Amritas chronicles the evolution of his thinking since 9-11. It's an odd thing: I think I agree with his basic perception of the facts, but ultimately I disagree with him. In other words, I don't think that Iraq is going to be a shining beacon of democracy which will light up the world (or even just a plain-old imperfect democracy like Germany or Japan, or the US) - nevertheless I think that in the context of the Middle East, Iraq has already proven to be a beacon of light, and is therefore a great success.
There's an expression: "Where you stand depends on where you sit" - usually it refers to the fact that people often choose ideals to support the goals they imply, rather than the other way around. But it could also refer to the fact that how things look depends on what angle you are looking from. There's a common expression in Hebrew: D'varim shero'im mikan lo' ro'im misham (דברים שרואים מכאן לא רואים משם) - Things that you see from here, you don't see from there. (The expression flows better in Hebrew: the biggest problem with the translation is that English doesn't have a non-specific pronoun. For those of you who know French, translate using "on".) From where I sit, it is natural to compare Iraq today not with Germany or Japan or the US, but with the rest of the Arab world, and with what Iraq used to be. Unless Iraq descends into a Khomeini-like theocracy (which is possible, but I would bet against it) there is no way I could consider the US actions in Iraq to be a failure, neither in the past nor in the foreseeable future.Of course, there is the legitimate question of whether it is worth the cost, both in lives and treasure. To me, it looks like it is definitely worth it. On the question of lives, it really hasn't been that expensive. Before you jump on me for devaluing life, or for putting a price tag on life, let me point out that the US has been fighting this war with a volunteer army, and it's not soldiers that are complaining about the cost of war - indeed, they have been among its biggest supporters - so grow up and let the soldiers be mature adults capable of making their own decisions.
On the question of money, again I think that the cost hasn't been that high. Although the numbers look gigantic in absolute terms, the US can well afford it, and the price of doing nothing could well be much, much higher.
(Now for those of you who would say that of course I support this war because I am a Zionist, and this war was fought for the interests of the Zionists, against the interests of the US: I want you to explain to yourself very carefully how the interests of Israel and the US are not ultimately aligned on this issue. If the terrorists win, it is true that Israel will feel it first and most severely, but ultimately the US and the whole free world will feel it too. Do you think that when the Islamists succeed in destroying Israel, that they settle down peacefully in their own countries and cultivate their gardens? Or do you simply think that Israel acting alone can hold down the front line, while the US and Europe party? - This may or may not be true, but it is not a strategy for winning, and usually when you don't play to win, you lose.)
If I do have a criticism of the war, I would say that it's been much too timid. Rather than regretting what was done so far, I would regret what has not been done: the US has let North Korea become a nuclear power, and seems to be on the verge of doing the same in Iran. These countries are the other two members of the Axis of Evil (remember them?) - the three countries correctly, in my opinion, singled out as the most dangerous to the free world (not necessarily the most evil in their domestic policies, though). What are we going to do about them? There's still time to deal with Iran before it gets the bomb, and the US presence in Iraq positions it well to do so. If we waste this opportunity, the War on Terror might well be a failure yet.
ADDENDUM: I have written in this vein before, examples: here, here, here.
UPDATE: I don't regularly read Auster, so perhaps I am missing something. But I don't quite understand his alternative to US actions in Iraq (in the larger sense - of course there have been many mistakes on specifics, but you can't fight a war without making mistakes). Leave Saddam in power? Destroy Saddam and get out, letting Iraq fall into dictatorship or theocracy, or letting Iran just invade and take over? The US presence in Iraq positions us well with respect to Iran, and don't forget that it enabled the US to exit Saudi Arabia. Of course, it's still possible to screw up, but it's hard for me to find major fault with what's happened so far, unless you want to say that the US has been too timid - something I would agree with, but the critics of the war usually argue just the opposite.
UPDATE: Amritas answers. As far as I can tell, we pretty much agree on where we have to go, to the extent that either of us have a specific opinion. It looks to me like our real point of disagreement is whether we are actually going there. His bottom line seems to be (correct me if I'm wrong): Withdraw the troops to an unpopulated area in the region, and encourage "Kemalism". It seems to me that this is exactly the (medium-range) goal of the current strategy. As quickly as possible, the US wants to withdraw its troops to bases in unpopulated areas, leaving the Iraqi army in charge. What the Wikipedia article on Kemalism (linked above) doesn't say is that the Turkish army is its primary support. Turkey has gone through several rounds of democratic governments, with the army taking over in between each time they failed - and it's still a major power in Turkey today, under the current "democracy". It seems to me that the US is quietly trying to build the Iraqi army into a similar institution, i.e. into a secular, pro-democracy power within Iraq, and my impression is that there certainly is a fairly large segment of the population of this sort to work with. Will it succeed? I have seen stories which point in both directions, and I'm not in a position to make a judgment. If not, the US army can always be called out of its bases - the tactic which Auster seems to support. In the meantime, I don't see what can be lost in trying to get Iraq to democratize as much as possible. And for political reasons, if not moral ones, I think we have to try.
Posted by David Boxenhorn at September 12, 2005 09:23 AM | TrackBacks