Iraq

Once upon a time in the year 2003 we didn’t go to war in Iraq.

Once upon a time over a dozen years ago, the United States was tempted to go to war with a country that had been obnoxious thanks to its obnoxious leader Saddam Hussein: Iraq.  But cool heads were asked to figure out whether we should go to war, and the cool heads decided we didn’t need to go to war, and probably should not go to war.  The result was that a high school friend of my kids who was proud to be an American won a medal in speed skating in the Olympics, representing a country he loved. 

George Bush Junior was in America’s White House when we decided we didn’t need to go to war in Iraq.  The “Neocons,” as they were called back then, had tried to persuade George Bush Junior to go to war with Iraq and kick a little butt because Sadam Hussein who ruled Iraq was a mean guy, and kicking a little butt might have been a good idea for several reasons, including the possibility it would look good on George Bush Junior’s resume when he applied for the job of second term President of the United States of America which was considered by Americans to be the greatest country in the world, and had gotten that reputation by minding its own business keeping its own doorstep clean, and by helping out European countries that had been devastated by World War  II.  The United States let Jewish folks from Europe who had been especially devastated by World War II come here and become doctors and lawyers and stuff like that.  The United States even had the reputation of helping the country of Japan rebuild after World War II, and Japan had been a bitter enemy of the United States, sneaking around and attacking Pearl Harbor in Hawaii on that infamous day of December 7, 1941, but the United States had read the Good Book , and were good to even their enemies like Japan and even Germany who they helped after World War II.  And most folks seem to think that was a good idea because it seemed to work out real good.

 At any rate, Iraq had done some bad things back in 1990, several years before we decided not to invade the country in 2003, things like invading Kuwait.  A dozen years before we didn’t decide to invade Iraq in the year 2003 we did decide to invade Iraq in 1991, after they invaded the country of Kuwait, and we ran Iraq back toward Baghdad with its tail between its legs.  And George Bush Junior’s father, George Herbert Walker Bush had been at the White House with Billy Graham, the famous evangelist, watching the T.V. which was showing pictures of Iraq’s army running back to Bagdad with its tail between its legs.  George Herbert Walker Bush noticed that lots of Iraqi soldiers were bleeding to death or being blown apart on the road back to Bagdad because of a terrible traffic jam.  So he called off the war after it had been going only one hundred hours, and it was called the “Hundred Hour War,” which was certainly a lot better than being called the “Hundred Year War” that went on in Europe for about a hundred years, and ended in the year 1453, the same year Constantinople, a city on the Bosporus Straight which controlled access to the Black Sea where the Crimean Peninsula lives, fell to the Ottoman Turks.

 There are a lot of incidentals in history, including dates, and names of kings and other folks who have done important things or tried to do important things like start wars so they could win them and be remembered in history books as important people.  But the point I would like to point out is that rulers and kings and stuff like that can also decide not to go to war, or maybe they can call off a war once it has started, although that will probably not get them a prominent place in history books.  While lots of folks have heard of Napoleon who kicked lots of butt around Europe, in this or that war, they often haven’t heard of, say, the king or president or whatever they called the leader of Switzerland who didn’t kick anybody’s butt, and didn’t bankrupt his country, and didn’t watch most of his troops freeze to death in Russia,[1] and didn’t go back to France where he hired another army of Frenchmen with promises of glory, and proceed to kick some more butt which got him remembered as a great general who knew how to kick butt.  And the little country of Switzerland didn’t enter a period of decline from which it never recovered.

 But back to the big point I would like to point out which is that a country can sometimes call off a war, or even decide not to have a war:  And once upon a time the President of the United States didn’t go to war in Iraq in the year 2003, with big consequences.  First, several years later when George Bush Junior decided to ask Congress to allocate 800 billion dollars to bail out the banks because homeowners who had gone bankrupt and couldn’t make their payments to the bank were not bailed out because everyone knows it is disgusting if not immoral to reward such irresponsible behavior as will cause you to go bankrupt. . . anyway, to bail out the banks, Congress didn’t need to borrow money from China, or print phony money that would inflate everything.  All they needed to do was open their war chest and take out 800 billion dollars of the several trillion dollars that hadn’t been spent on the war in Iraq since there never was a war in Iraq.

 And everyone lived happily ever after except for the citizens of Iraq who had to put up with Saddam Hussein for several more years, until he died of old age, or maybe of loneliness since he didn’t have many real friends, or maybe he was kicked out of office by someone from Iran or Syria or Turkey or maybe by some Kurds who lived toward the north of Iraq, or maybe he was simply voted out of office by the majority Shiite Moslems who lived in the southern part of the country and didn’t hardly like him at all.  I can’t remember right now how Saddam Hussein left office, but it is for sure everyone hated him, and everyone was pointing guns across their border at him.  And it might appear we would have been smart to go to war to kick the butt of a jerk like Saddam Hussein, but like I said, once upon a time we didn’t and everyone else kept pointing their guns at Saddam Hussein because he was a jerk, and it is possible that all the guns that were pointed across the border at Saddam Hussein might have been pointed at us under other far-fetched possible scenarios, like if we had gone to war with Iraq.  But things turned out pretty good.  At least my kids’ friend won a medal speed skating in the Olympics, representing a country he loved, instead of manning  a machinegun on a Humvee in Iraq.

