As
The 13th Anniversary Of The (Second, The 2003 One) Iraq War Is Upon
Us -No New War In Iraq! Down With The War-Monger Obama
From
The Pen Of Frank Jackman
[No this writer is not lost in a time warp, nor is he suffering from a senior moment in continuing
to note the anniversary, the 13th anniversary, of the ill-fated,
ill-advised, ill, well, let’s just keep it as the previous two ills, of what
seemed last year to be the end of the seemingly completed fiasco in Iraq.
However although American troops have mainly been withdrawn many thousand
American bought and paid for “contract” soldiers are still operating in that
theater. Moreover the wreckage from the huge American footprint (bootprint,
really) is still wreaking havoc on that benighted land from lack of electrical
power to unexploded bombs to speak nothing of the current constant political
turmoil between the myriad factions struggling for power. Then there is the
question of those tens of thousands of soldiers who had been switched over
within a heartbeat from benighted Iraq to benighted Afghanistan. The call for
immediate troop withdrawal from Afghanistan of that last ten thousand troops if
not drawing much support in these back- burner concern days is still a
necessary call. Finally, if there is a modern example of the follies of war, of a needless imperial
adventure, of flat-out American imperial hubris to do something explosive (in
more ways than one) then the ill-famed Iraq invasion started on March 19, 2003
should be etched in every leftist militant, hell, every thoughtful citizen’s
brain. Yet President Obama seeks on his hands and knees if you can believe this
new authorization to send the Iraq War into overtime with this alleged
existential threat by ISIS or whatever initials those insane butcher terrorists
are running to these days. Make no mistake we have no truck ISIS and whatever
alphabet soup organizations spring from, are associated with, or are successor
organizations to that one but to go along with the bloodied-handed imperialists
who brought forth these demons who want to get more deeply involved in a
sectarian conflict with no “good” sides is rich, very rich, indeed. No way. ]
Here is part three of a little cautionary tale to
commemorate this sad occasion (see this blog dated March 19 for part one, March
20 for part two):
*******
Walking toward Union Square in his hometown of New York City one brisk, blustery mid-March
Saturday in 2006 Tim Reid was approached by an older man with a full
grey-speckled beard and longish matching hair passing out leaflets for a 3rd anniversary of the Iraq war anti-war
rally. As the older man tried to interest him in a leaflet Tim recognized him,
Artie Feingold, as an old co-worker in the struggle against the first Iraq war
under Bush’s father in an ad hoc
anti-imperialist committee formed quickly to oppose that war. Tim sheepishly
took the leaflet and as he did so out of some mist of time Artie also
recognized him and started to engage in an effort to get Tim to stay for the
rally.
The reason for Tim’s sheepishness and reluctance was that
until very recently he had fully supported the Bush war policy. After a couple
of years of being lied to from top to bottom by that administration, a couple
of years of the whole damn U.S. military being unable to find any weapons of
mass destructions that was the lynchpin to his support, the daily horrible
carnage in the full-scale civil war going on in Iraq, and the increasing
American casualty lists he had taken a few steps away from that support. Tim was not sure that he wanted to engage
Artie in his reasoning since he knew that Artie had moved from that ad hoc committee to one of the
never-ending Marxoid groupings that canvassed the city and who reasons for
separate existence (and in some cases existence at all) always evaded him. By
the name of the organization on the leaflet he knew Artie was still a “believer”
and that made him even more hesitant to enter a discussion. He at first moved
away and then headed back to Artie not to argue so much since there now was less
ground separating them but to explain his previous position a little.
Artie, not having seen Tim in many years, was unaware that
his politics had changed and so what Tim had to say startled him at first. Tim
noted that his opposition to that first Iraq war, and if he recalled Artie’s
too, had centered on opposition to a war fought for sheiks, one set of dictators
, and oil against the acknowledged mad man Saddam Hussein. It was not our
fight, not at all. Mercifully it was soon over and life continued on. This
later war though Tim had thought had been fully justified in the new post
9/11world reality especially when the mad men were hitting New York City.
Hitting, he admitted, the place where he and his kids were living, a fact that
changed his view significantly since he felt he had to go to any lengths to
protect his kids in a dangerous world. Besides he was sure that when, of all
the Bush administration speakers, solid Colin Powell a man not easily to rattles
and of sound judgment in military matters, had given the “green light” to those
tales of weapons of mass destruction he was on board. After the initial “slam
dunk” invasion Tim felt that the whole thing would be wrapped up and
nation-building could go forward quickly. Then the whole thing turned to ashes,
turned to ashes almost as quickly as the initial success. He felt sure though
that that devious Hussein bastard’s hiding places would be found at some point.
Then nothing, nothing but casualty
reports.
Artie listened to Tim rather politely like in the
intervening years he too had learned to be less hot-headed and argumentative
and more thoughtful. He confessed that Tim’s story sounded very much like that
of his parents who still lived over in Brooklyn and who had been early members
of Students for Socialism in their youthful student days who went that extra
mile with Bush on Iraq to save their beloved city. Then, naturally, Artie, good
old Artie, tried to badger Tim a little into coming over to the rally for a
little while anyway, maybe run into a few more old co-workers from the old
days. Tim begged off, first using the excuse of having to deal with the kids
and then, more truthfully, stated that he while he wasn’t on board the Bush bus
any longer he was not sure that his opposition was deep enough to publicly
express anti-wars sentiments. To Tim’s surprise Artie did not press the issue
but left Tim with this-“Maybe next year for the fourth anniversary anti-war
rally you will join us.” Tim did a double-take and then realized that what
Artie had to say about another year of war might be very true. As he turned
away toward home with the first chants of the day Immediate Unconditional Withdrawal Of U.S. Troops, Stop The War,
and Bring The Troops Home burst into
the old New York air some of the old juices began to flow in his veins…
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