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Thu Nov 20 2008
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Departments War in Iraq
Hope out of Quagmire: New peace movement opportunities
by Paul Rogat Loeb
July 30, 2003
In the glow of the Iraq war's initial military success, most American peace
activists felt profoundly demoralized. Between the war's portrayal as a
glamorous spectacle and Bush's seemingly overwhelming support, many who'd
recently marched by the millions felt isolated, defensive, and powerless,
fearing their voices no longer mattered.
Now, as Bush's occupation faces a deepening quagmire, shifting public
sentiment opens up major new opportunities for activism. Just two months
ago, the national mood felt so resistant that it was hard to raise the most
cautious dissenting questions. But polls now suggest the beginning of a very
different national mood, where large numbers of Americans are having
significant doubts. This gives us a chance to challenge the core fallacies
of Bush's foreign policy, revitalize peace movement activism, and perhaps
change our national direction. We can do this by launching a grassroots
campaign to replace the US control over Iraq with an international
transitional authority under United Nations command--an authority that would
control not only military operations, but also Iraq's political and economic
affairs, including its oil-fields. We can work to transform a beachhead for
American empire into an interim government that would actually have a shot
at bringing democracy.
The shifts in the polls are staggering, even if most peace activists haven't
yet noticed them. Driven by the steady US casualties in Iraq and continuing
chaos, a July Gallup poll found 43 per cent of Americans believing things
are going badly in Iraq, up from just 13 per cent in early May. In a
mid-July Washington Post-ABC News poll, six in ten of those surveyed said
the war damaged the image of the United States abroad, half said the
conflict permanently damaged U.S. relations with key allies, and 52 percent
considered the level of US casualties "unacceptable." A Zogby poll around
the same time found a one percent majority actually saying it was time for
someone new in the White House. These shifts all emerged before Congress's
recent questioning of the occupation's political, economic and human costs.
Before the war, we had a clear goal in trying to stop it. Once it started,
this drastically limited the peace movement's options. We could bear witness
for the future, but it was hard to influence the war's immediate outcome.
Now the landscape has shifted again, to one far more hospitable toward
dissenting views. Americans are developing significant reservations despite
what until recently has been scant critical media coverage, minimal
questioning by Democratic leaders, and little presence from the peace
movement since late February. If we can begin coalescing public concern
around an alternative to US troops remaining indefinitely in Iraq, we have a
real chance to influence national debate.
Although the war has created precisely the kind of mess we predicted, we
need to do more than just repeat, "I told you so." Or gloat about how Bush's
imperial dream is unraveling. It's important to keep pushing on the ways
Bush lied to Congress and the American public. We also need to offer our own
vision of what needs to be done. We can do this by supporting European
initiatives to end US control over Iraq's political and economic future, and
instead place the country under UN charge, policing it with a multinational
force with significant Islamic representation.
To most Iraqis, US troops have become symbols of colonialism and chaos. The
longer they stay, the more they become targets, and the more Iraqis will
resent the US for imposing our will and grabbing for oil while failing to
secure basic needs like electricity, clean water, and physical safety.
Because the UN represents the entire international community, including
eighteen Arab states, a UN administration, in contrast, would be far less
likely to be seen as a foreign military occupation. Although the new forces
would probably still face some opposition, both armed and unarmed, they
won't be tarred with the same neocolonial agenda. Iraqis wouldn't view them
as simply in it to dominate their country or project American power. Without
the disruption of a growing armed insurgency, efforts at restoring basic
services, maintaining stability, and setting up a democratic and
representative Iraqi government would be far easier. A UN Mandate might even
allow a similar transition to when UN forces finally ended Indonesia's
bloody occupation of East Timor and supervised that country's return to
democracy.
A shift away from unilateral US control already has broad potential support.
In a late-June Knowledge Network poll, 64% of Americans wanted the UN to
take a leadership role in Iraq, up from 50% in April. Pushing for such a
shift will also let us reach out to American soldiers who are increasingly
frustrated at being given a mission with neither a defined end nor any clear
boundaries between friend and foe. And to military families angry that they
see no clear timetable for the return of their loved ones. We could
contrast Bush's chickenhawk bluster of "Bring them on," with our own call to
"Bring them Home," and include a vision that demands more than just
abandoning Iraq to chaos.
Ideally, this campaign would be as broad-based as possible, encouraging
citizens to reach out both in our communities and to elected officials. We'd
circulate petitions, table, canvass, and vigil in local neighborhoods, write
letters to local papers, pass civic resolutions, and resume all the other
kinds of outreach we began so successfully on the eve of the war. We'd
build to more visible rallies and marches. We'd work to ensure the Iraqi
quagmire remains a front-and-center issue, so the Bush administration can't
just move on and ignore it.