 Like I think I said, I like the name of The Hundred Hour war a lot better than I like the name of the Hundred Year War, which ended in the year 1453, the same year Constantinople was conquered by the Ottoman Turks, a big year in England: “a year known by every English schoolboy,” as I read somewhere or another.  It looks like the English called off the Hundred Year War because they were scared the Ottoman Turks might conquer London just like they conquered Constantinople.  So let me go back to the main point I would like to point out, which is that just like the Hundred Hour War was called off, it appears the Hundred Year War was also called off, and since it could be called off after a hundred years, I wonder if it could have been called off earlier, in which case it might now be known as the 99 year war, or maybe the 99 hour war if there hadn’t been a lot of unemployed knights or maybe a lot of ordinance about to reach the end of its useful shelf life.

Which brings up a point my friend Lee Tackett the Marine pointed out: Lee pointed out a thing called the Military Industrial Complex.  I don’t think Lee was the first history buff to point out the Military Industrial Complex, since Ike Eisenhower had pointed it out in a speech somewhere around the year 1960.  But since Ike Eisenhower had gone on to his reward and wasn’t around to point it out some years later when Lee Tackett the Marine pointed it out, I suppose Lee Tackett should get credit for pointing it out.  The Military Industrial Complex keeps track of ordinance it has sold to the United States Military, and stamps an expiration date on the boxes filled with some kind of oily preservative whose proper name I can’t remember right now that preserves ordinance sent to the military from the military industrial complex, at no little expense. 

The military industrial complex is willing to send ordinance and other stuff necessary for waging a war to the United States Military no matter what the expense, since taxpayers will be asked to reimburse the military industrial complex for any expenses incurred in such provision.  The military industrial complex has proven rather dependable at such provision, although they sometimes charge a lot of high prices for stuff they send.  The military industrial complex gives good jobs to retired Generals who might have to live on their retirement and social security after they reach the age of about 62 years old, if they don’t land a job with the military industrial complex or get themselves elected President of the United States like Ike Eisenhower did in the year 1952.  (I might note that no other generals have been elected since Ike Eisenhower was elected, and although other generals have become President of the United States, the only other general I as a part time historian want to talk about now who was elected President of the United States was a general called George Washington who copied a famous Roman named Cincinnatius who was happy to return to his farm after he won a war, and after George Washington had won America's Revolutionary War, and retired as President of the United States after two terms, he went back to his farm, and didn’t look for a job with the military industrial complex where he could get a commission selling expensive toilet seats to the US Air Force. And George Washington, who some folks like to point out was not perfect, is generally looked upon with lots of appreciation since he helped get his country off on the right foot, and we have had lots of good things come our way in the years since then, at least partly because we have lived under the rule of law, and not under a dictator trying to dictate things.  And I think we should thank George Washington for at least part of that, since he didn’t try to become a dictator or king or any such despot, but was happy to know he had gotten his country off on the right foot even though President of the United States was a good paying job, and he might have made more money working for the military industrial complex.

 Addendum:  Please note, this is not a comment on whether American leaders, trying to defend America and oppressed allies, might have thought it appropriate to go to war when once upon a time we didn’t go to war with Iraq.  For instance, I’ve heard George Bush Junior discredited as wanting to go to war only because Saddam Hussein had tried to “have his Daddy assassinated.”  And I have heard Saddam Hussein did try to have George Bush Senior assassinated.  Well, let me say that if the accusation is true that Saddam tried to have George Bush Senior assassinated, then Saddam tried to assassinate My President.  And that upsets me, as it should all Americans!  Further, in violation of the peace agreement from the First Gulf War, Iraq was continually firing anti-aircraft missiles at our planes, and at the American boys flying those planes.  That upsets me as well.  And although once upon a time everyone noticed Iraq supposedly had no weapons of mass destruction, it might be argued that until invasion seemed imminent, Saddam, playing an intimidation game, postured as though he did have those weapons.  Finally, when the Bush Administration went ahead with the war, as opposed by UN inspectors until after further inspections for those weapons, a delay would have moved the war into the time of summer heat, greatly complicating matters for American troops.

I was not privy to governmental discussions on the appropriateness of such a war, for which the final deciding factor, after all other reasons had been evaluated, might not have been: “And by the way, the oil contractor Haliburton will make lots of money.”  I was not privy to the discussions, so the interests of the Military-Industrial Complex may or may not have been considered.

The point I would like to point out is only that, had we gone to war with Iraq, many guns that had been pointed at Saddam Hussein and his disgusting government would probably have been pointed at American Soldiers, and remained pointed at American soldiers for a long time.