{"id":85116,"date":"2021-03-19T08:57:51","date_gmt":"2021-03-19T08:57:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.counterpunch.org\/?p=134180"},"modified":"2021-03-19T08:57:51","modified_gmt":"2021-03-19T08:57:51","slug":"the-iraq-war-18-years-later","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2021\/03\/19\/the-iraq-war-18-years-later\/","title":{"rendered":"The Iraq War: 18 Years Later"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"

Still from Wikileaks’ Collateral Murder<\/a> video.<\/p><\/div>\n

\u2018You sit in your room, and you talk to the wall
\nYou\u2019re feeling small but still have a ball
\nAnd you can\u2019t explain what\u2019s anyway in vain
\nAnd you paint your face and dress in black
\nWear your shades and still can\u2019t express
\nThe way you feel about a lousy fill
\nAnd you dance until the morning
\nAll by yourself
\nAnd somehow you know
\nYou\u2019re not alone
\nAnd you dance until the morning
\nAll by yourself
\nAnd somehow you know
\nYou\u2019re not alone\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2014\u200a\u2018You\u2019re Not Alone<\/a>,\u2019 Amon D\u00fc\u00fcl II<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Eighteen years ago, I was perched on my bunk in a makeshift squad bay, awaiting final orders to cross the border from Kuwait to Iraq. Fellow marines wrote letters to their sweethearts, checked their gear for the thousandth time, jerked off in the bathroom, or nervously smoked cigarettes. Others joked about fucking Iraqi women and who would kill the most Iraqis. You know, all American boys, fighting the good fight, with God on our side, as\u00a0Dylan once sang<\/a>. After several months of boot camp and infantry training, it was time to rock n\u2019 roll. Finally, the war had arrived.<\/p>\n

Back home, a halfwit loser and draft dodger who, eager to compensate for his father\u2019s political failures and yearning for his own, serenaded Americans with a\u00a0trite speech<\/a>\u00a0that marked the beginning of the most destructive and\u00a0consequential war<\/a>\u00a0of the 21st century. At the time,\u00a0few understood<\/a>\u00a0the catastrophic gravity of Bush\u2019s decision, both for the United States and the rest of the world, though to be fair, many\u00a0antiwar activists did<\/a>.<\/p>\n

At the time, the Bush administration had spent\u00a0several months lying<\/a>\u00a0to the American public about\u00a0Iraq\u2019s supposed connections<\/a>\u00a0to the attacks of 9\/11. Dick Cheney argued that Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden were good pals, but the\u00a0relationship never existed<\/a>\u00a0in reality. They argued that Saddam had Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMDs), but\u00a0those too didn\u2019t exist<\/a>. Phantoms haunted Bush and his Cold War-era neoconservative comrades, Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld. And they turned those ghosts into fear\u200a\u2014\u200athe ammunition needed to\u00a0remake the world<\/a>\u00a0in their vision, or so they thought.<\/p>\n

Before long, morale sank in our platoon. Weeks turned into months, and months turned into many more. What was supposed to be a\u00a0repeat of the 1991 Gulf War<\/a>\u00a0quickly morphed into a\u00a0violent counterinsurgency campaign<\/a>, the likes of which U.S. troops hadn\u2019t experienced since their failed attempt to defeat anti-imperialists in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia.\u00a0Car bombs and IEDs<\/a>\u00a0replaced punji sticks and highly-coordinated mobile attacks and ambushes. Men in white pajamas replaced the men in black pajamas.<\/p>\n

In the U.S., people remained disorganized after several decades of neoconservative and neoliberal political victories, particularly the destruction of organized labor. The left, barely alive,\u00a0mounted antiwar rallies<\/a>\u00a0and protests but never developed much of a vision beyond\u00a0large mobilizations<\/a>. And even if it would have, the social and political infrastructure to carry out such a concept didn\u2019t exist.<\/p>\n

