We'll set you free - even if it kills you

reprinted from May 4th, 2004

Much of the rationalization for our invasion and occupation of Iraq has been to give the nation of Iraq a democratic basis, and to spread democracy throughout the Middle East. If we are to believe the President, all people deserve to be free, which can only occur in a democracy.

Securing democracy in Iraq is the work of many hands. American and coalition forces are sacrificing for the peace of Iraq and for the security of free nations.

Therefore, the United States has adopted a new policy, a forward strategy of freedom in the Middle East. This strategy requires the same persistence and energy and idealism we have shown before. And it will yield the same results. As in Europe, as in Asia, as in every region of the world, the advance of freedom leads to peace.

Giving Bush the benefit of every doubt, his seemingly idealistic plan for democratizing the Middle East, beginning with Iraq, seems to have drawn nothing but violent resentment from the Iraqis themselves. They don't seem to appreciate what the U.S. is offering them. They're not cheering our gift to them. In fact, the U.S. effort in Iraq has, for perhaps the first time in history, brought us to the point where most of the world's people view the U.S. as "the bad guys". 8,000 to 10,000 Iraqi civilians have, to date, been "freed" from their tyrannical government... they're dead, as a result of our effort at "securing democracy" for them.

Much as I would love to see every nation organized as a republic, with free and equitable elections, there is no way to make that happen through the use of force. It could be argued that both Germany and Japan had democracy successfully forced on them as a result of WWII. Both Germany and Japan were brought completely to their knees by the war, devastated to the point that they were almost a "clean slate". Is that to be the model for inflicting democracy? Is almost complete destruction required to make the remaining populace free? I would hope that most of us would reject such destruction as a "solution".

Trying to impress our "free society" on other societies is doomed to failure, unless we can demonstrate that it is advantageous. Presumptive war does not demonstrate that in any way... it is the choice of bullies who happen to have the upper hand at the moment. Do we believe that Iraqis can look upon the actions of our government and want to model themselves after us? Is this what it means to be a leader of the free world? Do we really believe that Iraqi citizens, who know the tragedy of war up close and very personal, would want to emulate us? Is this the path to peace and freedom?

It is not. The U.S., in trying to force our way of life onto others is no more legitimate than the former Soviet Union trying to force socialism on other nations, and it is no more effective. Force simply does not work. Try to force anyone to do what they don't want to do, and they will rebel. They will find ways to go around, under, and over the force, and they will resent the attempt at force. Force changes the rules... the use of force legitimizes more force, either in defense or in retaliation.

War breeds atrocities. From the earliest conflicts of recorded history to the global struggles of modern times inhumanities, lust and pillage have been the inevitable by-products of man's resort to force and arms. Unfortunately, such despicable acts have a dangerous tendency to call forth primitive impulses of vengeance and retaliation among the victimized peoples. The satisfaction of such impulses in turn breeds resentment and fresh tension. Thus does the spiral of cruelty and hatred grow.
-- U.S. Supreme Court Justice Frank Murphy

Most of us would probably agree that if most or all nations were free, peace would be far more likely. Humans have a natural desire to be free. That means free to make our own choices, which means free from being forced by others. Freedom is a desirable goal, but force is a ridiculous means to try to achieve it. Use of force to effect freedom is completely self-contradicting.

How then are we to survive in a world that contains unfree nations... nations controlled by those who would try to take advantage of us? Can a free, peaceful nation survive alongside nations with "evil" dictators and warlike tendencies?

In order to answer that question effectively, we must unfortunately remove ourselves from reality and return to the image of the U.S. that most citizens still cling to... that we are the good guys, only reacting to bad guys. That is not the view held by the rest of the world, but let us delude ourselves momentarily and pretend that we are not really war-mongers, oil-chasers, and empire-builders... the big bullies of the earth.

The United States has no chance of spreading democracy and freedom throughout the world until it rejects much of what our government has been doing for decades. The U.S. has created so many enemies by its actions, that many Americans have been led, through fear, to conclude that force is the answer. We seem to be defending ourselves, rather than reaping what we've sown. We seem to be retaliating against attack or threat, rather than getting what we've earned.

Our government, through many administrations, has interfered in the business of other nations, using trickery, deceit, subterfuge, and even military action... all in the name of "freedom". Those sneaky, underhanded efforts have failed, but they have succeeded in creating great resentment and mistrust. Before we can make any movement toward actually working toward universal freedom and peace, we must first fix our own government.

By allowing our government to simultaneously inflict their ideas on others and create animosity around the globe, it has become a monster... not just in it's actions toward the rest of the world, but in it's actions toward us. We've allowed our government to destroy our own freedoms in the name of protecting us from enemies we created. Every day we continue on this destructive path, the more the U.S. becomes like those nations we abhor as totalitarian and evil. We are following in the path of the Soviet Union, toward our own collapse, caused by the weight of our own policies.

We can return to being what our nation once was... a beacon of light, demonstrating, rather than trying to force, the fruits of freedom on others. I'll continue tomorrow with the libertarian... no, the American Way, toward global peace and freedom... a way our nation once demonstrated with remarkable results, but that we have relinquished to power-hungry, elitist politicians.