With enough grassroots momentum, we could begin pressuring key elected
officials to take a stand in favor of a shift to full UN control.
Presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich has recently spoken out in favor of
major US troop withdrawals. It will take work to get the more conservative
Democratic candidates and elected representatives to follow suit (and maybe
even some independent minded Republicans). But given the shifting polls, if
we muster enough citizen pressure, at least a few will decide that the
political risk is worth it. We'd want to offer even those who supported the
war the opportunity to say: "I backed Bush in good faith and I'm glad Saddam
Hussein is out. But now the WMD evidence still hasn't surfaced. We've
alienating the rest of the world by going in alone. And I don't like having
been lied to. Since the Iraqis want us out, it's time to stop putting our
brave young soldiers at risk."
Could this campaign actually force Bush to turn Iraq over to UN
administration? Assuming that the situation continues to be a morass, Bush
will face increasing pressure to cut his losses, declare victory, and leave.
Although some in his administration are ideologically opposed to any major
UN role whatsoever, with enough pressure and media debate the pragmatist
wing might actually view withdrawal as politically preferable to facing an
election year with American soldiers continuing to come home from Iraq in
body bags.
This raises a difficult question. Is it the job of the peace movement-or the
global community--to help Bush clean up the mess that he's created?
Shouldn't we simply let him stew in it?
If Bush quickly shifted Iraq to UN administration, it might raise his
re-election prospects. But it's extremely unlikely that his administration
will readily accede to this demand. Powerful economic, strategic and
ideological motivations led to them to attack this oil-rich nation to begin
with. These motivations make it extremely unlikely that they'll give up the
opportunity to try to control Iraq's political and economic future without a
fight. And the more they dig in their heels and resist, the more time the
peace movement will have to expose the ways in which this war was not about
bringing freedom and democracy to a long-oppressed people, but about
controlling the future of Iraq's natural resources and projecting American
power in the world. Forcing the US genuinely to release control over Iraq
would be a major setback for the politics of empire.
Working to bring the troops home will also give us a chance to address
related questions, like the missing WMDs, America's long tradition of arming
dictators, the key role of oil politics, and the lies and manipulations that
fueled our rush to war-including the notion that we'd be universally hailed
as liberators and the attacks on generals who accurately warned of massive
post-war troop deployments. Raising these issues will lead to larger
questions about the dangers of Bush's belligerent unilateralism, and the
contrast between the four billion dollars a month he's spending in Iraq and
his total neglect of a sinking domestic economy. The more we succeed in this
task, the more we have a chance to breach Bush's image as national
protector.
If Bush does withdraw after sustained citizen pressure, his administration
will have been significantly tarnished. And we'll have a major peace
movement victory, which will itself empower further action. A key value of
this campaign would be its ability to help recover activist momentum and
morale-giving people a concrete focus for their actions. There's a huge
reservoir of citizens who became active in the opposition to the war, but
who've since melted back to private life. If we can get them re-engaged at
this point, they have a chance to become long-term activists. They may not
yet have taken up the particular issue of troop withdrawal, but that's
because most were so demoralized by the war's quick initial progress and
seemingly overwhelming support that they felt that what happened was totally
out of their hands. Now it isn't. Citizens once again can begin to have a
voice, in a far more potentially receptive environment.
During the countdown to the war, the clock was running against us. Our
movement grew at an amazing pace, but ran out of time before we could become
powerful enough to reverse the administration's course. Now time should
work in our favor. Unless Iraq suddenly becomes miraculously pacified, the
longer our troops are there, the more casualties they'll take, and the
stronger the case for withdrawal. As we continue to raid houses, round up
civilians, and generally stoke resentment, Iraqi resistance is unlikely to
die down. Bush is already calling for increased military deployments.
Although we'd want to launch a campaign for withdrawal well before the
November 2004 election (to avoid diverting resources and energy), if we do
our work well, it could play a major role helping unseat George Bush.
If we build sufficiently broad coalitions for this effort, we have a chance
to make a major impact on national debate. Whether or not we can actually
convince the administration to pursue a wiser course, taking up this issue
gives us the chance to get people moving again, challenge the core politics
of empire, and support policies that would actually make for a safer world.
It gives us the chance once again to do more than watch from the sidelines
as passive spectators.
