walking wounded
in spite of my penchant for politics, I haven’t written much about iraq here in this blog. mostly because i really can’t be trusted to contain myself or even string my words together coherently, so strong are my emotions. i think, however, that few readers would have a difficult time guessing how I feel – so analysing the runaway train that is the Iraq war seems pretty pointless.
since the midterm elections, though, i’ve been reading a lot of renewed disappointment and disillusionment and just plain old anger. it’s almost as if the nation’s tacit acknowledgement that things have gone horribly awry – that things, in fact, *must change now* – has reopened a deep wound. because for the past 3 years, whether you agreed with the stated objectives or methods or rationale for iraq, it was a moot point. we were already there, bombs were dropping, armies were invading, and there was nothing to be done. war had already been committed, and the most we could hope for was minimisation.
yet, in front our eyes, things got way out of hand. things spun completely out of control. story after story confirmed our fears that, far from improving, the situation was instead rapidly devolving into chaos and corruption. we saw it happen, and felt powerless to stop it. instead, we re-elected bush and hoped for the best.
so i’m not quite sure why the penny finally dropped on election tuesday. perhaps it was abu ghraib, or guantanamo. perhaps it was the ever increasing number of flag-draped coffins. maybe it was just the collective national conscience. maybe all or none of these things. doesn’t matter. after all, the straw that broke the camel’s back is pretty immaterial, isn’t it?
but there’s something about the administration *finally* acknowledging that things are untenable, that has touched a deep chord in people. Even people who’d thought they’d come to terms with the idea of failure, who’d long since written off iraq as a dismal fuck up. There’s anger there, just below the surface.
The time for feeling smug about my vociferous pre-war opposition to George Bush’s Iraq adventure has long since passed, if there ever was such a time. It became apparent some time ago that not only is America going to ‘lose’ in Iraq (due to the persistent insurgency) but that barring unforseen miracles, Iraq is going to tear itself apart… This descent into civil war in Iraq is much more serious to me than America’s (or my own) pride, and despite my antipathy toward the current American government, I truly, honestly never wanted to see this project fail so disasterously — indeed, I wouldn’t have thought it possible. The indifference to the magnitude of the task at hand, the ineptitude, and the incompetence, are staggering.
even more pointedly, the vol abroad asks: do y’all feel fooled?
I’m not gloating. I don’t think very many people in America really wanted to see us fail to achieve altruistic or even patriotic objectives in Iraq and the region. I think this has damaged America… But when I realised it was a passle of lies, incompetence and self-delusion, I felt fooled. I felt pretty angry with myself. Even worse, I felt angry with Bush and Blair for making me look stupid for believing them in the eyes of the Marxists and Islamists and woolly-headed leftists.
i think Vol Abroad has touched on something there that’s even more profound than we realise, and that is *just how much* this has damaged america. i think the insurgency happening in our own country speaks to even more than that. this has not just hurt america – it has hurt *americans*.
we’re part of the walking wounded in this war. for as long as it continues.
maybe that realisation was the straw.
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