Hell hath no fury like a warmonger scorned

I grew up sure of the fact that the United States had never lost a war. Revolutionary, Civil, Spanish-American, of 1812, WWI, WWII – we rocked the house in all of these venues. My certainty of our ability to win all wars all the time was largely due to the fact that in every American History class I ever took – from 5th grade through the end of highschool – we started with the founding fathers, moved chronologically forward and always ran out of time in the school year before learning anything about Vietnam. Then when I was 9 or 10 there was the Gulf War, in which we were treated to several weeks of American military dominance played out on network news in glowing green nightvision camera images of palm trees and domed buildings silhouetted by bombs. And, inevitably, we won.

And whatever else I think about war in general and the Iraq War in particular, I like this story: that we always win. That it is even our birthright to always win, because our Constitution is the best, and our governmental framework with the separation of church and state and the no taxation without representation and the freedom of the press and religion is also the best, and our Emancipation Proclamation manifest destiny liberation of concentration camps history is also the best, and all of this bestness entitles us to win. Everything. Every time. And while I am now able to analyze current affairs with a bit more sophistication than I could at age 9, I still have this feeling. And so, no matter how much I hate and resent the fact that we are now involved in a war that was entered into under a series of false pretenses and which continues to ruin our country’s international credibility and which has depleted our army’s resources and ballooned our national debt, I was still a little riled to hear Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid say, “This war is lost.”

That kind of talks stings even those of us who hate the war, because even though we hate the war, we like the story about being eternal, deserving, benevolent, winning winners.

And so it should come as no suprise that Reid was called “disrespectful and hate filled,” suffers from “foot in mouth disease,” and of course he has “turned his back on the troops” and “emboldened the enemy.” Republican House member and 2008 presidential hopeful Duncan Hunter has even called for Reid to step down as Majority Leader as a result of the comment.

This reaction is understandable, but let’s take a moment to think it through logically and not allow our bruised egos to shape our reactions, shall we, gentle readers? First, let’s look at the whole quote. Soundbites are tasty, but context is so much more nutritious.

“I believe myself that the secretary of state, secretary of defense and — you have to make your own decisions as to what the president knows — (know) this war is lost and the surge is not accomplishing anything as indicated by the extreme violence in Iraq yesterday,”

So, he thinks the war is lost. In the same speech, he also said this:

“In short, there is no evidence that the escalation is working – and it should come as no surprise, because, as General Petraeus has said, the ultimate solution in Iraq is a political one, not a military one.

And General Abizaid said, ‘It is easy for the Iraqis to rely upon to us do this work. I believe that more American forces prevent the Iraqis from doing more, from taking more responsibility for their own future.’

Prior to this troop surge, President Bush had called for three surges – and each time they failed. Yet, despite this writing on the wall, he sent even more troops to battle — and asked again for our patience.

It has now been three months, and despite the President’s happy talk, no progress has been made. The time for patience is long past.”

This sucks! For the last couple of years I have been hoping that my thoughts about the war would be proven wrong, that Iraq would become a happy democracy and the troops would come home, having won the war and the hearts and minds and everything. But hold on, what sucks isn’t what Harry Reid said, it’s the situation that he was talking about. Is it really unpatriotic and hateful to point out that things have gone terribly wrong? Or is it unpatriotic and hateful to cause things to go terribly wrong, watch things go terribly wrong, and all the while sit back and assure yourself and others that “we are winning in Iraq ” (The National Review, May 2005), “the insurgency is in its last throes” (Cheney, June 2005), or that “We’re winning, and we will win” (GW Bush, March 2006)?

It certainly does suck to hear, in such clear language, that Senator Reid thinks the war is lost. But years and years of pretending to have won and to be winning have not worked. It might be time to stop stroking our national ego and coddling our collective sense of patriotism and say, “Wow. This has been a disaster. What the fuck are we going to do now?” It’s not fun. It’s not heartwarming. But it’s true, and that’s a nice change in our political discourse, and a good place to start.