A Time for Peace

Discussion about the necessity or advisability of George W Bush's elective Iraqi War has become a news worthy topic again. I am grateful, but wonder why it took so long. Perhaps the large burden paid by a small percentage of the population and the deferral of costs now coming due are salient points.

Sustaining a war effort is difficult in many ways. Among those is the financial burden. Maybe it was the realization that we spent trillions of dollars with little to show for it. For whatever reason, this  this particular chapter in recent American history is being re-examined.

Citizens have the duty to question war-making. It is patriotic in the best sense of the word to question our country's war making efforts, especially when they are being used to gain political advantage. It is now clear to many that the Iraqi war was a multi-dimensional failure. Even if you don't accept the idea that invading Iraq was a strategic failure, it is hard to accept the necessity of unleashing so much death and destruction on hundreds of thousands of innocent people for the purpose of removing a single dictator. American taxpayers were duped accomplices in Bush's Iraqi misadventure. Yet, the silence from the right on this issue is deafening to this day.

Besides devastating human and financial costs, there is another terrible legacy we must confront. Our government lied to us. Bush's people lied deliberately and repeatedly about reasons for the war, torture, and contractor fraud. Some people still in power continue to believe the Bush era lies regarding weapons of mass destruction. Others feel that these particular lies were justifiable in this case due to the evil nature of Saddam. Those lies should never be allowed to stand.

The casualty here is the truth and our own credibility in the world. We started a pre-emptive war based on lies, and continued it for years. Will we be trusted in the future when legitimate threats emerge and we need help?

So what are our priorities? I would hope one would be the explicit aspiration to achieve a real and lasting peace. It is long past time to embrace a peace first mentality. This is hard given the combative nature of our political processes. Our national tolerance of incarceration driven by for-profit prison growth and the celebration of gun culture are sad commentaries on our national priorities. 

It is also long past time to rebuild our decaying infrastructure & put ourselves back to work. We need to refocus on education, clean energy and affordable health care. It would serve us well to disarm and take care of people first. A decade of War is a decade wasted in so many ways. We can do better. We need to try harder to create the Peace we all crave.