"Democracies can't fight wars very well."
I heard someone on the television say that. Don't ask me who it was, because I can't remember and it's really not that important. The important thing is that it's a strange thing to say when Athens did so well, not to mention our own blessed United States.
The honest truth is that democracies fight wars just fine when the war is not controversial. However, when confronted with something somewhat less certain, as in the example of the current Stupid War, victory is not as easy. War is by nature and tradition a dictatorial undertaking. There is no time on the battlefield to take a vote. This notion might lead some to think that there is no hope for the rights of man, that the democractic trend in human history will be invevitably swamped by the martial efficiency of top-down power.
But we needn't give up hope. Democracies can indeed fight wars, and succeed in doing so. Even controversial wars can be fought by democratic nations. However, if such a war is to be fought by such a nation, it is absolutely mandatory that the leadership of the democratic nation take the time to eliminate the controversy.
Take for example, the war in Iraq, which is quickly becoming not so controversial and more or less hated by the population of the United States. There is a lot of agreement that Saddam Hussein was a bad person. Even the idea that he was an enemy of America is not much of a cause for disagreement. The only real controversy in the Iraq war is that Hussein was the wrong target at the wrong time. I don't think it's far fetched at all to say that the voting public might have supported a war against Iraq if only it had been initiated after the perpetrators of the September 11 attacks had been killed or arrested.
It is a crisply inarguable fact that the American craving for revenge was essentially unanimous on September 12, 2001 and that the population of the earth was in full support of that American craving. There was a rare momentum in global politics at that moment. Anyone of even mediocre statesmanship could have exploited this momentum and become history's immortal saviour. What are the odds that the perfect fool would be in position to squander the good will of an entire planet? Those odds are so slim that I sometimes wonder if the United States is not in fact what many mystical patriots believe it to be, the primary implement in the plans of a mysterious god.
Let's not succumb to mysticism. Let us assume what is most likely, that there is no god in heaven and that tomorrow's history is yet to be made. A more sophisticated man would have taken the wheels of state after the World Trade Center tradgedy for the single purpose of keeping the machine on its downhill path. How could the United States, with the finest military and forensic ability in all the world, fail in finding one single man, even if he were to hide in mountains of Pakistan? The only way that would be possible is if our leadership lacked the will.
That's exactly what happened. For whatever reasons, be they dark or simply idiotic, the Bush administration pulled the only punch it was ever sure to land.
And the rest is history. Now we are up to the knees in what Donny Rumsfeld himself famously called a "long hard slog," which sounds too much like "quagmire" for my tastes. But we're in it. It's an ugly mess and no one with any sense is happy about it, but still we're in it and the only way out of it is for us all to use our heads and makes the right decisions.
Of course, I've got my own ideas about what those decisions ought to be. I'll keep those ideas to myself. There are enough pennies in the fountain right now. We have come to the end of the brainstorming session. Now is the time for paring back the foolishness, and for becoming extremely clear on the proper course of action.
One bit of foolishness that ought to be eliminated straight away is the obstinate streak that seems to have taken control of certain minds in our Loyal Oppostion. What is this nonsense about criticising Turkey for the Armenian Holocaust? Have the Democrats in Congress gone feeble? Not only is Turkey a critical staging ground for our operations in the Middle East, but that country is also on the verge of invading Northern Iraq to hunt down our good Kurdish friends in that area. This is not the time to piss off the government of Turkey.
But yet, here we go. A man has your wallet and he is about to shoot your friend in the face. What do you do? Do you say "Hey, buddy, let's cool it and talk about things for a minute"? Or do you tell him what you really think?
Maybe we're all crisis addicts in this society, raised on adrenaline and cliff-hangers. Maybe we can't focus unless the the pressure is on. Sometimes that's the only explanation that makes any sense. If it's true, though, we're in for it. You can't roll the dice over and over again without eventually getting snake eyes. And now the stakes are higher than even during the Cold War. Back then we had mutually assured destruction, which meant that our opponent had as much to lose as we did ourselves. Today the destruction is only assured on our side. The enemy has nothing to lose, because the enemy is ourselves.
Meanwhile, life goes on. There's an election about to take place. Hopefully, there will be no sudden moves made before Happy the Clown is replaced. If the human propensety for sheer idiocy does not win the day, we may all survive to keep democracy alive for another few years.