Paul Loeb, is the author of Soul of a Citizen: Living With Conviction in a
Cynical Time, and board chair of Peace Action of Washington. See
www.soulofacitizen.org for more information. For a more detailed version of
how a shift to UN control could proceed, see
http://www.fourthfreedom.org/php/t-d-index.php?hinc=UN_IN_IRAQ.hinc
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Don't forget to check out articles from 2007 and 2008War in Iraq
"US to release 140 detainees from Guantanamo" December 7, 2003 Bill Mandel
"Bush II Foreign Policy: Naked Recklessness or is it Treason?" November 7, 2003 Bob Zimmerman
"Protesters Want U.S. Out of Iraq" October 26, 2003 William Hughes
"Corporations Are the Only Victors in Iraq" September 15, 2003 Devin Nordberg
"Dems Scrap Plans To Look Into Claims White House Manipulated Intel On Iraqi Threat " September 14, 2003 Jason Leopold
"A question almost unthinkable" August 9, 2003 James R. Hanson
"Wolfowitz: Iraq Was Not Involved In 9-11 Terrorist Attacks, No Ties To Al-Qaeda" August 6, 2003 Jason Leopold
"Hope out of Quagmire: New peace movement opportunities" July 30, 2003 Paul Rogat Loeb
"Kucinich: U.S. Troops Out!" July 29, 2003 Kucinich Campaign
"White House Said In Jan It Used Info From Iraqi Exiles In Pres State of the Union Speech" July 28, 2003 Jason Leopold
"CIA Probe Finds Secret Pentagon Group Manipulated Intelligence on Iraqi Threat " July 25, 2003 Jason Leopold
"Letter from Peggy Gish, CPT Iraq" July 25, 2003 Peggy Gish
"16 questions for Bush" July 21, 2003 Free Press Staff
"Is the Bush Doctrine Tenable?" July 16, 2003 Jesse Lee
"Wolfowitz Committee Instructed White House To Use Iraq/Uranium Ref In Pres Speech " July 16, 2003 Jason Leopold
"'The Road to Hell Is Paved With Good Intentions'" July 15, 2003 Jason Leopold
"Trickle Down Lying; The Gamble Failed and it's Time for the Bush Regime to Pay, Starting with Cheney's Impeachment " July 15, 2003 Rob Kall
"Tenet Fell on His Sword for 9-11 Too" July 12, 2003 Allan P. Duncan
"Like Iraq, CIA Also Exaggerated Soviet Nuclear Threat During Cold War" June 30, 2003 Jason Leopold
"CIA Intelligence Reports Seven Months Before 9-11 Said Iraq Posed No Threat To U.S., Containment Was Working " June 28, 2003 Jason Leopold
"CPT Report from Iraq" June 26, 2003 Gene Stoltzfus
"Wolfowitz Sought To Undermine Blix So US Could Launch Preemptive Strike Against Iraq in 02" June 25, 2003 Jason Leopold
"CPT Iraq Team reports from Iraq" June 20, 2003 Peggy Gish
"Anti-war music" June 17, 2003 Various Artists
"White House Silenced Experts Who Questioned Iraq Intel Info Six Months Before War" June 12, 2003 Jason Leopold
"Powell Denies Intelligence Failure In Buildup To War, But Evidence Doesn't Hold Up " June 10, 2003 Jason Leopold
"Was Always Based On Shaky Evidence And Wrong Intelligence Info" June 3, 2003 Jason Leopold
"Wolfowitz Admits Iraq War Planned Two Days After 9-11" June 2, 2003 Jason Leopold
"Nuking Iraq" May 28, 2003 William Thomas
"Rover Lost in Paradise" May 28, 2003 P. Thomas Harker
"Despite Thin Intelligence Reports, US Plans To Overthrow Iranian Regime" May 28, 2003 Jason Leopold
"Defense Dept Secretly Tapped Halliburton Unit To Operate Iraq's Oil Industry In November" May 14, 2003 Jason Leopold
"Cheney’s Old Company Continues To Break Law’s While Profiting From Terror" May 9, 2003 Jason Leopold
"Michael Moore Was Right" April 20, 2003 The Concerned Rev
"Other Hearts" April 18, 2003 Kathy Kelly
"War Fact Sheet" April 18, 2003 BulletinBoardforPeace.org
"A contemporary chronology of Iraq " April 15, 2003 Link
"Company Chosen By Pentagon To Extinguish Iraqi Oil Well Fires Has History Of Supporting Terrorist Regimes" April 15, 2003 Jason Leopold
"Rad Times Email Update 6" April 14, 2003 Rad Times
"Iraq URL list" April 7, 2003 Rad Times
"How to Lose a War in Ten Days" April 1, 2003 Larry Fairbanks