That said, I give tremendous credit to those who spoke out at the time. Young people might not remember, and older folks might choose to forget, but protesting the war in the years following 9\/11 took some courage. People who spoke out about the war were called\u00a0traitors and terrorist sympathizers<\/a>\u00a0by rightwing media personalities, conservative activists, and mainstream Republicans. To oppose the war was to hate veterans and the flag. At least that was the line at the time.<\/p>\n

Of course, the dreams, desires, and fears of the Iraqi people, who, after the\u00a0devastating Iran-Iraq War<\/a>\u00a0(1980\u20131988), the quick, bloody, and\u00a0chemically infused<\/a>\u00a0Gulf War (1990\u20131991), and\u00a0murderous sanctions<\/a>\u00a0(1991\u20132003), were never discussed or considered. According to the Marine Corps and the men who trained me, Iraqis were \u201csand niggers,\u201d \u201chajis,\u201d and \u201ccamel jockeys.\u201d Back home,\u00a0they were called<\/a>\u00a0\u201cterrorists\u201d or \u201ctowel heads.\u201d American xenophobes confused Sikhs for Muslims, harassing the former in search of the latter.<\/p>\n

On September 15, 2001, less than a week after 9\/11,\u00a0Balbir Singh Sodhi<\/a>\u00a0was attacked and killed by 42-year-old\u00a0Frank Silva Roque<\/a>\u00a0outside of the Chevron gas station Balbir owned in Mesa, Arizona. At the time, Balbir was planting flowers outside of his store when Roque pulled up in his pickup truck and shot him five times with a semiautomatic handgun. Balbir\u2019s younger brother, Sukhpal, was\u00a0killed by a stray bullet<\/a>\u00a0while driving his taxi in San Francisco less than a year later. Only in America.<\/p>\n

In Iraq, things went from bad to worse and from worse to untenable within a few years. By our second deployment (August 2004\u200a\u2014\u200aApril 2005), we could see the writing on the wall: Uncle Sam wasn\u2019t leaving Mesopotamia anytime soon. Unlike Vietnam, this war had genuine geopolitical significance: oil. Even George F. Kennan, the godfather of the \u2018Domino Theory<\/a>,\u2019 testified against U.S. involvement in Vietnam to the\u00a0Senate Foreign Relations Committee<\/a>\u00a0in 1966.<\/p>\n

But oil alone wasn\u2019t enough to keep the U.S. in Iraq. Bush and Co. had to save face. International\u00a0embarrassment wasn\u2019t an option<\/a>. Even though the Iraqi resistance had already thoroughly weakened the U.S. military effort, George Bush\u00a0couldn\u2019t admit defeat<\/a>, not then, not now, not ever. The war was just. The cause was righteous. \u201cTo hell with the naysayers!\u201d chanted the neoconservatives and evangelical Christians who so fervently backed the war, few having served themselves. Unsurprisingly, most of them\u00a0still defend the war<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It turns out, hubris and ideological dogma are just as\u00a0potent powerful forces<\/a>, especially when combined, as material interests or perceived realpolitik. In the end, however, none of that mattered. The Iraqis, much like the Vietnamese, engaged with U.S. troops, always knowing one thing: no matter what happened, they were fighting in their homeland. The\u00a0U.S. was temporarily visiting<\/a>. And whether that momentary stay lasted fifteen years or five decades, the Iraqis would always endure. A culture that stretched back to the\u00a0dawn of civilization<\/a>\u00a0was fighting a culture that grew up on BigMacs. The outcome was predictable, regardless of America\u2019s military, technological, and economic superiority.<\/p>\n

In Iraq, Marines went from dodging IEDs and shooting at civilians to\u00a0torturing prisoners<\/a>\u00a0all in a day\u2019s work. Mechanized units terrorized peasants and slapped sandbags on the heads of innocent young Arab men who were considered \u2018High-Value Targets\u2019 (HVTs). Most couldn\u2019t speak English and never understood why they were taken captive. Too bad for them, eh? They were in the wrong place at the wrong time. That\u2019s how it goes. Wars are messy, at least that\u2019s what our generals told us.<\/p>\n

