Iraq vs the American Revolution

The not at all unexpected reaction to yesterday’s blog from a reader who thinks of me as representing the far left was, “What are you schizophrenic? How can you talk about the debt we owe the revolutionary warriors and not support the troops out there protecting our freedom in Iraq today?”

It’s a good enough question that I thought it might be worth using today’s time to answer it.

#1. The tacit sentiment in your question, and an assertion that has been put to me repeatedly over the last four years, is that we owe our allegiance to our government when it decides to send our troops to war, so I’ll start by addressing that issue. I maintain that the stance those of us who have opposed this war from the beginning have taken is much more akin to the stance taken by George Washington and his followers in 1776 than is the idea that we owe our allegiance to our government.

General Washington was willing to risk his very life on a daily basis and to give it most certainly if his army lost the war because he believed that the government of his country – which was Great Britain under King George (Isn’t that ironic?!) – was behaving in ways that were not in the best interests of Americans. That is exactly how I feel about the war in Iraq and the horrendous leadership of today’s little king George W.

When the way of life of the little man in America is threatened, leaders like George Washington are needed to risk their all for the well-being of their fellow man. How I wish that such a leader would emerge again. On the cusp of presidential election, that wish is even more fervently meant and the lack more deeply felt.

We do not owe our allegiance to our government or our president. We owe our allegiance to our country, and when our government acts in ways that are detrimental to our country, we owe our fellow citizens the expression of that distrust in the hope that they, too, will come to understand the grave risk they face. That is the reason for this blog’s existence.

#2. I don’t believe that anything our troops do in Iraq today in any way protects our freedom, our democracy or any other higher value. I do fully understand that most of our troops think that is what they are doing, but I assert that as a young man I felt the same way when I was drafted during the Vietnam War. I was no more right then than they are now.

I support them in their expression of love for their country. I salute their willingness to serve for the betterment of their fellow man. But I deplore the kind of government that would take advantage of their nobility by putting their lives in danger while using them for political and economic reasons while hiding the real reasons from the American people.

If you believe that this war has anything to do with desire to spread democracy for any reason other than to advance the gains of capitalism, I think you have allowed your wish to be part of something fine to overwhelm your interest in fully understanding the situation.

Here’s a thought for you – if you are opposed to global government and to globalization in general – you should be opposed to this war because it has nothing to do with anything other than those ideas.


Be the change you wish to see in the world. -- M. K. Gandhi

Individually we have little voice. Collectively we cannot be ignored.
But in silence we surrender our power. Yours in Peace -- BR

The reason for going was to keep the crude flowing and raise a false flag abroad. – from a poem by Jack Evans titled 3500 Souls - http://www.myspace.com/paralegal_eagle