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Created: May 20, 2003
Latest Update: May 20, 2003
jeannecurran@habermas.org
takata@uwp.edu
I am still confused on why we went into Iraq.
Site Copyright: Jeanne Curran and Susan R. Takata and Individual Authors, May 2003.
"Fair use" encouraged.
On Tuesday, May 20, 2003, Burdel wrote: I am still confused on why we went into Iraq. Was it because of weapons of mass distruction or the terrorism or because Saddam Hussein is a bad man or to get the oil or other reasons, which are unknown to us. This is how understanding the myth of war comes into play.
Burdel L. Alcorn
On Tuesday, May 20, 2003, jeanne wrote:
You and lots of others, Burdel. Me, too. Let's see. We had a war to retaliate against Bin Laden and Al Queda for the World Trade Center attack and to demolish terrorism. But we never found Bin Laden, and the warlords seem to be ruling Afghanistan, and the military says it is not there to control local governance and crime. Hmmm.Then we rushed over to war in Iraq to remove Saddam Hussein because he is evil and to liberate the Iraqis. Well, the oil seemed to be important, too, except that the $680 millions of dollars that Bechtel has been awarded to rebuild Iraq's infrastructure looks more profitable than oil to me. Of course, very few of our media seem to be mentiioning what happened when Bechtel undertook to rebuild Bolivia's water infrastructure. But that's OK. Maybe they learned a lot in that fiasco, hmmm???
Of course, now we can't find Saddam Hussein and the billions he stole either. But maybe we eliminated terrorism. Oops. No. Terrorists just blew up several people in Casablanca, a whole new hotspot now. And terrorist bombings so increased in Israel over the last week that Sharon cancelled his visit to the peace meetings in Washington.
Well, we must have got something useful out of two wars fought with such fervent patriotism. Oh, Bechtel. Millions will now come into our economic system and prompt economic recovery? Hmm, well, people around the world are kind of looking at that as a ripoff - likewe give a war so our companies can rebuild after the mess? And besides most of that rebuilding will go on over there, not over here, so the labor outlook in Iraq maybe improved, but what does Bechtel do for the labor market here again. I forgot. We'll need to check that out.
Now, Burdel, I'll bet you were referrin to Chris Hedges book on War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning. He was being ironic with that title. But he was touching on a very real tender spot - our loss of a sense of meaning to boring repetitive lives of struggle for most of us. "The eruption of conflict instantly reduces the headache and trivia of daily life. The communal march against an enemy creates a warm, unfamiliar bond with our neighbors, our community, our nation, wiping out unsettling undercurrents of alienation and dislocation. War, in times of malaise and desperation, is a potent distraction." (Ibid., at p. 9.)
And I want to take a few minutes just to recognize your statement: "This is how understanding the myth of war comes into play." Yes, the myth of needing to be THE GREAT POWER. The myth of SATAN OR EVIL BEING CRUSHED BY GOOD. The myth that what we do in good faith can have no ill effects. The myth that punishment and retribution are reasonable paths for living. I reckon we could translate every one of my answering paragraphs into myths. Trouble is, they're all out there at once. What a mess!
love and peace, jeanne