Morale sunk to an all-time low at the end of the second deployment when our commanders informed the battalion that some of us would deploy a third time. By then, cocaine and weed had become mainstays at the basecamp. Some of us were blowing lines and smoking bowls on patrol and while standing duty on observation posts. Marines were getting drunk regularly and patrolling without their proper equipment. No one gave a fuck. Those who did were laughed at or ignored.<\/p>\n

By the time we came home, most of the platoon was full-blown alcoholics, drug addicts, sex fiends, or some mixture of the three. Divorces, assault charges, DUIs, and stints in rehab facilities commenced, including suicides, drug overdoes, and cancer diagnoses. You know, the sort of shit they don\u2019t show you on the commercials or talk about at the recruitment center.<\/p>\n

But that\u2019s only half the story. The aftereffects of combat are often more devastating than the action itself, which, to be honest, was quite fun at times. Nothing beats the adrenaline dump of a firefight. Nothing. That\u2019s why so many\u00a0guys miss it<\/a>. That\u2019s why so many seek adventure in civilian life, sometimes to the detriment of themselves and others. Fast cars and motorcycles leave mangled corpses. The needle can only bring so much comfort: the bottle, the same. It\u2019s true:\u00a0civilian life is boring<\/a>. Everyone who has experienced combat understands that much. On a very personal level, at the cellular level,\u00a0war permanently changes you<\/a>.<\/p>\n

At the geopolitical level, we have yet fully understood the long-term impacts of the Iraq War. Perhaps we never will. The human toll is staggering: anywhere from\u00a0250,000\u20131,000,000+ dead<\/a>, with\u00a0millions displaced<\/a>\u00a0externally and internally. Hundreds of thousands endure lifelong illnesses due to chemically-laced munitions such as\u00a0depleted uranium<\/a>\u00a0or maimed bodies due to bombing raids, drone strikes, a stray bullet, or some garden variety shrapnel. The Iraq War caused the\u00a0greatest refugee crisis<\/a>\u00a0since World War II. It\u00a0unleashed forces<\/a>\u00a0across Libya, Syria, and beyond that resemble the most reactionary and murderous forces of the Middle Ages.<\/p>\n

Thousands of\u00a0U.S. troops died<\/a>\u00a0because of lies and hubris.\u00a0Their families<\/a>\u00a0are forever emotionally, socially, and spiritually scarred. The same is true of the families of the nameless Iraqis who perished on the dusty battlefields of Mesopotamia. Tens of thousands of veterans have\u00a0killed themselves<\/a>, leaving behind broken families and\u00a0generations of emotional trauma<\/a>. Picking up your dead friend or his shredded and bloody limbs is terrible enough, but it\u2019s much worse when you finally realize it was all for nothing, otherwise known as \u2018Moral Injury<\/a>.\u2019 Well, not exactly nothing\u200a\u2014\u200awe made many people a\u00a0hell of a lot of money<\/a>\u00a0and stoked the egos of insecure men who thought they controlled the world.<\/p>\n

In the future, I can imagine young people talking about the \u2018Great Oil Wars of the 21st Century.\u2019 Fighting wars for oil, the very commodity that might cause the\u00a0end of civilization<\/a>. Oh, the irony. Within a few months, a young man or woman who wasn\u2019t even born when the Iraq War started will step onto the sands of Iraq as a contractor, DoD official, or military personnel. Can you imagine?<\/p>\n

Back home, the war helped destroy what was left of an already\u00a0undemocratic<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0antiquated political<\/a>\u00a0and legal system. Americans have less trust in the media due mainly to the lies journalists, and news outlets told during the lead-up to the war. The\u00a0Iraq War ushered<\/a>\u00a0in a period of cynical distrust in liberal institutions. Without question, a trend growing long before 2003, but one accelerated by lies justifying costly imperial adventures ($2 trillion and counting).<\/p>\n