I heard someone on the television say that. Don't ask me who it was, because I can't remember and it's really not that important. The important thing is that it's a strange thing to say when Athens did so well, not to mention our own blessed United States.
The honest truth is that democracies fight wars just fine when the war is not controversial. However, when confronted with something somewhat less certain, as in the example of the current Stupid War, victory is not as easy. War is by nature and tradition a dictatorial undertaking. There is no time on the battlefield to take a vote. This notion might lead some to think that there is no hope for the rights of man, that the democractic trend in human history will be invevitably swamped by the martial efficiency of top-down power.
But we needn't give up hope. Democracies can indeed fight wars, and succeed in doing so. Even controversial wars can be fought by democratic nations. However, if such a war is to be fought by such a nation, it is absolutely mandatory that the leadership of the democratic nation take the time to eliminate the controversy.
Take for example, the war in Iraq, which is quickly becoming not so controversial and more or less hated by the population of the United States. There is a lot of agreement that Saddam Hussein was a bad person. Even the idea that he was an enemy of America is not much of a cause for disagreement. The only real controversy in the Iraq war is that Hussein was the wrong target at the wrong time. I don't think it's far fetched at all to say that the voting public might have supported a war against Iraq if only it had been initiated after the perpetrators of the September 11 attacks had been killed or arrested.
It is a crisply inarguable fact that the American craving for revenge was essentially unanimous on September 12, 2001 and that the population of the earth was in full support of that American craving. There was a rare momentum in global politics at that moment. Anyone of even mediocre statesmanship could have exploited this momentum and become history's immortal saviour. What are the odds that the perfect fool would be in position to squander the good will of an entire planet? Those odds are so slim that I sometimes wonder if the United States is not in fact what many mystical patriots believe it to be, the primary implement in the plans of a mysterious god.
Let's not succumb to mysticism. Let us assume what is most likely, that there is no god in heaven and that tomorrow's history is yet to be made. A more sophisticated man would have taken the wheels of state after the World Trade Center tradgedy for the single purpose of keeping the machine on its downhill path. How could the United States, with the finest military and forensic ability in all the world, fail in finding one single man, even if he were to hide in mountains of Pakistan? The only way that would be possible is if our leadership lacked the will.
That's exactly what happened. For whatever reasons, be they dark or simply idiotic, the Bush administration pulled the only punch it was ever sure to land.
And the rest is history. Now we are up to the knees in what Donny Rumsfeld himself famously called a "long hard slog," which sounds too much like "quagmire" for my tastes. But we're in it. It's an ugly mess and no one with any sense is happy about it, but still we're in it and the only way out of it is for us all to use our heads and makes the right decisions.
Of course, I've got my own ideas about what those decisions ought to be. I'll keep those ideas to myself. There are enough pennies in the fountain right now. We have come to the end of the brainstorming session. Now is the time for paring back the foolishness, and for becoming extremely clear on the proper course of action.
One bit of foolishness that ought to be eliminated straight away is the obstinate streak that seems to have taken control of certain minds in our Loyal Oppostion. What is this nonsense about criticising Turkey for the Armenian Holocaust? Have the Democrats in Congress gone feeble? Not only is Turkey a critical staging ground for our operations in the Middle East, but that country is also on the verge of invading Northern Iraq to hunt down our good Kurdish friends in that area. This is not the time to piss off the government of Turkey.
But yet, here we go. A man has your wallet and he is about to shoot your friend in the face. What do you do? Do you say "Hey, buddy, let's cool it and talk about things for a minute"? Or do you tell him what you really think?
Maybe we're all crisis addicts in this society, raised on adrenaline and cliff-hangers. Maybe we can't focus unless the the pressure is on. Sometimes that's the only explanation that makes any sense. If it's true, though, we're in for it. You can't roll the dice over and over again without eventually getting snake eyes. And now the stakes are higher than even during the Cold War. Back then we had mutually assured destruction, which meant that our opponent had as much to lose as we did ourselves. Today the destruction is only assured on our side. The enemy has nothing to lose, because the enemy is ourselves.
Meanwhile, life goes on. There's an election about to take place. Hopefully, there will be no sudden moves made before Happy the Clown is replaced. If the human propensety for sheer idiocy does not win the day, we may all survive to keep democracy alive for another few years.
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