fbpx
Politics Foreign Affairs Culture Fellows Program

Buchanan and Iraq

Half the nation now believes the war was a mistake and wants U.S. troop withdrawals to begin. But no patriot wants to see Iraq collapse into chaos and civil war, and everything for which 2,100 Americans died and 16,000 suffered washed down a sewer. ~Patrick Buchanan The phrasing of this last line from a rather […]

Half the nation now believes the war was a mistake and wants U.S. troop withdrawals to begin. But no patriot wants to see Iraq collapse into chaos and civil war, and everything for which 2,100 Americans died and 16,000 suffered washed down a sewer. ~Patrick Buchanan

The phrasing of this last line from a rather odd Buchanan article caught my attention: “no patriot wants to see…” If it had read, “no Iraqi patriot…”, I would have no trouble agreeing. But, in all seriousness, what does being an American patriot have to do with the matter? Presumably, no one of good will wants to see Iraq collapse into civil war and chaos. That would be a perverse desire kindled purely out of spite for political opponents and a selfish desire to be proved right, regardless of the consequences in the real world. No sane person, much less any American patriot, indulges in such desires, and there ought never be any suspicion that this is the case.

Of course, it would be ideal if our soldiers had not died and been maimed for what will likely prove to be nothing of consequence. But I, for one, will not pretend that they are fighting for something worthwhile or necessary for the United States when they clearly are not–this would be the false support of the war by someone who rejects it and all it stands for.

Whatever we might want, present Iraq policy all but guarantees these ugly outcomes sooner or later. This is not because “democracy” will necessarily and inevitably fail in Iraq (though it probably will), but because it has even the slightest chance of succeeding, ensuring that the suppressed conflicts of at least a generation are channeled into repeated contestations for power, wealth and influence.

There is already chaos and there may well be civil war, regardless of what the government may still be able to do there, and there comes a time when patriots have to recognise an inherently flawed and failed policy and abandon it. That is not pessimism or defeatism, unless it is defeatism to deny that “complete victory” is possible in a war that has no tangible objectives. On the contrary, it is the sort of honesty in the setting of policy that would have stood President Nixon in good standing in 1969 if he had pursued a similar course, and it was the sort of view that President Eisenhower took with respect to the miserable mistake of the Korean War.

Eisenhower concluded that conflict, to the extent he was able, from a position of strength and credibility of which few Democrats today could boast, but he clearly did not believe that the pursuit of “complete victory” was more important than the actual interests of the United States and her position in the world. Wise statesmen know their own limitations and the limitations of the country they govern–they do not overstep them frequently or for very long if they wish to be successful. The war in Iraq is an ongoing affront to our national traditions and a mockery of the best in our national character, and I do not believe patriots should endure this sort of persistent insulting of their country and its name.

Eisenhower’s presidency was largely successful in foreign affairs so long as he hewed to a line of seeking the American interest, whatever other flaws his administration may have had, and he presided over eight years of peace. Six of Mr. Bush’s eight years are likely to be marked by a hot war in a country he arbitrarily chose to invade in a move immeasurably more foolish than Truman’s war, and patriots are supposed to accept his pursuit of this chimerical victory as the rational and credible course of action?

It is regrettable that Rep. Murtha’s basically genuine concern for the integrity and continued cohesion of the armed forces (undoubtedly amplified by partisan concerns) is here lumped in with the truly ridiculous remarks of a Kerry, when Rep. Murtha’s stand has been just about the only real political movement to bring this war to an end that has had any effect. Indeed, Rep. Murtha has scarcely said anything on Iraq that the pages of The American Conservative have not said many times over and often in more explicit and sometimes more provocative language. Mr. Bush’s war was a strategic and political failure before it began, and no amount of loyalty or support can transmute it into a success.

Advertisement

Comments

The American Conservative Memberships
Become a Member today for a growing stake in the conservative movement.
Join here!
Join here