April 12, 2008
It’s Occupation, Not War
http://www.antiwar.com/reese/?articleid=12680
by Charley Reese

The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan ended some
years ago. In Iraq, the war ended with the fall of Saddam Hussein’s
government; in Afghanistan, with the fall of the Taliban government.
What’s been happening since is occupation and resistance to
occupation.

It’s always helpful to call things by the right name. One of the ways
using the wrong word can trip us is illustrated by John McCain’s campaign
theme. We have to win the war in Iraq, he keeps saying. Ending a war
implies either winning or losing. No such baggage is attached to an
occupation. You can end an occupation without either winning or losing.
You just withdraw your troops.

The fact that what is going on in Iraq is an occupation is proven by
the nature of the conflicts. They are between factions of Iraqis. Our guys
are caught in the crossfire or killed by Iraqis who oppose our presence.
There are no large-scale attacks directed against us.

Those who want to continue the occupation paint a horrific picture of
what they claim will happen if we withdraw - a massive civil war, genocide
or a regional war. There is no hard evidence to support any of those
suppositions. But even if they happen, they need not concern us. Lots of
factions in different parts of the world decide to kill each other from
time to time, and we don’t interfere. As long as there are no Americans to
get caught in the crossfire, let the Iraqis have their civil war if that’s
what they want.

On the other hand, there’s never been civil war in Iraq. There were
rebellions against the Baathist government and, before that, against the
British-sponsored governments, but before our occupation, Sunnis and Shia
intermarried and lived side by side. There were always Christians in Iraq
and, until the state of Israel was created, Jews. That was, in fact, true
throughout the Middle East.

As for al-Qaeda, it has been virtually wiped
out in Iraq (estimated to be only about 8,000)- not by
us, but by Sunni tribesmen who turned against it because of its murderous
fanaticism. McCain keeps confusing al-Qaeda with Shia and trying to link
it to Iran, but al-Qaeda is a fundamentalist Sunni group way outside the
mainstream of Islam. Most al-Quaeda members are
Saudis or Egyptians not Iraqi. It was never in Iraq
until our war and occupation gave it an excuse to come in. It’s never been
in Iran. For American politicians to suppose that without us it would
thrive and grow in Iraq is just proof of their ignorance.

Our presence in Iraq is the only thing that made al-Qaeda viable. Our
occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan are the principal selling points in
al-Qaeda propaganda. We have no interests, strategic or otherwise, in
either country. The last thing al-Qaeda wants is for us to withdraw, which
is why it should be the first thing we do.

Whatever someone imagines we gain by staying in Iraq and Afghanistan is
far outweighed by what we are losing. We are losing lives in dribs and
drabs (27,000 casualties) so
far, and we are losing treasure at an alarming rate (12 billion a month). We have severe
internal problems that our military presence in the Middle East
aggravates. Our military is on the verge of being broken. Some Nobel
laureates estimate the war will end up costing us $3 trillion. Well, plain
and simple, we can’t afford it.

We should never go to war unless there are tangible, identifiable
benefits for the American people for doing so. Try to think of a benefit
we have gained from Iraq or Afghanistan. There are none. We deposed two
governments that were not attacking us or threatening to attack us, and we let get away the private terrorist group that had
attacked us. It does not matter that they were bad
governments. There are lots of bad governments in this world. The only bad
government we have an obligation to change is the one in Washington,
D.C.

If we don’t change direction in this country, we’re going to end up
impoverished and bankrupt, and you know what? Iraq and Afghanistan will
still be the messes they are today.

We must end this most disastrous
Occupation!