buddhist population and a small ruling class composed of a weird offshoot of Catholicism. Not a single Russian commissar had his whiskers singed by our huge effort in Vietnam.
In time, the evidence became unmistakable to all but the firmest of denialists. The huge monolithic conspiracy was not at all monolithic, and was not subject to any central control.
The fight-them-there-not-here theory is alive today in some quarters. Until recently, I had never heard it referred to as fly paper. Timothy Noah of Slate Magazine explains the idea.
Al Qaeda had never had any force to speak of in Iraq. There were scattered outposts in largely deserted areas not controlled by Saddam Hussein’s forces. But after the invasion, al Qaeda began to develop a presence. It wasn’t much, but it was more than the zero that had been in Sunni areas before. And it was growing.
So the Bush/Cheney administration went for the spin cycle. The increase in al Qaeda influence was actually a good thing. We were attracting terrorists to fight us in Iraq. But that meant they were sidetracked from coming to America.
Iraq was flypaper. Terrorists were flies. Every attack on our troops in Iraq meant less danger in the suburbs of Peoria.
The rosy cheeked simpletons that were sent to talk shows seemed to believe the notion. I doubt the higher echelons of the Republican administration bought into it.
This was the administration that sent bogus stories on background to major news outlets, then cited what was published or broadcast as new independent evidence. Today, those same jaded former officials still insist on the same circular pattern of information.
Weapons of Mass Destruction? Mushroom clouds? How could the administration be held responsible for believing what everyone believed? Weren’t we all wrong?
To this day, I remain skeptical of the worst theories. Oil. Profits for former and future employers. Father-figure competition. They are all possible. None seems plausible.
I think those who grew up during the Cold War were captivated by an idea. As with Vietnam, it was a lesson so strong it swept away mere evidence.
It was impossible for the hard, hard warriors at the top levels of the administration to entertain the absurd thought that thousands of innocent people had died at the order of a comic book villain hiding in a cave on the other side of the world.
The maniacs in al Qaeda had to have been organized, funded, and instructed by a hostile government.
Saddam Hussein.
It was okay to let bin Laden and his team escape at the Battle of Tora Bora. We were busy elsewhere, mobilizing for an invasion. We were going to capture and kill the real culprit.
No matter what stories had to be invented. No matter what price had to be paid.
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No war is good but, humanity being what it is, wars are sadly inevitable. Are wars ever justifiable?
Justifiable wars? WWII, Falklands, 1st Gulf War. I say justifiable because an aggressor was defeated and only a loony would claim Germany, Argentina and Iraq weren’t aggressors at the time and, clearly, having a friendly chat to ask them to stop wasn’t an option.
Still. Justifiable or not, many died and a few made fortunes.
Aren’t we a mottly crew us humans eh?
Thank you for the thoughtful comments.
While I’m willing to be more charitable than some about the motivations of the Bush/Cheney administration, I don’t buy the everyone-was-wrong argument. The circular path of false information can be traced back to those who were then at the top of the executive branch.
It was true in the Johnson administration. It was refined to an artform by the time of Bush/Cheney.
i supported the vietnam war for the very reason you suggest…i was sold on the domino theory. i was so sold on that theory that it never occurred to me to look into the history of that particular part of the world, the evolution of ho chi minh or even nationalism itself. they were commies, commies were bad…let’s go where there are a lot of killable commies and git ‘er done.
i was overdosing on natural testosterone in those days so finding and killing one’s enemies where there was a good chance of success seemed a very rational approach.
i was so sold on that theory that i volunteered to go to vietnam and take on that task personally….twice. in my defense, i was a seventeen year old high school dropout who figured her life was pretty much a waste anyway, no big loss if i end up in a body bag. in the beginning i actually consciously thought, ‘if i kill two commies before they get me then the whole thing would be a success.’
i fought the first gulf war (desert shield/storm) from a desk right here in the good old u.s.a. i didn’t give it any more thought than i gave anything else in those days, none at all. i was on cruise control, physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually.
by the time the second gulf war came around i had made major changes. the army had kicked me out shortly after the first gulf war (for health reasons officially) and since they weren’t doing my thinking for me anymore i had to learn to do it for myself. by then there were 18 wheelers backing up to my door, offloading my daily dose of estrogen. i don’t know if it was a combination of the estrogen and androgen blockers or if it was just no more than filling up the vacuum of an empty head with thoughts of any order but by the time the second gulf war came around i had some thoughts about it. my thought was this:
“i ain’t go no dog in that hunt.”
i saw that war as nothing more than a bunch of rich people squabbling over how to divide up the profits springing from all that oil over there. i’m not rich and i don’t see how any one of them is going to treat me any better or worse depending on how much of that pie they get.
“i ain’t go no dog in that hunt.”
it is a kind of a shame though…that a bunch of seventeen year old high school dropouts that think it’s right to go over there and kill ragheads, that think it is a good thing, who don’t think their lives are much more than a waste anyway, are going to come home in body bags before their brains get turned on. for the ones who have thought it through…well…no you haven’t either.
Dude if you believe that some sort of god exists you ain’t no agnostic. As observed that makes you a deist.
Uh Tim you posted on the wrong thread man!
I am happy to be able to say that I wasn’t in favor of the Iraq war from the outset. I remember getting a phone interview on the topic shortly after the invasion, and the interviewer asked simply “how do you feel about our invasion of Iraq”, and I specifically remember answering “I think it’s the stupidest thing that we’ve ever done!”. I think the interviewer was surprised at my response :-).
It’s too bad that I was right :-(. I take no pride in that.
I was just told by a long-time friend that I was opposed to the Iraq war, because I didn’t think Saddam posed any threat to the US. Hm. That makes me feel better.
War lines the pockets of those who provide support for the warriors. It’s good for business as the say.
I’m ashamed to admit that I also supported the war until I learned that the “yellow cake” nonsense was just that. Nonsense.