The problem of the war in Iraq
The Iraq war is unjust and unnecessary. 3,000 Americans and hundreds of thousands of Iraqis have been killed. We are all endowed, by the virtue of being born, with the inalienable right to live. That means that every human being has the right not to be killed by another human being.
The inalienable nature of the right to live is why I'm a pacifist. That being said, there can be arguments made that some wars are necessary or just. I certainly see that in the war with Afghanistan. First, Al Quaeda, which was based in Afghanistan, attacked our country. Second, the Taliban was seen by most Afghanis as illegitimate conquerors (many weren't even from Afghanistan) and cruel oppressors. Third, the UN was behind us. A majority of countries confirmed that we were legitimately defending ourselves.
Iraq is different. For it to be a just war, an argument has to be made convincingly that the evils of war are outweighed by the good the war will accomplish. This has not happened in Iraq.
Here are the arguments made for the invasion of Iraq:
1) We are defending ourselves because
a) Iraq attacked us on 9/11
b) Iraq had weapons of mass destruction and was planning to use them against us
c) Iraq was an ally of Iran and/or Al Quaeda
2) By importing the War on Terror to a terrorist country like Iraq, we keep terrorism from American soil.
3) We are bringing democracy to Iraq.
4) Saddam Hussein was committing such egregious human rights violations that we had to stop him.
5) The war in Iraq will bring peace and stability to the Middle East.
6) Iraq deserves to be punished.
7) We need oil. Iraq has oil. We have the military might to take Iraq's oil.
8) We must support the war to protect American soldiers in Iraq.
I'd like to look at each of these assertions in turn.
Iraq attacked us on 9/11. Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11. Al Quaeda, led by the exiled Saudi Bin Laden who was living in Afghanistan at the time, attacked us on 9/11.
Iraq was an ally of Iran/Al Quaeda. The secular government of Iraq and the fundamentalist government of Iran were mortal enemies, which is why we were such staunch supporters of Iraq until Iraq invaded Kuwait. Bin Ladin placed Hussein firmly on his axis of evil list, in part because Al Quaeda couldn't get so much as a toe-hold in Iraq when it was ruled by Hussein.
Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. Not only have no weapons of mass destruction been found, but UN inspectors quite clearly stated before the start of the war that there were no weapons of mass destruction.
The war on Iraq protects America from terrorism. In the short term, there is a bit of truth to this. If you're a terrorist and want to kill Americans, would you rather travel halfway around the world to do it or would you prefer to hop over to the neighboring country that had kept you out until a few years ago? Of course, if this is the motive for the Iraq war, it implies that the real reason we send American troops to Iraq is to be sacrificial victims. But in the long term, we're creating enemies where none existed before, which makes us more vulnerable, not less.
We are bringing democracy to Iraq. We did bring elections to Iraq. But I don't think democracy can be delivered at the point of a gun. There was a situation when an elected Iraqi mayor was deposed by US forces because he wasn't their candidate. Those killed in Iraq have certainly been disenfranchised. Beyond that, democracy at its core is about self-determination. If it's forcibly imposed, then it ceases to be democracy. Democracy can only exist if it's chosen by those who live within it.
Saddam Hussein was so evil we had to stop him. Hussein was not a nice man. He was certainly a dictator on par with Agustin Pinochet. And he did commit atrocities, especially against the Kurds. But if this is justification for an invasion, why aren't we in Sudan to stop the genocide there? Why did we wait to invade until after the Kurds were massacred? Why didn't the UN approve the invasion? If this really is just about human rights, then we should be supporting the Kurds and the Shiites in their quest for independent states, with those groups rather than us being in charge. (For the record, I would have problems with this approach, but that's another essay.)
The war in Iraq will bring peace and stability to the Middle East. The logic of this so utterly escapes me that I am not qualified to point out the logical fallacies behind it.
Iraq deserves to be punished - for 9/11, for the Gulf War, for terrorism, for high gas prices, for the deaths of American soldiers, for being Muslim...I do not accept revenge as a valid reason for a just war.
We want Iraq's oil. That makes us bullies, and rather clearly the bad guys. We do not have the right to invade another country simply because we want their stuff. If that is acceptable behavior, that what's to stop Canada from invading us to gain complete control of the Great Lakes with all their fresh water?
We must support our troops. We have to be in favor of the war, because we are at war. That's very circular, and very convenient.
I think I've covered all the arguments for the war from various groups in this country. Nothing so far has convinced me that this is a good thing.
So what should we do about this situation? In an ideal world, we'd go to the UN, say, "Um, sorry, we messed up. We'd like to get out of Iraq, but don't know how to withdraw our troops without making things worse. Help?" The UN could then send in an international peace-keeping force to clean up our mess. But I can't see George W. Bush doing that. Since there is, in theory, an independent Iraqi government, we could go to them, and say, "Tell us what you want." If they want us to leave, we leave. If they want us to set a time-table, we set a time-table.
I would like to hear specific goals of the war. What constitutes victory? We've overthrown the government of Saddam Hussein. We've installed a new government. How long are we supposed to stay there? Until American soldiers can be stationed in Iraq without being killed? That seems a wanton waste of life. Do we stay to prevent a civil war? As far as I can tell, we can only postpone it. It will most likely break out after we leave, and we can't stay there forever. We'll run out of soldiers. How exactly does our presence prevent the reasons for civil war? If it doesn't, if there aren't clear goals to be accomplished, we need to get out.