By Frank Cordaro frank.cordaro@gmail.com
Des Moines Catholic Worker
(From a speech given May 2, 2007 Post Veto Rally “MISSION BOTCHED – NEITHER CONGRESS NOR THE PRESIDENT HAS IT RIGHT!” in Des Moines, IA)
Today’s demonstration brings to mind a famous quote from one of my favorite philosophers, Yogi Berra of NY Yankee fame: “It feels like deja vu all over again.” Vietnam and Iraq, two losing wars with the same blame game losing excuses.
And, yet, I know that the War in Iraq is not the same as the War in Vietnam. One big reason the Iraq War is not like the Vietnam War is because this USA lead war in Iraq is a much bigger disaster and national disgrace, has far reaching ramifications beyond the borders of Iraq that threatens the whole region of the Middle East and the rest of the world.
Still there are significant similarities between the history and lessons learned from the Vietnam War and where we are in this current war in Iraq.
A similarity today is that we find ourselves in the same place we were towards the end of the Vietnam War, at a stage when “we” Americans are finally realizing that “we” are losing the war. This ignores the fact, however, that we lost this war the moment we decided to start this war, which is another similarity to the Vietnam War.
And like the period at the end of the Vietnam War, the politicians, the media giants and “powers that be”, the very people who got us into these wars in the first place, will allow only two “acceptable” explanations for a loss.
The first is to blame the victims. In the loss of the Vietnam War, the ‘blame the victims’ supporters claimed we simply chose the wrong side…that we backed the wrong Vietnamese in our efforts to save Vietnam from communism; that weak and corrupt leadership did us in. Truth was, we did not back the wrong side in Vietnam, we were the wrong side in Vietnam.
In Iraq today this argument, currently courted by the Democrats, is echoed by those who say we’ve done all we can for the Iraqis. They argue that it is now time for the Iraqis to take responsibility for their own country - again blaming the victims.
The truth is we “unjustly, immorally and illegally” invaded Iraq. (Pope John Paul II). We ignited a civil war. We created a haven for the al-Qaida’s of the world so they could multiply and expand. We’ve killed hundreds of thousands of Iraqis in the process. And to date, two million of Iraq’s most educated and talented people have fled their country in self exile. Today Iraq is in worse shape than it was under Saddam. Let’s NOT blame the victims for THIS war.
The second case for losing this war is brought to us by those who argue that we are not fighting the war to win it! These are the same folks who claimed that the reason we lost in Vietnam was because our troops had to fight with their hands tied behind there backs. They say this despite the fact that at the height of the war, over a half million US troops were fighting in Vietnam; more bombs were dropped on Vietnam than in the entire Second World War and over a 1,000,000 Vietnamese were killed!
On top of these two arguments, there was the insidious sentiment that those of us in the peace movement did not support the troops during the Vietnam War. The fact is the peace movement during the Vietnam War did not really start to make a difference until Vietnam Vets came home and THEY started to protest the war. They were the back bone of the peace movement during the Vietnam War.
Today Washington Republicans, primarily, make the same claim - that if we pull out of Iraq now, we admit defeat and give the al-Qaidas of the world a direct path to bring their fight right here, to the USA. It is the fear card, used to discredit the truth of the situation and to curry favor from the fearful.
Until Ronald Reagan took office, however, we had no final explanation or national consensus for why we lost the Vietnam War. Reagan, the great deceiver, cleared it up for us when running for President the first time, at a national gathering of US Veterans he proclaimed, “It’s about time we start remembering Vietnam for what it really was, a noble adventure of a struggling democracy, fighting Godless communism.” In his revisionist way Reagan set the national mythology straight about Vietnam, we lost that war because of our lack of will to fight, and to support the troops. Today’s Congress, both Democrats and Republicans believe this is the carry over mythology they are dealing with for the losing war in Iraq.
And unlike the” kill them before they kill us”, terrorist Republicans, the wishie, washy, spineless Democrats do not want the loss of this war blamed on them for not supporting the troops. So, they are going to keep funding this war and wait.
Friends, we can’t wait. Nor can the world wait. It is up to us in the peace movement to do what we couldn’t quite get done at the end of the Vietnam War. We need to drag Congress off its blame game course. We can’t afford to let the Imperial “Powers That Be” manufacture more excuses. This time, we need to get it right. This time we need to hold accountable the unjust, immoral and criminal administrations, who with no justification lead us into this war. We and the peoples of the world can no longer lay the blame on anyone else.
Friends, if there ever was a time for dissent and public opposition to this war, the time is now. If civil disobedience is ever appropriate, the time is now. The whole world is watching; the future of our planet is at stake.
Frank Cordaro is a long time social justice advocate at the Phil Berrigan Catholic Worker House in Des Moines, Iowa. In addition to his work on the Occupation Project campaign, Frank is a key organizer of on-going nonviolent civil resistance at STRATCOM (Strategic Command) at Offut Air Force Base in Omaha, Nebraska. He can be reached via email, frank.cordaro@gmail.com, or phone at 515-282-4781. The address of teh Phil Berrigan Catholic Worker is 713 Indiana Avenue, Des Moines, IA 50314.
