Dear Faiza,

Thank you very much for your kind letter.

if you live here, and you are Iraqi, you didn`t love saddam, but you can`t see America as an angel...

That is very easy to understand. I agree; there are no angels in war, certainly not us. War is the worst humanity can offer. It is a difficult thing to support, especially when you are brought face to face with those who are affected most.

This is why I think that the Information Age that we are entering will help curb our ignorance of each other, help make war as we know it today much more difficult to wage.

I recall a time when I was in the US Navy, not long after the first Persian Gulf War. We spent several months in the Adriatic Sea supporting Operation Deny Flight. This was our small contribution to the prelude for the war in Bosnia/Herzegovina. Perhaps our mission was ordered as a result of our "lesson learned" after the uprisings (that we encouraged) in Southern Iraq. The Serbs and Croats were fighting each other, and it was our job to make sure that the side with technological superiority did not use aircraft to simply slaughter the other.

I am saddened to say that that this was also a war that I supported. It makes you hang your head at times, to believe one thing and choose to do another. The horrors of that war will be prominent in history books, I am sure. We like to think that genocide was something that happened last in World War II when Adolf Hitler killed millions in the name of racial and political purity. The sad truth is that it still happens today. (It is even happening in Africa as we discuss this)

What the Serbians did to the Croats was repulsive to anyone with any humanity at all. Serbian Soldiers would enter a village, line up any man or boy who could take up arms against them and shoot them on the spot... women were raped as a *military* objective, to "breed out" their enemy, these things by confession from soldiers at the tribunal held afterwards.

One of the worst ironies?

The Croatians had done a similar thing to the Serbians just a few years earlier.

Is it even possible for a war to have a good side and an evil side? I do not think so. Not even for people who intervene. You sell a part of your soul, I think, when you choose to wage war. You will surely be held accountable for it so you had better make a wise bargain, if such a thing is not purely a contradiction in terms.

Noble causes aside, I think that war only happens when it becomes politically feasible and in this case Bosnia / Herzegovina threatened to destabilize Eastern Europe at a time when Europe was trying to form the European Union.

As familiar as any war sounds when compared to the last, this was a unique war, I think. What makes the war so remarkable to me is the fact that it was the first time that you could log on to the internet and listen to / talk to the people who were being bombed. As I recall, that was when the first Blogs started as well, though I am not sure they were even called that then. Like you, they did not see it as some great noble effort; their lives were already difficult to begin with and afterwards...

...still, how can you sit idly by and know that such atrocities are being committed without feeling as if you are partly responsible by doing nothing? I watched the television and saw soldiers and villagers alike discuss terrible horrors... I saw students and families living in the city who were unaffected, crying out for the injustice of our choosing to attack a sovereign nation. You listen to supporters of the old regime, leaders in the rebellion who oppose them, watch the UN Troops as they march in to maintain the peace, mothers who no longer have their children, children who no longer have their mothers, mass graves, lists of war crimes.... Even watching it from the far side of the planet through the distorted lens of mass media, it is difficult to endure. No wonder most Americans pay little attention; focus on our little lives, jobs, family, and pursuits of happiness.

It will take a long time for that region to recuperate, and the bombs did not erase the hatred that one group of people had for another.

After all, Bombs are not built to erase hatred.

To discuss another, earlier conflict... The first Gulf War was difficult to argue against as well. To not act would be akin to being an accomplice. (Sound Familiar?)

That war ended differently.

We did not depose the dictator at the end of that war.

Instead, we used our considerable political and economic leverage against your nation, Iraq. Many speculate as to the motivation of the sanctions afterwards. Perhaps I am naive again, but I think that the leaders of the Arab nations stipulated in private that if we wanted their support then we could not depose an Arab head of state, no matter how despotic. After that, I think it was a misguided morality that demanded we follow the misguided folly of sanctions.

I think that the sanctions were horrible.

Perhaps it *was* noble in the beginning, to think that we could wage "peace" instead of "war", and that won the hearts of the American voters. Well, the voters did not get to see the results of their well-intended handiwork. After 12 years, if I am not mistaken, the sanctions hurt the Iraqi people far more than the war ever did and Sadaam survived and flourished nonetheless. One only has to look at the Oil for Food scandal and imagine how many undiscovered "lifelines" he actually had.

The ideology of the era was called "containment", and eventually we found out how effective that was when dissidents flew our own planes into what was the World Trade Center, killing thousands. On that day, America realized the folly of "Containment" and it changed our mindset completely. There was no way to fight this nationless enemy, but we could strike at the nation states that supported their infrastructure.

Afghanistan was run by the Taliban, who openly supported Al Qaeda. They were an enemy that was easy for the average American to hate; they would not allow their women to attend school, they destroyed books they did not agree with, they used tanks to bring down statues that had stood for thousands of years because they saw them as heretic.

Afghanistan fell.

Now the average American sees the seeds of democracy beginning to grow there; they see discord as well, but it is popularly seen as an unfortunate necessity... never mind the fact that crime was more manageable under their strict rule, that the poppy fields which supplied the opium trade barely existed, that people had at least an orderly, predictable life if not a life of opportunity.

Germany was just as devastated after World War II. It took them decades to recover, but they have - and now they are a powerful, industrial nation and stronger advocates of peace than even we are.

We pat ourselves on the back for the achievements made at gunpoint.

I'm sure that there are many, many people in Afghanistan who do not feel as we do. I'm sure that there are local crime lords who are glad that they do not have the Taliban to answer to.

Soon Iraq demanded our attention.

Leaders of neighboring Arab states said "They have Weapons of Mass Destruction". Defecting Iraqis said "They have Weapons of Mass Destruction". Great Britain, Nigeria, Israel and other nations said "They have Weapons of Mass Destruction". Our own intelligence declared it to be so.

We watched Al Qaeda regrouping after losing a large part of their support infrastructure.

We watch Sadaam and his regime making overtures to Al Qaeda, though we are aware that they actually don't care for each other that much.

The President of the United States makes a decision, and the rest is history, or so it seems from our perspective.

I am not trying to sell you on this perspective.

I am not justifying the war (any war) to you.

I don't think that my perspective is more important or better than yours.

Although I believe in Good and Evil and that some things are simply wrong no matter what culture you were raised in or what God you worship... I think that the list of those things is relatively small and easily agreed upon by most people.

I wrote this seeking to be understood, as I read your writing to seek to understand you.

As human beings we have an opportunity and a duty to study the past so that we do not repeat our mistakes. We have an opportunity and a duty to challenge ourselves to examine the things in our lives, to not simply make decisions out of convenience, to question superficial appearance.

I am just trying to rise to this challenge by examining myself with you as a witness.

What good is an idea that can only live in the dark? A perspective that is only valid in a comfortable home on the other side of the planet?

Not good at all, I think.

Please give my best wishes to you and your family. I hope that the days ahead are easier for you than the days behind, though I know that there are many more obstacles to face.

Very Respectfully,

Michael E. Cummins
Fort Lauderdale, Florida, USA
http://www.i-magery.com

Posted by Michael at August 8, 2004 02:04 PM