By 2008, however, reality truly lifted the veil of American Empire and capitalism. The same\u00a0press and government<\/a>\u00a0that had lied about WMDs were now\u00a0lying about the origins<\/a>\u00a0(blaming poor people and unions instead of bankers and corporations) of the Great Recession, the most significant economic calamity to strike the U.S. since 1929 (until COVID hit<\/a>). As a result, by 2010, the Tea Party took power. In 2017, Trump entered the White House, and the rest is history.<\/p>\n

Now, eighteen years after W\u2019s criminal decision to invade and occupy Iraq, humanity finds itself at a unique historical precipice. Climate Change alone will reconfigure the global landscape and every aspect of our lives in ways that none can imagine. It\u2019s already doing so. The global economy, dependent on a never-ending growth model, can\u2019t provide a decent and dignified living to most people, pushing billions to the margins of society. Our political and legal systems remain wholly dysfunctional, outdated, and inadequate. Authoritarian governments are on the rise. And so far, the global left hasn\u2019t provided an organized, serious, and coherent alternative. Yet, alternatives are needed now more than ever. Indeed, radical changes are required, not for ideological, moral, or ethical purposes but for the sake of survival.<\/p>\n

Today, however, I will take a moment and think about my dead friends and the lives I took on Iraq’s battlefield, a distant topography of forgotten dreams and splintered memories. Unlike previous years, I won\u2019t cry. My reservoir of tears dried up long ago. My gas tank, usually filled with anger, is currently running on empty. I\u2019m worn out. The war has taken its toll. Eighteen years of reflections, protests, nightmares, essays, speeches, interviews, documentaries, conversations, and ghosts have rendered me somewhat bewildered and suspicious, sometimes cynical, yet more curious and committed than ever.<\/p>\n

Yes, I continue to speak out about the war. It\u2019s my responsibility. I have to answer to two groups of people: my loved ones (family and friends) and the people of Iraq. They are the only people on this planet to whom I owe an outstanding debt, one I will spend the rest of my time repaying. And that\u2019s okay. That\u2019s life.<\/p>\n

Without responsibility and accountability, love and respect, and the prospects of redemption and rebirth, where would we be as a society, as a species? I long ago forgave myself for participating in the war. I no longer lose sleep over it. These days, I lose sleep over our inability to develop political institutions capable of providing an alternative to capitalism and empire, racism and patriarchy, ecological devastation, and violence.<\/p>\n

In the end, human beings are resilient and highly adaptive creatures. We\u2019re not inherently peaceful or violent\u200a\u2014\u200awe\u2019re a bit of both. That, among other things, is what makes us so unique, complex, and volatile. Evolution gave us these gigantic brains, but we still haven\u2019t perfected how to use them\u2014what a fascinating challenge.<\/p>\n

Someday, perhaps humanity can live in peace. Until then, we should fight like hell to nudge the species in that direction. That starts by telling the truth. That starts by remembering our collective history and our subjective location within it. Eighteen years later, let\u2019s not forget the Iraq War.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The post The Iraq War: 18 Years Later<\/a> appeared first on CounterPunch.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n

This post was originally published on CounterPunch.org<\/a>. <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u2018You sit in your room, and you talk to the wall You\u2019re feeling small but still have a ball And you can\u2019t explain what\u2019s anyway in vain And you paint your face and dress in black Wear your shades and still can\u2019t express The way you feel about a lousy fill And you dance until More<\/a><\/p>\n

The post The Iraq War: 18 Years Later<\/a> appeared first on CounterPunch.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":381,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85116"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/381"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=85116"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85116\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":85117,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85116\/revisions\/85117"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=85116"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=85116"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=85116"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}