03 November 2006
Willful Blindness in Iraq
In his “Talk of the Town” article in the October 30, 2006, New Yorker, George Packer was incorrect to characterize America’s failed policy in Iraq as a “defeat.” It is only a defeat if its goal was to demonstrate the ability of the U.S. heedlessly to intervene in the affairs of another nation.
The war has never been about acting in the interests of the Iraqi people. Therefore, that those interests have not been advanced is not a defeat. Serving America’s perceived security interests, and the interests of those whose business it is to protect that security, was the real goal. Impatience with having to sell the second half of that goal to the American public has landed the Bush Administration in a pickle.
The administration does not want to admit that it made a mistake thinking it could disguise its real motivations for attacking Iraq with arguments about WMD, democracy in the Greater Middle East, or freedom for oppressed segments of the Iraqi population. Willful blindness to that mistake is not defeatist although in the end, vis-à-vis the Iraqis, it is certainly heartless. The real issue is whether persistence in that mistake demonstrates determination or just stupidity. And so, it is indeed self-defeating.
In his “Talk of the Town” article in the October 30, 2006, New Yorker, George Packer was incorrect to characterize America’s failed policy in Iraq as a “defeat.” It is only a defeat if its goal was to demonstrate the ability of the U.S. heedlessly to intervene in the affairs of another nation.
The war has never been about acting in the interests of the Iraqi people. Therefore, that those interests have not been advanced is not a defeat. Serving America’s perceived security interests, and the interests of those whose business it is to protect that security, was the real goal. Impatience with having to sell the second half of that goal to the American public has landed the Bush Administration in a pickle.
The administration does not want to admit that it made a mistake thinking it could disguise its real motivations for attacking Iraq with arguments about WMD, democracy in the Greater Middle East, or freedom for oppressed segments of the Iraqi population. Willful blindness to that mistake is not defeatist although in the end, vis-à-vis the Iraqis, it is certainly heartless. The real issue is whether persistence in that mistake demonstrates determination or just stupidity. And so, it is indeed self-defeating.
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