Friday, December 22, 2006
The Rice example of the crux of the problem.
Todays pronouncement by Secretary of State Rice that Iraq was worth the cost in blood and treasure going forward brings to mind for me the crux of the issue.
One of the calculations of this administration in carrying out this war was to make sure that Americans did not have to sacrifice in the war effort. There was no war tax, no draft, no call for oil conservation, no call for sacrifice of any kind.
I believe this calculation on the part of the administration was an attempt to garner lasting support for the war. One of the driving forces for protest during the Vietnam War was the draft. This administration decided to try to keep us all fat and happy in order to keep the hub bub on the home front to a minimum. It is only the manifest disaster to America that this war has caused that leads to such deep seated disapproval of the war. Yet despite this groundswell of opposition, there are no massive demonstrations or social upheavals as seen during Vietnam.
So it is easy for someone like Rice or just about any other member of the ruling class in Washington D.C. to make such a pronouncement. (Jim Webb is a notable exception, and there are others.) After all, these elites are not being asked, or even having to ask Americans in general, to pay anything at all in order to conduct the war in Iraq. The Bush twins don't have to worry about having strings pulled to land plush assignments in order to avoid mandatory service in Iraq. The money we spend over there is being borrowed, to be payed by future leaders. It's like the blood and treasure being expended by our leadership is from some ghastly video game, and the consequence to them is solely political in nature. Can you imagine the consequences to them if the nation actually were asked to sacrifice for the effort? There would have been riots in the streets three years ago.
Of course it's worth it to them to continue this war. Being idiotic in the face of all the facts is all they can do in order to save what little is left of the one thing they are most desperate to protect, and most under assault. Their own political legacies.
They are more than happy to spend the blood of strangers, and the treasure of future generations in a desperate try to save their own reputations. Thats what this comes down to.
One of the calculations of this administration in carrying out this war was to make sure that Americans did not have to sacrifice in the war effort. There was no war tax, no draft, no call for oil conservation, no call for sacrifice of any kind.
I believe this calculation on the part of the administration was an attempt to garner lasting support for the war. One of the driving forces for protest during the Vietnam War was the draft. This administration decided to try to keep us all fat and happy in order to keep the hub bub on the home front to a minimum. It is only the manifest disaster to America that this war has caused that leads to such deep seated disapproval of the war. Yet despite this groundswell of opposition, there are no massive demonstrations or social upheavals as seen during Vietnam.
So it is easy for someone like Rice or just about any other member of the ruling class in Washington D.C. to make such a pronouncement. (Jim Webb is a notable exception, and there are others.) After all, these elites are not being asked, or even having to ask Americans in general, to pay anything at all in order to conduct the war in Iraq. The Bush twins don't have to worry about having strings pulled to land plush assignments in order to avoid mandatory service in Iraq. The money we spend over there is being borrowed, to be payed by future leaders. It's like the blood and treasure being expended by our leadership is from some ghastly video game, and the consequence to them is solely political in nature. Can you imagine the consequences to them if the nation actually were asked to sacrifice for the effort? There would have been riots in the streets three years ago.
Of course it's worth it to them to continue this war. Being idiotic in the face of all the facts is all they can do in order to save what little is left of the one thing they are most desperate to protect, and most under assault. Their own political legacies.
They are more than happy to spend the blood of strangers, and the treasure of future generations in a desperate try to save their own reputations. Thats what this comes down to.
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