Gary Leupp: The “Right Thing” in Iraq?
[Gary Leupp is a Professor of History, and Adjunct Professor of Comparative Religion at Tufts University, and author of numerous works on Japanese history. He can be reached at: gleupp@granite.tufts.edu.]
Fox News recently reported that 58% of U.S. residents believe that the U.S. “did the right thing” in going to war in Iraq. This reflects the fact that most have been persuaded that combat is over, the troops having succeeding in toppling a dictator and establishing a democracy.
I don’t know how accurate the statistic is, but my gut feeling is that it’s probably pretty accurate. And profoundly depressing. Have people forgotten that this war was fought, not for such reasons, but to destroy Saddam Hussein’s (alleged) weapons of mass destruction and end his (supposed) cooperation with al-Qaeda?
Have they forgotten how terrified the Bush administration made them, with carefully calculated talking points? (For example: “Let’s hope the smoking gun isn’t a mushroom cloud over New York City.”) With all the insane color-coded threat advisories, and all the Orwellian manipulation, in the background? With the “Information Awareness Office” under Adm. Poindexter, seemingly modeled after the surveillance system in the former East Germany, making all thinking people uneasy? With Bush spokesman Ari Fleischer saying–after comedian Bill Maher opined matter-of-factly that whatever else they were the 9-11 hijackers weren’t “cowards”–“All Americans need to watch what they say”?...
Read entire article at Dissident Voice
Fox News recently reported that 58% of U.S. residents believe that the U.S. “did the right thing” in going to war in Iraq. This reflects the fact that most have been persuaded that combat is over, the troops having succeeding in toppling a dictator and establishing a democracy.
I don’t know how accurate the statistic is, but my gut feeling is that it’s probably pretty accurate. And profoundly depressing. Have people forgotten that this war was fought, not for such reasons, but to destroy Saddam Hussein’s (alleged) weapons of mass destruction and end his (supposed) cooperation with al-Qaeda?
Have they forgotten how terrified the Bush administration made them, with carefully calculated talking points? (For example: “Let’s hope the smoking gun isn’t a mushroom cloud over New York City.”) With all the insane color-coded threat advisories, and all the Orwellian manipulation, in the background? With the “Information Awareness Office” under Adm. Poindexter, seemingly modeled after the surveillance system in the former East Germany, making all thinking people uneasy? With Bush spokesman Ari Fleischer saying–after comedian Bill Maher opined matter-of-factly that whatever else they were the 9-11 hijackers weren’t “cowards”–“All Americans need to watch what they say”?...