Saturday, January 20, 2007
(11:56 AM) | Adam Kotsko:
Partisan Rancor
Does it seem to you that our political elites routinely overestimate the degree to which most people value bipartisanship and national unity? Having had a car for the last few weeks, I've been listening to a lot more NPR, and I've got to say that I'm sick to death of everyone -- reporters, pundits, politicians, everyone -- making continual reference to the need to move forward in some kind of unified way, almost as though a serious disagreement between the two political parties on a serious issue like Iraq would be more damaging than, you know, the actual effects of the Iraq War. As I recall, the political elites were pretty "unified" about how gravely necessary the Iraq War was, and all their wonderful "unity" didn't end up producing very desirable results.And another thing -- in exactly what way is Iraq vital to our national security? I'm sincerely confused about this. What "dire" consequences would result for the US "if" we lost in Iraq? I'm pretty sure that the oil companies can handle things for themselves -- hire some South African mercenaries to guard the oil wells and let the rest of the country go to hell. Would Muqtada al Sadr be appointed president of the US if we pulled out? Would we be facing a major Sunni insurgency on American soil? Or is it just a matter of saving face -- if we admitted to losing a war, people would know that it's possible for us to lose a war?
I'm pretty sure people already fucking know that it's possible for the US to lose a fucking war. We've lost in Iraq! Get over it! Pull out now! Immediately, precipitously, "irresponsibly" -- just get the motherfuck OUT! That is the only "way forward," to get the fuck out. Just fucking stop. That's my "plan," which I am apparently morally required to produce if I am to criticize the sheer idiocy of arbitrarily sending in more troops. Iraq is probably unfixable, and in any case it's unfixable by us. There are plenty of failed states in the world where things will probably never get better, and we're not indefinitely occupying any of them.
Oh, also impeach Bush and Cheney, because they're war criminals who have also repeatedly and flagrantly violated the US Constitution and claimed the right to violate it further. It would probably divide the nation and appear to be partisan (i.e., because Bush and Cheney belong to a particular political party and therefore would obviously be impeached solely for that reason), but it'd totally be worth it.
