As seen in The New York Times, Counterinsurgency is, by definition, a competition between insurgents and counterinsurgents for the control and support of a population. To believe that Americans, with an occupying force that long ago outlived its reluctant welcome, can win over a recalcitrant local population and win this counterinsurgency is far-fetched.""
As those of you who follow my column know, this is the space where I usually make a self-deprecating joke, but mass media's talking heads have stolen my thunder - the Bush administration's inept policy, 1,500 days since ""mission accomplished,"" and the like. Perhaps we do not need any more jokes.
While the quotation may sound like rhetoric from a political scientist safely swaddled in a leather armchair, it was in fact written by a group of seven American soldiers at the end of a 15-month tour in Iraq. In the month since their article ran in The New York Times, two of those soldiers died in
action.
By no choice of their own, their last public words will forever remain a message on behalf of the countless number of American soldiers who have sacrificed their lives in conflicts beyond their control: ""We need not talk about our morale. As committed soldiers, we will see this mission through.""
Historically, it has been said if you really want to know how a ground war is going, you should ask a sergeant. That is what we got in mid-August when The New York Times published the opinion editorial from the seven soldiers.
However, last week the American public got an exclusive look into the war in Iraq from the highest echelon. Four Star General David Petraeus spoke to Congress on the day the news broke about the deaths of two of the soldiers who had authored the article in The New York Times, yet his message was quite different than theirs.
On the day Petraeus was asked to give his report, Moveon.org took out a full-page advertisement. This, in effect, shot the messenger. They called Petraeus a liar simply because he was prepared to deliver news of improvement in Iraq, which is not to say ""good news,"" but better news than that to which we have become accustomed.
Dubious record keeping notwithstanding, it seems the people from Moveon.org have forgotten the noble truths that Lord Tennyson taught us in ""Charge of the Light Brigade"" - ""Theirs is not to make reply/ Theirs is not to reason why/ Theirs is but to do and die."" I guess only a select few can reap the benefits of an education from the UW-Madison English department. In other words, Petraeus is a soldier, not a politician.
My sympathies go out to Petraeus. His superiors asked him to do something unfair. Instead of letting him be a general in the United States Army, his superiors indirectly called on him to sell a highly controversial war - the brainchild of his bosses in the Bush administration. His job is to win the war, not make value judgments based on the finer points of morality. There is plenty of blame to go around, but let us be sensible.
The major difference between the opinion of the seven servicemen in Iraq and Petraeus was the fact that Petraeus was ""on the clock."" He was not editorializing, but reporting to his bosses. The soldiers were editorializing, but they also understood that their mission and the safety of their brothers-at-arms superseded their own personal views.
Who is ultimately to blame? Besides the Bush administration, we all must bear some of the responsibility. Americans need to realize these seven servicemen who I have mentioned are ultimately relying on the American public to keep them out of irresolvable conflicts. They can make no decisions, but where have we been? Everywhere I look, I see miniature American flags and decals that say, ""these colors don't run"" and other similar hollow slogans stuck to the back of SUVs. ""America is at war"" is on the lips of every politician, but let us be realistic. As it stands now, our troops are the only ones at war; the rest of America is at the mall. Until we as a nation realize that American Idol is less important than the lives of American servicemen and women, we are all doomed.
Matt Jividen is a senior majoring in history. Please send responses to opinion@dailycardinal.com
