This July 4th in the U.S., Pick up a Book

Unless things have changed a good deal since I moved from the U.S. in 1998, the nation's birthday on July 4th will be marked by a splash of fireworks, backyard barbeques, an odd day off in the middle of the week, and some sporadic mentions of 'patriotism' in certain corners.

I would like to suggest that Americans add something else to their Independence Day plans this week – a book. With the nation at war and the number of war dead past the 3,500 mark for U.S. soldiers and a minimum estimate of 70,000 Iraqis, it seems to me that patriotism this July 4 involves deepening our understanding of that quagmire and how we got into it. This year, amidst the sparklers and apple pie, I strongly encourage our readers to pick up a copy of Fiasco: The American Military Adventure in Iraq by Thomas E. Ricks and start reading.

Ricks is the chief Pentagon correspondent for the Washington Post and before that covered military issues for the Wall Street Journal. Fiasco is an account of the U.S. war in Iraq from the military's point of view, drawn from extensive interviews with officers and soldiers, access to military communications, and first hand accounts from Iraq. As the title suggests, the book's conclusions aren’t happy ones. These three broad points, not news to anyone paying attention, are essential for all of us to understand.

1. A War Based Knowingly on Misinformation

We should never forget the way in which this war was waged based on a lethal mix of fantasy peddled by the Bush administration and the ease with which members of Congress in both parties bought it.

In March 2003 President Bush declared, "Intelligence gathered by this and other governments leaves no doubt that the Iraqi regime continues to posses and conceal some of the most lethal weapons ever devised." In fact, not only was the President’s declaration false, it was known to be false when he declared it.

A September 2002 National Intelligence Estimate offered ample evidence that the 'weapons of mass destruction' claim was always more muddy than clear. Nevertheless, according to Ricks, neither President Bush, nor Condoleezza Rice, nor most members of the Congress could be bothered to read the 91-page report before taking the nation to war. A recent New York Times Magazine article reported that the ranking Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, Bob Graham, who had read the full report, implored his colleagues to do so but they declined, relying instead on a short five-page executive summary that had filtered out the doubts. Among those who couldn’t be bothered to read the full report, says the Times, was Senator Hillary Clinton, a leading Democratic hawk on the war at the time.

2. An Invasion Without Planning for Afterwards

In February 2003, Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, famously assured Americans, "You're going to find Iraqis out cheering American troops," and added, "I think the ethnic differences in Iraq are there, but they're exaggerated." When an administration official told the Washington Post that the War and its aftermath could cost as much as $95 billion, Wolfowitz announced, "I don't think he or she knows what he is talking about." To date, the total financial cost of the War in Iraq is $440 billion, enough to pay for more than 21 million four-year U.S. college scholarships. President Bush later rewarded Mr. Wolfowitz by making him the head of the World Bank. That move didn't turn out too well either.

Ricks writes that military leaders told the White House, over and over again, that bringing security and stability to Iraq in the aftermath of the war would require even more troops than the invasion itself. Nevertheless, an administration full of people who managed to avoid service in Vietnam was sure it knew better. A four-star general recounts that the military's strong concerns about the post-invasion were “blown off” by a cocky and arrogant White House. Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld memorably dismissed post-invasion looting as a byproduct of Iraqis’ new freedom.

When the fiasco on the ground in Iraq became obvious, Wolfowitz blamed the media for misreporting. “Frankly, part of our problem is [that] a lot of the press are afraid to travel very much, so they sit in Baghdad and they publish rumors.” Three important journalists who have served time in Iraq, for the Los Angeles Times, the Washington Post, and the Nation, have visited with us here in Bolivia afterwards, and their stories have common features – reporting under fire and hassles from the U.S. government whenever they reported anything critical about the administration's execution of the war.

3. A Terrific Knack for Creating an Anti-U.S. Insurgency

Most interesting and less reported is the scathing case Fiasco makes about the Bush Administration’s amazing knack for creating an anti-U.S. insurgency where one did not exist before. Ricks lays out the recipe of errors:

a. Make the bulk of the Iraqi population viciously resentful toward the U.S. by invading their homes at night, humiliating their men in front of their families, shooting innocents, taking family members as hostages, and engaging in torture of prisoners.

b. Leaving both the borders and vast caches of weapons totally unguarded throughout the country, paving the way for the formation of insurgent arming and support.

c. Forget that in counter-insurgency warfare, victory goes to the side that wins the population, something U.S. abuse of Iraqi civilians made impossible.

Numerous military commanders tell Ricks that the Bush administration seemed to completely forget every lesson learned the hard way in the war of their youth in Southeast Asia. Marine General Anthony Zinni, a critic of the war from its start, is quoted, “I have seen this movie. It is called Vietnam." Today an Iraq once devoid of an Al Qaeda presence is now an entrenched home for the terrorist group – with the U.S. in its sights.

Some Things We Can Do

In hawk vs. dove debates of the past, those who advocated an end to the Vietnam War in the 1960s and 70s, or who criticized the U.S. nuclear weapons build up in the 1980s, were dismissed as naïve and ill-informed. In the case of Iraq it was our leaders – Democrats and Republicans alike – who were naïve and knowingly misinformed.

Our political system is based on a balance of not three powers – the President, the Congress, and the Courts – but four. The fourth is the people, and it seems clear that on Iraq it is time for the people to set the course. We can do that first by educating ourselves and second by taking action. Here are two good places to begin:

Cathy Breen in Jordan: One of my true heroes in this world is a humble woman named Cathy Breen, a friend who lived a decade here in Bolivia as a Maryknoll missionary. In the run up to the War in Iraq she moved to Baghdad, writing fearless and human dispatches about the people whose lives would be taken over by the pending invasion. For much of the past two years Cathy has been living in Amman Jordan, where nearly one million desperate Iraqi refugees have fled. You can read her dispatches here via Voices for Creative Nonviolence.

Iraq Moratorium Day: This is a new effort that pledges to lead an “escalating, monthly expression of determination to end the war.” The campaign will begin on Friday, September 21st and continue the third Friday of every month thereafter, encouraging people to break with business as usual through a mix of protest, pressure aimed at politicians, community education events, and more. Here is the Web site for the campaign.

Many readers might ask, what is a Blog from Bolivia doing talking about the U.S. War in Iraq? I have lived abroad a long time now, and I work regularly with citizen groups in almost every corner of the world. Everywhere I am asked what it will take to get the U.S. to develop a foreign policy based on something other than arrogance. They seem almost hopeless that the U.S. can or will change. I tell them there is hope, and it resides in Americans who have a different vision of our country. Perhaps as an American living abroad, I see that in a special way.