RSSStatement of Opposition to the War in Iraq
July 2nd, 2006 | View Comments
On March 24, 2003, shortly after the invasion of Iraq, I wrote an entry with this title that turned out to be one of my most popular and widely-linked entries. It was over 2000 words long, with links to dozens of media reports, government reports, and other sites to support my contention that going to war was wrong.
I won’t re-print the entire entry here, as many of the original links are now broken and people’s primary reasons for both supporting and opposing the war have changed in the three years since.
But here’s the final conclusion of my original argument, and it’s a conclusion that is possibly even more relevant today:
The Principles
Democracy—Not only is the United States a representative democracy, but the world is one too. The body that governs international affairs and oversees international law is the United Nations. Circumventing the will of the UN in the manner that President Bush has is equivalent to circumventing the rule of law and shows that the democratic process means nothing to us unless it serves our goals.
Justice—The American criminal justice system is based on one principle: the defendant is innocent until proven guilty without a reasonable doubt. In the United States, we do not make pre-emptive arrests for crimes we cannot prove ever happened. The result is that sometimes we let the guilty go free, but that is the choice our founding fathers made - to err on the side of protecting the innocent rather than punishing the guilty. The Bush has demonstrated more than once that this principle only applies when it is convenient. First, denying American citizens the right to a fair and speedy trial, and now condemning Saddam Hussein [for arranging terrorist attacks against the United States] without any convincing proof.
Morality—The major world religions all preach nonaggression, and Christianity in particular preaches nonviolence. Religious leaders worldwide have criticised the war on Iraq, including the Pope, because the violence in this case is aggressive and proactive, while morality dictates that violence should only be reactionary, and even then used only as a last resort, if at all.
There is no point in having principles, much less fighting for them, if you are going to apply them only when it’s to your advantage and only with people you like. It is also hypocritical to flaunt your superior morality and then use it as a battle cry when you cast them aside at a whim.
I oppose this war because the Bush administration’s actions leading up to the outbreak of war have been hypocritical and in direct violation of the very principles that Americans are supposed to cherish and defend. The international community recognizes this and now looks upon the United States with suspicion, distrust, and dislike. Where less than two years ago, the world almost universally gave the United States admiration, sympathy, and support, the President has squandered the international regard for our country and its people and succeeded in embarrassing us on a global stage. We are now seen by many as a loose cannon that is supported by the barest number of allies.
With the benefit of three years’ perspective and a cooler head, I feel I should concede that the world is arguably not a democracy; not all nations are UN nations, and the UN is dominated by the politics of but a few countries, including the US. Furthermore, the UN is an imperfect solution to the problem of world governance.
That said, the broader point is that the Bush administration’s treatment of the UN is of the same feather as its treatment of the US. The entire Bush crop is afflicted with the same social disease: confusion of “government of the people, for the people, by the people” with “government of your people, for our people, by my people.” They forget that they are public servants, not masters.
This question of whether or not the Iraq war, as executed by the Bush administration, is an exercise in killing our core values in order to save them, a question that was raised by a very small number of individuals three years ago, has become a central question in the debate over the war.
After the shredding of the Geneva Conventions, Guantanamo, Abu Ghraib, the illegal wiretapping, and Hamdan, people have realized that Bush and cronies’ have been wrapping their thoroughly un-American conduct in Old Glory. To a true patriot, that should be much more distasteful than setting her on fire.
I saw Superman Returns yesterday. Remember “truth, justice, and the American way”? Now it’s “truth, justice, all that stuff”. Superman wouldn’t stand for Bush’s American way.
Yvonne posted this on July 2nd, 2006 @ 1:49pm in Classic Entries, News/Politics, Religion | Permalink to "Statement of Opposition to the War in Iraq"
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