Worrying about Iraq

War is always wasteful. And usually it’s purposeless. Think about all the wars England and France fought against each other over the centuries. Was there really any point to them? Did they make anybody better off in the end? Likewise, WWI was a meaningless trashing of life on a huge scale — millions died, a generation of young men was lost. WWII is another story. Lots of waste but there was a purpose, the defeat of fascism.

So what about Iraq? I supported Bush’s decision to go into Iraq for several reasons. I’ll mention a couple here. First, I thought invading Iraq was a beneficial show of force in the Middle East at a minimal cost. And second, I really believed we could create a democracy in Iraq — meaning a series of institutions that could form the framework of what would one day evolve into a thriving democracy. (Hey, it took us 200+ years to get where we are today so let’s not get too ambitious about what we can accomplish there.) I thought such sparks of democracy in Iraq would in turn ignite the moderate majority in Iran and increase already promising indicators of democracy in that country.

Should we have known Bush was going to botch the occupation so badly? After all, history is littered with good intentions crushed by bumbling. The lesson might be: don’t assume anything. The lesson shouldn’t be: don’t try anything. Bush and his buddies simply failed to plan for the occupation, quite a glaring oversight. Even worse, they didn’t listen to the many people — in the military and in non-governmental organizations — who were thinking about the coming occupation and outlining plans.

The unforeseen will happen — like riots over Danish cartoons — and plans need to be flexible. But you still need to have plans! Adding to the frustration is the fact that Americans are extremely talented planners (e.g., consider the logistics of D-Day). Well, I still have hope for democracy in Iraq and the Middle East. It’s just going to be harder than it had to be.