War Talk, Part I

All this Falluja and Mosul and CARE worker beheadings and Condi "Incompetent National Security Advisor" Rice promotions and CIA defections have me nostalgic for 2003. And not just because I was living the good life in Thailand.

I remember having some optimism about this war.

What? You don't believe me, do you? Well, you might be right, because as a life-long NY Jets fan, I have a reserve of cynicism rivaled only by Iraq's untapped oil reserves. But I thought it might be educational (for me, mostly) to re-visit a series of email exchanges I conducted with a journalist buddy of mine who had recently gotten back from covering the prewar buildup in Iraq for the Arizona Republic. (And who is now a brand-new father with a son whose name is curiously similar to his dog, but who deserves hearty congratulations nonetheless)

They are long. And ranting. But there is something of at least nostalgic value in remembering what it was like before all of those well-perched misgivings slid into shithole we now call Iraq.


Thu, 6 Mar 2003 21:22:28 -0800 (PST)

Hey, welcome back Ye Olde Jew in Dangerous Places.

I was reading a little bit of your War Spring Training reporting, and I could definitely relate to the anti-American sentiments of...well, just about everyone who isn't American or Thai. When I go to a touristy beach around here, any conversation I strike up with any non-local turns into an anti-war, anti-Bush, anti-imperialist, anti American hegemony, anti-me screed. Just last weekend, some friends and I were verbally bludgeoned by a Brit chick and her Namibian friend.

Now, I'm no war-hawk (and my muddled opinions on the current situation appear below), but as someone who was in the Lincoln Tunnel when a 727 smacked into one of the buildings not far from my apartment and whose cousin was disintegrated in that building's collapse and whose friends lost friends and family, when someone insists on referring to that event as "simply a tragedy," I'm almost at a loss to contain my fury. No, Miss British twit, this was a well-orchestrated, precision ATTACK carried out with ruthless success. And shit if we can just sit around and wait for something worse...

And when someone from AFRICA of all places criticizes my country's "brand of democracy" I'm wondering how jolly good things are going in the land of genocidal warlords, crippling corruption, famine and AIDS.

But, I digress. What are your (unedited) thoughts on the matter. You taking sides? Or are you resigned to the holy-fuck-world-going-to-hell-in-a-handbasket posture I tend to adopt most often? Inquiring minds want to know.

As for me, the more I read about it, the more confused I get. One second, I'm thinking, damn, we really need to get rid of this guy, shit is gonna get worse before it gets better anyway, and if we leave Saddam alone there is too much risk he will disseminate weapons to some other really bad people who don't like us too much. Or Israel.

All it takes is one chemical attack or dirty bomb in NYC and the world's economy circles the toilet. Do we wait until thousands of Americans die before we do something? An unpopular decision isn't always a wrong decision and blah, blah Armageddoncakes.

And then I'm thinking that much of the world don't like us too much, and is it a good idea to kill innocent people and become a preemptive aggressor against a Muslim nation that will polarize even more nutcases to strap on explosives or whatever? And war is never a really good thing if it can be avoided. What allows us to value the potential death of American lives over the certain death of Iraqi lives?

And maybe Saddam is contained--he would risk anihilation if he's caught using or passing a nuke. The bigger battle is one to change the hearts and minds of large groups of people and I'm not sure aggression is the right answer.

And then again, the only thing extremist fuckheads understand is violence. A threat not backed with force is an empty threat.

So I'm realistically resigned to the fact that the ball is rolling downhill and unlikely to stop short of war. Still, a little piece of me is hopeful that we are simply posturing ourselves (with the legitimate intention to fight if necessary) just short of war to prove that we aren't kidding about disarmament. Send the carriers, planes, high-tech toys, troops and everything. Then hope he backs the fuck down and lets us run all over his country looking for stuff without firing a shot.

That's really the only way to find weapons short of destroying his country and taking it over. Too many places to hide the shit.

But the problem isn't just Iraq. It's Iraq, North Korea, Iran, Israel & Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Al Qaida, and every disaffected Arab youth in the world with nothing but blood memory and hatred to motivate him in this life.

So, how's the weather in sunny Arizona these days?

--D. Bones