A Note on the Continuing Collapse of Western Civilization or at Least American Civilization

-- which, in the case of the early 21st century global capital supra-state (you know, like Thrush was) probably is one and the same.

Anyway.

The piece is by Peter B. Gillis:

But we're at war!

All right, I know I shouldn't do it, but Bill Kristol said on Fox News Sunday that Harry Reid saying the war is lost is disgraceful and worse than Trent Lott saying we'd be better off as a segregated nation .
Now George Bush and his Cylons have in fact lost their war, Bill Kristol is both an unethocal debater and perpetually wrong in matters of fact. And most Americans don't believe him, nor are they vulnerable to any of his blandishments.
So I shouldn't get as angry as I got.
I've already talked about the structural reasons why someone as stupid and dishonest as Kristol should get facetime on the teevee--and I don't think I have to (or want to) state why this war is wrong.
However my argumentative mind kicked in its afterburner and I started coming up why criticism of this war is not wrong. It goes over some territory I've talked about before, but, well, we're still not out and the Uruk-AEI are still attacking us for saying bad thing 'when we're at WAAAAR!"

1) One of the reasons we are supposed to be unified when the country goes to war is that we're not supposed to falter in our resolution when things take a bad turn. Tom Paine in The Crisis wrote of 'sunshine patriots." All well and good.
But in this case, we resolved nothing. Millions of people marched in the streets saying 'don't go in," and the President called them a 'focus group.' And more impportantly there was no vote in Congress to invade and occupy Iraq.
We as a nation did not agree to go to war. Not officially, not by consensus, and not by reasoned debate.
When america goes to war, we should stand by that decision. When the President, supported by his political party, embarks on a military adventure, no such compunction exists.

2) Criticism does not impede military effort. The oppponents of the war did not shut down factories providing for the military. They did not reduce the manpower by refusing the draft--there's not only no draft, at no point has the President called for enlistment to fight in the war. They have not refused to pay war taxes or levies or violate rationing--because none of those exist.
The President has not required anything of the American people in this war. Not money, not resources, not even bodies.
What kind of a war is it, when nothing substantive or physical is required--but we should give up our right to dissent, our right to privacy, and our right to habeas corpus? No actual troops are needed, but the troops we have are so psychologically fragile that domestic dissent impedes their ability to fight?
Domestic support for the troops may be important if our troops are in a desperate situation--when they face a superior foe, are vastly outnumbered, or are in a terrible tactical position--as they have been in World Wars 1, II and Korea.
Frankly, with no armies to meet in the field, no enemy positions to take, no tanks, planes, ships or ICBMs to destroy, what the troops need is not courage, but wisdom.
That is what we have been trying to supply.

3) If we lose the war, what will we lose? Surrender? Wee're not surrendering our troops. We're not surrendering our armaments. And we never intended that the territory of Iraq was something we were taking for ourselves. Historically, surrender means giving up some of these things. If we leave, we give nothing of that sort up.
If we leave, will the Bad Guys win? Which Bad Guys? Al Qaeda? Al Qaeda will not control Iraq, or any part of it, if we leave. Moqtada Al-Sadr? But he was part of the government we supported. Iran? Syria? How can we say we were trying to prevent Syrian or Iranian encroachment when we did not even attempt to secure or fortify the borders?
And if we leave, what will happen to America?
Nothing.
The terrorists will 'follow us home?' The world will cease to respect us?
The terrorists know where we live. The world has already ceased to respect us.

There is no moral reason, no ethical reason, and no practical reason why we should not continue to criticize this war, and call for its end.

There. Now back to work.