"Rummy's Failed War Plan And The Casualties That May Result" March 31, 2003 Jason Leopold
"Transgendered anti-war protester verbally, physically abused by police" March 28, 2003 Robyn Walters
"Ohio Muslims open dialogue with FBI" March 27, 2003 Jad Humeidan
"Women's Organizations Worldwide Urge General Assembly to "Unite for Peace"" March 27, 2003 Sarah Widmer
"The Reality of War Sinks In With Casualties of U.S. and British Soldiers" March 25, 2003 Jason Leopold
"Statement to the Troops" March 24, 2003 Veterans of the United States armed forces
"This War Is Illegal" March 23, 2003 Robin Miller
"Message from Baghdad" March 22, 2003 Jeff Guntzel of Iraq Peace Team
"Vets To Top US Military Commanders: Remember Nuremberg" March 20, 2003 Veterans for Peace
"A plea to Laura Bush to assume the Presidency" March 19, 2003 Bob Fitrakis and Harvey Wasserman
"Christian Peacemakers report from the Middle East" March 19, 2003 Peggy Gish
"Why I had to leave the cabinet" March 19, 2003 Robin Cook
"No Support for War" March 19, 2003 James "Guin" McGuinness
"Forgery of evidence against Iraq will become easier, tonight" March 19, 2003 Leonardo Rodrigo
"Even As Bombs Drop, Hypocrisy Prevails" March 19, 2003 Jason Leopold
"Letters to Americans from Iraqi High School Students" March 19, 2003 Transmitted by Iraq Peace Team
"INTERNATIONAL LAW: A duty to disobey all unlawful orders" March 17, 2003 Dr. Lawrence Mosqueda
"Diplomacy and no first use of nukes urged in Iraq crisis" March 17, 2003 Paul Kawika Martin
"Howard Dean's statement on the President's decision to send U.S. Military troops into war against Iraq" March 17, 2003 Howard Dean, M.D.
"Letter from Michael Moore to George W. Bush" March 17, 2003 Michael Moore
"Pres Bush Reminds World of Iraq’s Crimes Against Humanity That His Father Failed To Punish" March 16, 2003 Jason Leopold
"Global Crisis: Grave Danger -- and Great Opportunity" March 13, 2003 John McConnell -- The Man Who Started Earth Day
"Rumsfeld, Bush Sr. Refused To Back 1989 UN Resolution To Investigate Iraq For Human Rights Abuses" March 13, 2003 Jason Leopold
"What Can the World Do if the US Attacks Iraq? " March 10, 2003 Jeremy Brecher
"U.S. Could Launch Attack Against North Korea While Troops Fight In Iraq, Rumsfeld Says " March 10, 2003 Jason Leopold
"With War Looming, Iraqi Oil Imports May Be Strained; Time To Open Up ANWR, GOP Says" March 9, 2003 Jason Leopold
"George W. Bush Must Answer to the People" March 7, 2003 www.votetoimpeach.org
"Bush Sr. Said In 1996 That War With Iraq `Would Turn Entire Arab World Against Us’" March 6, 2003 Jason Leopold
"Bush and America's willing executioners would be guilty at Nuremberg" March 4, 2003 Bob Fitrakis and Harvey Wasserman
"For Six Years, Right-Wing Think Tank Has Been Hell-Bent For War" February 27, 2003 Jason Leopold
"Dennis Kucinich on CNN's Crossfire" February 22, 2003 Dennis Kucinich
"Questions about who set the oil well fires in Kuwait" February 21, 2003 American Gulf War Veterans Association
"Words of Wisdom From An Armor Master" February 20, 2003 SFC Red Thomas, USA(Ret), Armor Master Gunner,Mesa, AZ
"U.S. Bombings" January 26, 2003 Free Press Staff
"Iraq attack will usher in New World Oil Order" January 26, 2003 Michael Renner, Sr. Researcher, Worldwatch Institute
"LEAKED WHITE HOUSE TRANSCRIPT: BUSH, CHENEY, ETC." January 14, 2003 Lee Waters
Related Journal articles:
"Reflections of a virgin activist: March on Washington October 25th, 2003" December 2, 2003
"Halliburton’s Iran connection" December 2, 2003
"War costs our children’s future" August 2, 2003
"The Iraq War, continued..." August 2, 2003
"A Peace Report from Rep. Dennis Kucinich" May 23, 2003
"Bush’s Alderaan" May 23, 2003
"Why the UN must disarm the United States -- Rogue nation exposed!" January 26, 2003
"The high cost of an attack on Iraq" January 26, 2003
"War with Iraq" January 26, 2003
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