James M. Redwine

Iraq War

The First Casualty

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When our son, Jim, served in the Gulf War in 1990-91 and the Iraq War in 2006-07 and briefly in the Afghanistan War in 2007 he observed one of war’s most vital premises: our country should never fall behind the curve of military superiority. America was fortunate to recover from Pearl Harbor in time to help the Allies survive World War II. In the age of nuclear and cyber warfare we might not be able to survive World War III with outdated technology. The United States must remain vigilant. Vigilance does not call for aggression. In fact, our Constitution demands defense, not offense. However, we have been in an offensive mode militarily since we unwisely intervened in Viet Nam after France was driven out in 1954 after the Battle of Dien Bien Phu. Beginning in 1956 America saw fit to emulate the errors of the French and we have been intervening militarily in numerous countries ever since.

One thing we Americans thought we had learned from the discovery that our government had misled us into the Viet Nam War was the old truism that in war the first casualty is truth. This adage is often attributed to Aeschylus (525-456 BCE) but it probably has been noted by many observers of peoples drawn into wars by their leaders. By the way, those leaders have almost always not been the ones to do the fighting.

Such examples as King David sending Uriah to die in battle to hide David’s seduction of Uriah’s wife, Bathsheba, Second Samuel, chapter 11, or perhaps President George W. Bush’s false claim that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction or now our government’s claims about our war in Afghanistan may illustrate this ancient principle.

Just this month Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction John Sopko testified before the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee that America’s war in Afghanistan, our longest war ever, was conducted on a basis of lies to get and maintain Congressional political and funding support. The Washington Post newspaper published reports that Douglas Lute, former White House Afghan War official under both President George W. Bush and President Barack Obama, had testified America invaded Afghanistan in 2001 without a fundamental understanding of Afghanistan or what America planned to accomplish there.

Of course, Americans are no longer surprised that our government misleads us into wars. Unfortunately we have become inured to it. That is the danger. It is as frightening as the old story of the boy who cried wolf. If our government continues to mislead us into unnecessary wars, will we citizens respond appropriately when, and it could happen some day, we are asked to sacrifice our lives and treasure for a just cause such as our country’s survival?

Rattling Sabres

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Folk singer Phil Ochs (1940-1976) wrote a ballad about old people, mainly politicians, giving young people orders on how they should behave and believe. The closing verse is:

“So keep right on a talking
And tell us what to do.
If nobody listens,
My apologies to you.
And I know that you were younger once
‘Cause you sure are older now,
So when I got something to say, Sir,
I’m going to say it now.”

Ochs applied his sarcastic insight to the United States as well. In a song he wrote about American incursions from South America to Southeast Asia he criticized our government for interfering militarily when a country elected a leader we did not like and could not control:

“We’ll find you a leader
You can elect.”

Just based on media reports of our current actions in Venezuela and Iran, among others, Ochs’ message has had little resonance for our contemporary leaders. And hearing people on all sides of the military intervention issue from President Trump to each of the twenty-one 2020 presidential hopefuls and everyday folks from Maine to Monterey, perhaps Ochs might agree with Yogi Berra (1925-2015): “It’s deja vu all over again.”

That is not to say either Ochs or Berra or anyone else should encourage America to cease vigilantly preparing for danger. As our son, Jim Redwine, learned from personal experience while fighting on the front lines of the 1990-1991 Gulf War and in 2006-2007 in the Iraq War, we must not allow ourselves to fall behind the curve of military technology. Iraq’s military technology simply could not compare to ours. America must not allow itself to be on the weak side of the military equation.

What that concern does not require though is our penchant as the world’s preeminent military power to “Keep right on telling others what to do and whom they should elect.” Our power should remain potentially dominant but our desire to dominate other countries should remain in check. Our Constitution calls for “national defense”, not aggression.

With our current yearly national debt standing at 104.1% of our total gross national product it might behoove us to look to the source of this imbalance between production and debt. It began when we decided to drive the old Soviet Union into financial collapse via its military spending. Unfortunately our own spending rapidly increased from 30.9% of debt to GNP in 1981 mainly through our own massive military spending to where we are today. That is spending a lot of money we do not have. And it is always a good idea to learn from the mistakes of others. We do not want to become a broke and crumbling version of the old Soviet Union due to our own overspending on unnecessary world-wide military incursions.

