When war mongers confess their sins
I thought I'd feel better when people who supported the Iraq war began slowly to come to their senses and admit they'd been wrong. I don't. I don't feel even a little bit better, because when I read their excuses for why they were wrong it's just a litany of ignorance. That's the excuse at heart--a failure to understand the implications of war, deep-seated cultural divides, all things that could have been fixed with a little research.
So Andrew Sullivan can claim he committed "four cardinal sins," but he didn't. He committed one: willful ignorance. He believed what he wanted to believe, based on the data that he chose to consider. In his little confession on Slate.com, he writes, "What I failed to grasp is that war is also a monster." Come on, Andy! What? You haven't seen any of the hundreds of war films that have been made in the last 70 years? You missed Full Metal Jacket? Saving Private Ryan? The news footage coming out of every war zone in the last twenty years?
General William Tecumseh Sherman spelled it out at his speech to the cadets of the Michigan Military Academy over a hundred years ago: Cadets of the graduating class--boys--I’ve been where you are now and I know just how you feel. It’s entirely natural that there should beat in the breast of every one of you a hope and desire that some day you can use the skill you have acquired here. Suppress it! You don’t know the horrible aspects of war. I’ve been through two wars and I know. I’ve seen cities and homes in ashes. I’ve seen thousands of men lying on the ground, their dead faces looking up at the skies. I tell you, war is hell!
It's no secret. You don't have to go very far to find out how monstrous war is, but that didn't serve Andy's purpose. Doing research might have made him wobbly in his early support of the war. Knowledge might have undermined his faith in Bush's morality. That's the other thing Sullivan writes in his admission of wrong-doing: that he made a "fatal misjudgment of Bush's sense of morality. I had no idea he was so complacent—even glib—about the evil that good intentions can enable."
No, asshole. You made a fatal misjudgment of your own intelligence, because with access to all the information necessary to take up an anti-war position, you chose to place your faith in someone who had repeatedly shown a complete lack of real morality. You got it wrong because you were willing to take form over content. You were willing to believe someone who claimed he was a Christian with moral values, instead of looking to see what his actions proved. And how could anyone not know how glib Bush was? That's a man who mocked a fellow Christian on the eve of her execution. Can you get more glib?
So, officially, I'm no longer interested in hearing the confessions of guilt and complicity of those who wanted to invade Iraq. They don't do anything for me, because they all come from the same place: an awkward, self-effacing moment that does no one any good. Andy Sullivan may be struggling to forgive himself for following an amoral leader, but I doubt he's learned anything from the experience, because he hasn't figured out that willful ignorance was his real mistake.
Full text of Sullivan's column: How Did I Get Iraq Wrong? I seriously misjudged Bush's sense of morality
Comments
This is a blog post I made in November 2004:
It's tough to say it. I know how many different ways I'll just be discredited by most people who could possibly read it. Again, it's fortunate that I am my own audience. After these election results a few things are clear. First Demogoguery wins. Second, I am against the majority of Americans. I've said it before, and I'll say it now: it's a moral failing to vote for George Bush. Third, I believe the main reason why Bush won is that he is seen as a "Christian". If this is what America counts as Christian these days, I'll have to come up with new terminology. Jesus wept.
I know that, were people to read this, they'd say it's just sour grapes. But, I expected W to win. I saw the same thing with Reagan. I knew that this is how it would go. I'm sad, though, to have tangible proof that America is becoming a worse place. John Kerry was hardly anybody's candidate. I get that. Further, I understand that people see things differently from me. I even understand that there was lots of hype on things that really don't matter. What I'm trying to say is that I saw all that before, and I'm not shocked. This isn't some kind of sudden disappointment. More like the last straw, in that I feel like it's official, now. We're Russia. America is in the position Russia was in 30 years ago. That saddens me. It's sad to see how far so many people are from right. It's sad to think how many things will go wrong. People are calling for us to get in line, already. For everyone to let bygones be bygones, and support our fearless leader. Like the whole election was Orwell's two minute hate. All I can say is that it's good nobody is reading this, because they wouldn't believe me, anyway. I live in a place and time that will be condemned.
I call BS!
Blind faith is not a substitute for thinking.