If Iraq was a Mistake, Why are We Still There?

However one frames the debate, it is apparent to any fair minded and
rational person that the invasion of Iraq, based as it was on
misinformation at best, lies and deceptions at worst, was a mistake
and should never have occurred. Certainly President Obama has made
this claim on numerous occasions as well as many who had previously
supported (and voted for) the war. After having acknowledged this
fact, however, President Obama and others would have us forget the
past as it serves, in their view, no practical purpose to rehash and
moralize over things that cannot be undone. It will be the work of
future historians, legal scholars, and philosophers, they argue, to
untangle, interpret, and make judgments regarding the complex events
and decisions that led to the invasion and characterize the occupation
of Iraq. They warn that it is imperative at this crucial juncture that
we deal with the matters at hand, that we act quickly and decisively
in our national interest to ensure that our Country remains safe, that
our goals in Iraq and Afghanistan are achieved, and that our sacrifice
in blood and treasure is not for naught.

What President Obama and others who advocate such a position fail to
appreciate is that we live in a Nation that understands and accepts
the importance of the Constitution and the rule of law, both moral and
International. Accordingly, we determine our behavior, how we conduct
ourselves as a Nation, not only by what is in our national interest
but also by what is right, not only by what we CAN do, but also by
what we OUGHT to do. This is what we stand for as a people, the values
we hold sacred as a nation. Consequently, to focus exclusively on
"practical considerations" - present conditions and problems -
considered in isolation and apart from the causal chain of events that
led to the situation as it exists today is morally and legally
unacceptable and incoherent and counter to the principles and values
we believe must guide and determine our future course of action not
only in Iraq, but in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and elsewhere in the world
as well.

By accepting that the invasion and occupation of Iraq was a mistake
we must accept all that such an admission entails. According to Just
War Theory and International Law, the illegal and immoral use of
violence and deadly force against a sovereign nation and its
citizenry, constitutes aggression. Aggression is morally wrong and a
war crime under International Law. Aggressors violate the rights of
the aggressed to life, self-determination, and to live in a nation
that enjoys political sovereignty and territorial integrity -
sometimes referred to as the "rights of nations." Aggressors are
Unjustifiable Combatants. The victims of aggression have the privilege
to assert their rights - to act in self and national defense. As such,
they are Justifiable Combatants. Consequently, our invasion and
occupation of Iraq is aggression, members of our military are
aggressors - Unjustifiable Combatants - and those that struggle
against us, the "insurgents," are Justifiable Combatants asserting
their right of self and national defense.

This is the reality of our involvement in Iraq, a reality entailed and
implied by a recognition that our invasion was a mistake and should
never have occurred. The "fact" that we may have had good intentions
does not alter the moral and legal value of our involvement.
"Mistaken" aggression is no less aggression, no less a war crime.
"Mistaken" aggressors are no less liable to be resisted - warred
against in self and national defense.

Yet despite the realization that the invasion and occupation in Iraq
is aggression and despite our economy bordering on collapse, President
Obama, and many of our fellow citizens, argue that we cannot just stop
the killing and destruction and walk away. One important reason, they
offer, is national security. We must end the chaos created by our
aggression and restore stability in Iraq to ensure that it does not
become a training ground and sanctuary for terrorists who wish us
harm. A second reason, interestingly enough, is a moral one.
Paradoxically, we cannot stop the killing and destruction in Iraq
because we recognize our moral culpability and responsibility for our
aggression. That is, we cannot just abandon the Iraqi people to the
endless civil war and sectarian violence that would "inevitably" occur
in the power vacuum created by our departure. Consequently, we are
morally obligated to continue the killing and the destruction in Iraq
for at least a few more years, in order to save the Iraqis from
themselves and so they may enjoy the gift of freedom and democracy as
recompense for our aggression. While the initial use of violence and
deadly force against the Iraqi people may have been aggression, now,
however, we are on solid moral and legal ground, as the continued
killing and destruction entailed by our remaining, is humanitarian
intervention. (General George Casey, the Army Chief of Staff, by the
way, said recently that his strategic planning envisions combat troops
remaining in Iraq and Afghanistan for as long as ten years).

This argument for the continued occupation of Iraq is clearly
incoherent. It is as though our political leaders have accepted that
the American public is incapable of rational thought and will accept
any reason and justification for war as long as it is presented as
furthering our national interest and feeds our national ego regarding
our benevolence and moral superiority in the world.

It is time, therefore, long past time, that we show President Obama
and the Congress that we will be duped no longer, that we are not a
nation of sheep, and that we possess the ability to reason and think
critically. It is time, therefore, long past time, that we accept the
reality of what we have done and continue to do in Iraq, Afghanistan,
Pakistan and elsewhere in the world. We must stop the killing and the
destruction now, not later. We must understand that bringing stability
to the region is not about escalating violence, increasing the number
of troops, or dropping more and larger bombs. Nor is it about
searching out and destroying al Qaeda or the Taliban, or even
capturing or killing bin Laden. Rather, it is about inclusiveness,
diplomacy, understanding and dialogue. It is about doing the difficult
work of reconciliation and of addressing the grievances that nourish
radicalism. Most important, I believe, should we at long last
recognize that the days of US unilateralism and imperialism are over
and realize the necessity of involving and soliciting the assistance
of area powers such as Iran, Russia, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, China
and India, not only will the world be a better and safer place, but
perhaps for the first time in many years, we will begin to live
according to the principles and values that we claim characterize our
nation and of which we are so proud.