Ask Auntie Pinko
April 10, 2003

Dear Auntie Pinko,

What stand should people who were previously opposed to war take now? Some say we should "support our troops" and hope for a quick U.S. victory as the best way to end the bloodshed. But how can you support a war that you believe is unjustified? What happens if we get bogged down occupying Iraq for years? And won't such a victory merely encourage more of this kind of shoot-first ask-questions-later style of foreign policy?

Others say the only logical position would be to end the war and bring our troops home. But wouldn't that be seen in the Arab world as a victory for Saddam Hussein? Is it right to abandon the Iraqi people again? Would "another Vietnam" really be good for America?

We seem to be damned if we do and damned if we don't. What do you think is the correct position?

Walt
Somewhere Out There...

Dear Walt,

Thank you so much for asking the very question Auntie Pinko has been struggling with for the last couple of weeks. You've expressed the same thoughts, worries, and frustrations that are revolving in my mind, and while I don't believe that there is any one "right" answer (or even "correct" position) I'm happy to share my cogitations with you.

Whether we like it or not, and regardless of how hard many of us worked to avert it, we are now at war. The issues of how and why we got here are complex and deserve much thoughtful analysis, but that is for another column, maybe another writer. The question is, what does a citizen of conscience, who opposed this whole adventure from the beginning, do now that it is in our laps?

Just as we can often understand the behavior of individuals by generalizing it to groups, societies, and nation-states, regarding the actions of nation-states in the context of individuals can sometimes provide insight.

In everyone's life comes the almost unbearable pain of having really messed up a Big One. The decision or action that hurt, not just ourselves, but others, including those we love. The decision or action that, once taken, is done and can't be taken back or undone. What we learn on the road to responsible adulthood is that such mistakes are an inevitable part of being human, and that when a responsible adult makes such a mistake, they must then do the following:

1. Own the mistake and take responsibility for it, be honest about the effects, and refrain from denial, minimization, and rationalization (and, conversely, blowing the harm out of proportion to make ourselves feel more important;)

2. Contain the damage as far as possible, and do everything we can to minimize the effects of our mistake upon others;

3. Clean up after our mistakes, make amends to those we have injured, find any silver linings that we possibly can and use them to alleviate the harm as far as possible; and finally

4. Learn from the mistake and take steps to make sure it can never be repeated.

What do these things mean in the context of our invasion of Iraq?

First, we must keep the pressure up at all times to be sure that we are honest about the harm we are doing - without giving in to the tendency to exaggerate or indulge in emotional hyperbole. The reality is bad enough. We have destroyed much of the world's trust in our nation. We have set back the process of building a workable framework of international law and relations by a large increment. We have freed the genie of "pre-emptive strike" from the bottle. And, certainly not least, we have brought the horrific scourge of war, death, and destruction into thousands of innocent and unconsenting lives.

How do we keep up this pressure? First, think it through. Take time to read and discuss it, draw conclusions from facts and your own experience and beliefs. Move beyond the visceral, emotional horror, without losing its power and passion. Then write. Talk. Blog. Attend meetings. Ask questions. Take a stand. Own these things and keep owning them.

The temptation to say "I didn't vote for Mr. Bush, and I don't agree with what he did, so I'm criticizing him and all the other Americans who made it happen" is strong. Don't give in to it. We are all Americans and we must all own this horror. We are part of a culture that enabled this to happen and we benefit by that culture. Only by taking moral ownership of the problem can we also take moral ownership of the solution.

Second, we work to contain the damage by keeping the public eye on our leadership and what they are doing. By making it clear that while we want our military servicemembers to have what they need to eliminate Saddam's machine of oppression, protect themselves while doing so, and maintain some kind of basic order in Iraq while a new, Iraqi-led government forms, that is the absolute limit of what we must ask of them. They are entitled to come home, to muster out, and to receive the honor, the thanks, the medical treatment and other compensation that is rightfully due to them the instant this has been accomplished.

We eliminate opportunities for the damage to spread further - for example, eliminating the perception that American businesses and corporations and consumers might benefit financially. Thus, we do not take any Iraqi oil to "reimburse" ourselves for the costs of "liberating" them, and we turn the control of that oil over to an administration composed of Iraqis themselves, acting with international cooperation and assistance, to use in rebuilding their country. We do not allow American private companies to profit from rebuilding; we subsidize those efforts, at cost, through American taxes that we all pay. (Auntie Pinko would suggest that this might be a wonderful opportunity to give all those Army Corps of Engineers people who are so bored that they have to invent expensive boondoggle domestic projects something worthwhile to do. Idle hands, and all…)

Third, we start collecting the fee that the piper will demand. We called this tune, and it is not going to be a cheap one. The clean-up will be painfully expensive, and we must being paying immediately. We cannot afford a tax cut. In fact, we will probably need, politically unpalatable as it is, a tax increase. We will also have to endure cuts to domestic programs and infrastructure, and we must try to enact all of this in such a way as to minimize the damage to our economy.

We must restore all that we have damaged, and more, in Iraq. In addition, we must pay for expensive diplomacy, foreign aid, international humanitarian aid, and other items needed to help ensure regional stability so that the nation we invaded has the time to restore its strength and self-determination. We must also expend resources of money and political capital to start the process of earning our way back into the international community, and re-establishing trust there.

You and I, Walt, and others whose consciences dictate these moral and ethical necessities, must maintain the link between the individual pain these clean-up efforts cause, and the collective mistake that rendered them necessary. This will not be a popular role, and there will be vigorous disagreement, denial, obfuscation, rationalization, and sophistry to oppose us. It will be much harder than attending protest rallies.

We must also seek out the silver linings, and be honest about the positive things that accompany even the most dreadful mistakes. Saddam Hussein will be gone. Although we believe the end could have been achieved by less terrible means, we must acknowledge that the end is desirable, and achieving it offers us a unique opportunity, if we can grasp it and use it well. The discussion of what "using it well" means is an important one, and we must be active there also.

Finally, we must learn from our mistake and be certain that this can never happen again. With quiet determination, we must use our electoral process to repudiate the leadership we selected and accepted and permitted to lead us into this dreadful folly. We must select our next leadership to reflect our need to take responsibility, to heal, to rebuild, to grow, to rejoin the international community as a responsible nation.

None of these difficult and complex tasks will be as easy as the clear-cut focus offered in trying to avert the war. And it will be tempting for us to become frustrated and despair at the magnitude of the task. Auntie Pinko knows darn well we can't pull this all off with complete and stunning success. But our future depends on how earnestly and persistently we make the attempt.

I suggest that each person who cares focus on one aspect of these many tasks that lie before us, and pour her or his effort into that particular thing-limiting our military involvement, promoting an Iraqi/international administration over the rebuilding, dealing with the tax issues and domestic economy adjustments, watchdogging to prevent Americans from profiteering in the rebuilding, or keeping the link between our actions and the consequences crystal clear.

In addition to that one individual focus we each select, we should all make it a high priority to make certain this can never happen again by decisively repudiating Mr. Bush's administration in the next election. And be ready to lend a hand to our colleagues when their priorities need a little help. That's as much as any of us can reasonably do, and maintain our effectiveness. Remember, we can't be a useful force for change if we're immobilized by our own despair, frustration, or overwork.

So take some time to enjoy the spring and renew your spirit, Walt, while you pick a new target and keep up the good work!