Perhaps we should do what Russia should have done fifty years ago and concentrate on our domestic needs such as infrastructure, health care, global warming and our environment while continuing to keep pace, but not be profligate, with our national defense. A reasonable first step might be a policy of non-intervention in the internal affairs of other countries as long as they return the favor.

I know we often get legitimately upset with the behaviors and cultures of other countries. But countries are made up of people and we may want to step back from the dangerous and expensive practice of telling others how to behave and believe. It is analogous to how many of us view Freedom of Speech. We will allow others to say whatever they want and behave as they see fit as long as they say and do what we agree with. As that wise Hoosier war correspondent Ernest T. Pyle (1900-1945) observed during WWII:

“When you have lived with the unnatural mass cruelty that mankind is capable of inflicting on itself, you find yourself dispossessed
of the faculty for blaming one poor man for the triviality of his faults.”

We might want to consider a similar thought for other countries and other peoples.

Huh?

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Now that spring is here the end of the long winter of our discontent, that is the NBA season, is almost in sight. Maybe by the time Cubs fans finally shut up about their once in two life-times miracle, football will return. Anyway, with spring comes hope. Maybe life really will be renewed as promised by the fragrant blossoms from the locust trees, or not.

What does reappear as certainly as television programs filled with mindless sex and violence, I mean the news of course, are the miscommunications between men and women, religions and cultures and countries. We are left to wonder, what does it all mean; actually, what does any of it mean?

The reality of the danger inherent in one person or one group of persons misinterpreting the signs and signals from others has been brought home to me recently. I will cite three examples. You, Gentle Reader, will surely have your own.

WOMEN VERSES MEN

It is not called the Battle of the Sexes for nothing. We have about three million years of experience involving this war. Let’s face it. We are different. No matter how Madison Avenue tries to androgenize us, we just ain’t the same, especially when it comes to communication. I give you last weekend as an example.

“I am so ready for this weekend. Let’s have breakfast on the back porch and enjoy some coffee.”

“We need to get those plants moved while the ground is moist. And you need to get my garden tilled today.”

“I think the Cardinals play at 2:00 p.m. on ESPN.”

“The cardinals need sunflower seeds. Can’t you see how sad and confused they are by that empty bird feeder? You need to run into Rural King right now.”

I suppose those of you who are sure which one of the above speakers was right do not need the actors identified. Suffice it to say what women consider a weekend is for is not what men believe. You are correct. However, the cardinals that received the attention were not the Cardinals.

RELIGIONS AND CULTURES

If President Trump, as Candidate Trump, can claim he knows more about war in the Middle East than the generals, I may boldly assert I know something about religion. To that end I avow that there are legitimate reasons why different religious sects differ. It was probably the same even when Constantine decreed the threat of death as the best conversion sermon. People still believed as they thought proper.

In much of the world today Christians, Jews, Muslims and atheists, not to mention the many other faiths, are struggling over how many angels can dance on the barrel of a gun. And within each religion there are differing opinions as to what is the proper way to worship. Most significantly, some of the religious world is busy killing some of those of other religions in the name of bringing peace. In other words, the same words are interpreted differently.

Of course, all of us believe our culture is superior to all others. History, including contemporary events, is replete with death, destruction and denial of civil rights dealt out by one klavern against another. To do unto others before they do to us appears ever ascendant. Most of this is due to our inability to see situations from anther’s viewpoint.

COUNTRIES

While personal and cultural misapprehensions often result in cruelty and destruction, the greatest potential evil is caused by the leaders of countries sending out and receiving confusing signals. We could go back thousands of years for examples of wars begun over ignorance. Or we could just look to our own times: Viet Nam, The Gulf War, The Iraq War, Afghanistan and maybe soon Iran and North Korea.

I will admit that because our son fought on the frontlines of two of those wars my feelings are personal and certainly not unbiased. However, my opinion does not alter the facts: our country (and other countries) got into these conflicts after numerous miscommunications and misunderstandings. Weapons of mass destruction comes to mind.

What I suggest as a possible way to avoid our next shooting war, say with Iran or North Korea, is a careful and thoughtful effort to not vilify others we may not understand while we try hard to see matters from their position. This is the simple maxim that has been universally applied with success since we came down from the trees: Treat others as we wish to be treated.