But what did they do in Iraq?
- They devastated the country,
- destroyed its infrastructure,
- killed tens of thousands of people including innocent civilians,
- created hundreds of thousands of refugees, divided the country
- and fractured its society to such an extent that it may never recover fully.
Modern history teaches that military intervention seldom if ever, works. History also shows that when the intervener pulls out…whether the wars were successful or not… the situation begins to improve… often almost immediately.
History shows that the American interventions in Vietnam and Cambodia in the 1970’s, Lebanon in the 1980’s, and Somalia in the 1990’s – that in the final analysis – getting out was the correct strategy.
In the long run, disengagement was the policy that protected American interests.
There was no negative impact on the United States as a result of ending those missions. In fact the interventions themselves caused a great deal more harm than good both to the Americans and to the populations of those countries.
The extent to which U.S. politicians and military planners were deluded – beggars belief.
Lyndon Johnson deployed more than half a million soldiers in Vietnam and the war caused the deaths of more than 55,000 young Americans.
Richard Nixon extended the war to Cambodia and indirectly brought into existence the murderous regime of Pol Pot, who slaughtered millions.
Then after the last Americans escaped from Saigon, the U.S. sat back and watched as the situation in southeast Asia began to heal.
In the early 1980’s, U.S. President Ronald Reagan intervened in Lebanon in an effort to restore order after the brutal attacks by Israel, which resulted in the slaughter of hundreds of Palestinian refugees.
But Reagan did not understand the dynamics of Lebanese politics and his support for the right wing government in Beirut caused a backlash by Muslims, Druze, Syria and Iran.
The U.S. embassy was destroyed by a van packed with explosives, but Reagan vowed to “stay the course”, saying that terrorists would not drive the Americans out.
He quickly changed his mind a few days later, after the U.S. lost 241 soldiers in the bombing of an American barracks near Beirut and he withdrew - having decided that the wisest course was to cut his losses, thus saving the U.S. from getting bogged down in what amounted to a civil war.
In the 1990’s the U.S. intervened in Somalia along with other western nations. The effort was ineffectual. Widespread anarchy, the downing of an Apache helicopter and the sight of the corpses of American soldiers being dragged through the streets of the capital city, caused the U.S. to decide on withdrawal. A U.S. State Department official put it this way: “If the United States wants democracy and good government for Somalia more than the Somalians do themselves, the effort is doomed to fail.” In all of these cases, withdrawal proved to be the right course.
The U.S. war in Iraq has proven costly in terms of both treasure and blood and has done little to lessen the divisions in that country. It seems that American forces will remain there for decades at a huge cost to the U.S. economy. Critics say that the best course to follow would be to withdraw immediately and let the Iraqis deal with their own problems.
Afghanistan reflects the Vietnam dilemma. The war there has not solved the problem of terrorism but has made it worse. Al Qaeda has not been destroyed and bin Laden is still at large.
None of the original goals of the intervention have been achieved, even after almost 9 years of fighting. The more pressure we apply it seems, the more resistance we meet, the more lives are lost and the more money is wasted.
Logic dictates that we get our military forces out now and pay attention to what needs fixing at home.
Dead right.
You have made me ponder for the first time that each of these belligerencies was set up around spin of phoney justifications, milking casualty-figures and media-histrionics of faux grief but the causus belli was the endplay itself, of “getting out” having adequately fattened up the warmongers.
Nothing to do with democracy, little girls going to school in Afghanistan or “Canadian model villages” built by our HAHs*.
Taking this view, did the disgraceful conduct of Canadian soldiers in Somalia lead to our withdrawal or was disbanding the First Airborne the only consequence of their actions?
Come to think of it, are these horrible Canadians now collecting military pensions as a reward?
*Heavily-armed humanitarians
Good article Jim, and consistent as well with how you have always felt if I go back and read those old C.B.C. articles you wrote.
I am with you on this and cannot be anything but disgusted with the way people are manipulated and lied to in order to make certain people very rich at the expense of the blood of their servants and the civilians in these countries. I believe Anthony mentioned this in his post. Absolutely correctly. I honestly think that the sneering, “above the law”, arrogant face of Dick Cheney and the horse he rode in on should be facing the music for this one. I also believe the U.N. should be revamped into something that represents a body of fairness and decency with a much faster way of dealing with it.
Hi Sherry…well Cheney isn’t the first to screw with an American President’s head.
Robert McNamara, the former President of the Ford Motor Company, was the American Secretary of Defence during Vietnam.
He misled President Lyndon Johnson and manipulated him into bombing North Vietnam by means of the so-called “Tonkin Gulf Resolution” that was passed in the U.S. Congress.
In later years…after some 58,000 young Americans had died, Mr. McNamara broke down in tears during an interview and said words to the effect that…”We were just so wrong. So wrong.”
McNamara’s admission of being wrong, however, was cold comfort to bereaved parents, whose children had been forced into the war.
If I believed there were a God…I would get on my knees and say thanks for giving us Mike Pearson, who allowed all draft dodgers and evaders into the safe haven of our country.
The Iraq War is no less wrong than that previous one in Vietnam…as well as the war in Afghanistan, which is also wrong. Wrong from every point of view.
The young Americans who no longer wish to serve in these awful conflicts ought to be welcomed in Canada with open arms.
Those who oppose war are the best of the best and deserve comfort and protection.
Thanks for this Jim. It sums up my feelings and views from first to last- I wish I had written it, and I’m glad that you did.
I’m forwarding it to friends and family. As well as to Mr. Lobb and his boss, though I’m afraid their minds have been closed for some time.
-Bill