The Glory of War
The Senate was continuing its debate on the horrible debacle of the Iraq War. They had finally mustered the 60 votes they needed to pass the amendment that would begin to bring the orderly return of our troops there. With large majorities in both the House and the Senate, the bill was sent to the POTUS, where true to form, he vetoed it.
Now it was going to take supermajorities in both houses to override the veto. Somehow, that made sense given that a super majority of voters wanted the same thing.
Jeanelle called me over to her computer.
“Look at this,” she said.
She had received an email from one of her good friends in Baghdad.
“Green Zone under heavy attack”, it said.
I checked out the news services and the blogs.
Nothing.
“Ask her what kind of attack?” I said.
Jeanelle quickly typed in the reply.
In a few minutes, we got this:
“American GZ is receiving heavy mortar fire, missile fire, and possible suicide bombings from fixed wing aircraft… entire area is in flames... Americans counter attacking all sections of the city.
The attack seems to be a combination of Suni, and Shia militias, Bathists regulars, and some government forces “
Area west of river in flames. Smoke over the city is dense. Large, loud explosions in the GZ continue to occur.”
I had always thought that if I was a general in Baghdad, I would be a little less than comfortable with the notion that I was, for all purposes, surrounded by the enemy, that I couldn’t protect the road to the airstrip where my supplies came in, and that the enemy could dump occassional mortar fire on my command staff HQ whenever they wanted.
In the old days, if you were surrounded by your enemy, you were in deep do do.
But the American politicians and even the generals were too full of their own hubris to see the obvious.
They were lost in their superior fire power, their control of the air, and their high tech predator drones that could spit fire with the push of a button from South Carolina.
And they, being true capitalists, could not imagine a scenario in which superior resources, advanced technology, and blistering fire power would not ultimately prevail. After all, if you can’t dominate with 300 million dollars a day, exactly how much money does it take?
I checked CNN for the story. Nothing.
I checked McClatchy. Nothing.
Then CBS came on with a special announcement:
“Authorities in Bagdad indicate that a major Coalition offensive has begun which will mop up the remaining pockets of resistance in the city as part of our continuing surge and security operation.”
I glanced over at Jeanelle and made that face I make.
“Look, they’ve taken to “preemptive propaganda” just to cover their preemptive war making rears.”
I then received an e mail from an English professor friend in Paris.
“Looks bad for the Yanks”, he said.
“Hardly anyone here knows yet”, I responded
By the next day the administration was in a full court press with their spinmeisters. “Yesterday was a tough day in the war against terror”, they said. “American Forces are confident of victory”, said Patreus. My favorite came from Snow, “ “We think that it is encouraging that the Iraqi people are showing what it means to be a free people. This would not have been possible in the dark days of Saddam.”
But we and the rest of the world knew.
The puppet government of Maliki would fall that afternoon. A new government of Shia, Sunni, and even a few Kurds was formed. But they were Nationalists. They were not about to allow their country to be partitioned into three sub countries. That was the CIA plan all along anyway. And they weren’t about to allow the West to privatize their oil resource. With the Anbar province developed, they had more Oil than even the Saudis.
Now it was going to take supermajorities in both houses to override the veto. Somehow, that made sense given that a super majority of voters wanted the same thing.
Jeanelle called me over to her computer.
“Look at this,” she said.
She had received an email from one of her good friends in Baghdad.
“Green Zone under heavy attack”, it said.
I checked out the news services and the blogs.
Nothing.
“Ask her what kind of attack?” I said.
Jeanelle quickly typed in the reply.
In a few minutes, we got this:
“American GZ is receiving heavy mortar fire, missile fire, and possible suicide bombings from fixed wing aircraft… entire area is in flames... Americans counter attacking all sections of the city.
The attack seems to be a combination of Suni, and Shia militias, Bathists regulars, and some government forces “
Area west of river in flames. Smoke over the city is dense. Large, loud explosions in the GZ continue to occur.”
I had always thought that if I was a general in Baghdad, I would be a little less than comfortable with the notion that I was, for all purposes, surrounded by the enemy, that I couldn’t protect the road to the airstrip where my supplies came in, and that the enemy could dump occassional mortar fire on my command staff HQ whenever they wanted.
In the old days, if you were surrounded by your enemy, you were in deep do do.
But the American politicians and even the generals were too full of their own hubris to see the obvious.
They were lost in their superior fire power, their control of the air, and their high tech predator drones that could spit fire with the push of a button from South Carolina.
And they, being true capitalists, could not imagine a scenario in which superior resources, advanced technology, and blistering fire power would not ultimately prevail. After all, if you can’t dominate with 300 million dollars a day, exactly how much money does it take?
I checked CNN for the story. Nothing.
I checked McClatchy. Nothing.
Then CBS came on with a special announcement:
“Authorities in Bagdad indicate that a major Coalition offensive has begun which will mop up the remaining pockets of resistance in the city as part of our continuing surge and security operation.”
I glanced over at Jeanelle and made that face I make.
“Look, they’ve taken to “preemptive propaganda” just to cover their preemptive war making rears.”
I then received an e mail from an English professor friend in Paris.
“Looks bad for the Yanks”, he said.
“Hardly anyone here knows yet”, I responded
By the next day the administration was in a full court press with their spinmeisters. “Yesterday was a tough day in the war against terror”, they said. “American Forces are confident of victory”, said Patreus. My favorite came from Snow, “ “We think that it is encouraging that the Iraqi people are showing what it means to be a free people. This would not have been possible in the dark days of Saddam.”
But we and the rest of the world knew.
The puppet government of Maliki would fall that afternoon. A new government of Shia, Sunni, and even a few Kurds was formed. But they were Nationalists. They were not about to allow their country to be partitioned into three sub countries. That was the CIA plan all along anyway. And they weren’t about to allow the West to privatize their oil resource. With the Anbar province developed, they had more Oil than even the Saudis.
.
The American Army didn’t cut and run.
It was cut down and run down.
The loss of men and material was horrendous.
By the end of the week, the House has introduced its Articles of Impeachment for the POTUS and VPOTUS. No one doubted that there were plenty of votes in the Senate to convict.
The Punk Ass Chump president who never went to war himself, and instead went AWOL from his unit, was paying in spades for his lack of compassion, his disdain for wisdom, and his overall lack of class.
The World Court would soon initiate formal hearings to bring war criminal charges.
Much the same way as Napoleon’s army came back from Moscow,
The American Army came home;
Without its equipment,
And without a parade.
And the Glory of War
Was at last no more.
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5 Comments:
The photo at the top of your blog reminded me instantly of Minard's famous graphic:
http://www.edwardtufte.com/tufte/graphics/poster_OrigMinard.gif
Says Alexander Cockburn at http://www.counterpunch.org/pcockburn0507.html :
"Above is Charles Minard's map of Napoleon's disastrous Russian campaign. Drawn in 1861, the graph illustrates the relative size of Napoleon's Army by the width of the bands during the invasion (top/gold) and retreat (black). Minard also charts the freezing temperatures encountered during the retreat. Many consider this one of the greatest statistical maps ever made and, of course, a profound anti-war statement."
PS: Loved the "Man's World" video!
thanks Magmak1. I have that graphic framed on my office walls, so I added it to the post.
The graphic is truly a classic as well as a sobering reminder of the costs of war.
A remarkable exhibit of imagination, or a dark specter of the future, or both. SP
I made a few minor changes to the post on Friday morning.
We cannot consider our global future without considering the impact of the military economy both for its capacity for madness and its capacity for action on a global scale.
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