Lessons for Washington from Mesopotamia Go Unstudied

For a generation, American politicians and arm-chair generals have blathered on about “the lessons of Vietnam.” Largely, they have been less interested in the lessons and more interested in fighting the great historical battle of “what if.” Much the same is happening with regard to the conflict, four years old today, in Mesopotamia. There are genuine lessons to be studied, if only one wants to take the time to look.

Militarily, the US should learn that technology can only substitute for manpower to a degree. After that, well, as Mao said, “quantity is a quality in its own right.” A million men equipped to World War II levels of technology probably could have held Iraq-Nam from the beginning. Clearly, 160,000 21st century soldiers can’t. Another military lesson is conquest versus control. Shattering a dictatorship is easy relative to building a replacement regime (let alone a democratic one). Plans should take this into account (indeed, plans should exist).

Politically, the people have to be given the truth at the beginning. There were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq-Nam at the time the US government committed its troops to combat. That lie (or at best, willful disregard of evidence that there were none) is still undermining everything the administration says about the war. There is no credibility in the Bush White House when it comes to foreign policy. Of course, had the truth been told at the beginning, the war almost certainly wouldn’t have been launched. It was only the post-9/11 fear that made the WMD charge effective, and nothing else would have been.

Diplomatically, the US must acknowledge that being the strongest power in the world doesn’t equate to possessing infinite power. America can only achieve its optimum security and most vital goals as a leading participant in the community of nations. Diplomacy doesn’t always work, but force alone has proved that it cannot always prevail. The network of global organizations can be put to work for America’s benefit just as easily as it can prevent America from pursuing its objectives. It is up to the American leadership to decide whether world institutions will be a help or a hindrance.

Culturally, America and Americans have to look in the mirror pretty closely. Republican Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina said of Abu Ghraib, “When you are the good guys, you’ve got to act like the good guys.” The image of the guy in the white hat riding into town to take care of the baddies is something that resonates in the American mind. Superman fought for “Truth, Justice and the American Way,” as if those things just naturally went together. If only they did.

Since September 11, 2001, Americans have let their fear get the better of them. They have quit asking questions of their government, and they have quit doubting the motives of those in power. The Republic, of course, was founded on the premise that government leaders must be questioned at every turn, and that power corrupts, that absolute power does so absolutely. It has taken four years of war in Iraq-Nam to bring America to where it is, and it will likely take a generation to bring it where it should be. It will take much longer is these lessons aren’t studied soon.

© Copyright 2007 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Fedora Linux.

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