The Arc of History and the Advent of myWar

Remember when September 11 was about September 11? When it was about killing Osama, dismantling The Taliban, rebuilding Afghanistan, and oh yeah, learning something about how to get along with Arabs and/or Muslims? Those were simpler times. For any reason you care to guess (he sure hasn't made it clear) Bush decided to use September 11 as a rationale to attack Iraq.

Facetiously speaking, maybe it's okay to take the Bush approach and ignore Osama. Really, who is more dangerous to Americans? Osama bin Laden or George W. Bush? By the numbers, Bush is the one Americans need to avoid. Osama's plans and actions killed less than 3,000 Americans on 9/11. Bush is working his way to 4,000 Americans killed in Iraq, with no end in sight.

So Iraq is another Vietnam. Did we Americans learn the lessons of Vietnam? What the hell were those lessons anyway? Let's see. Lesson one: a war without a goal can't be won. No. Definitely not learned. At least not by the people who can wage a war.

When an unpopular government, against the will of the majority of the people, can destroy an entire nation (Iraq) for no reason, and continue to do so for years on end, this is a very serious problem. Why can't these madmen be stopped? Is war something so easily worked, such a personal thing, that it can join the list of my- prefixed things? Is the consensus of a nation or even a fighting force no longer needed? Is Iraq just Bush's myWar?

So let's see. September 11. Let's get back to that. No wait! We're not done thinking about Vietnam. I think we were on lesson two: stepping into a civil war is a bad idea, and democracy probably won't take hold real quick. Nope. Not learned. At least not by those with myWar capability.

Vietnam lasted what? Fifteen years? If we can make Bush's myWar in Iraq war shorter, then maybe that, in some pathetic way, can be counted as a victory, a lesson learned. A lesson learned by anti-war activists who know to oppose war much sooner and stronger.

Doctor King said "The arc of history is long but it bends toward justice." Bush says the future (in fifty years or so) will vindicate him.

Will Iraq be a shining example of democracy fifty years from now? Who knows? That would be great, but will Bush deserve any credit for that? No democracy will emerge until those civil war tensions are dissipated. By politics or by literally, burning off. Does he deserve credit for building a democracy by lying to the world, allowing his contractor pals to steal unchecked while a civil war dissolves into a weary democracy (possibly only because an ethnic group or two has been destroyed?)

Fifty years from now, maybe things will be better, maybe by then we'll get back to the lessons of September 11 and we'll have learned the lessons of Iraq and Vietnam, so we won't have to learn the lessons of Iran.

Regardless of what happens in half a century, the dead will still be dead. Too bad Bush, looks like you're wrong already. The arc of history is long, but it isn't long enough to vindicate criminals like you.

===
Larry Nocella is the award-winning author of the novel Where Did This Come From? available at Amazon and Xlibris and other fine online book stores. Where Did This Come From? is also available as an eBook. For more info, visit Larry Nocella's website at www.LarryNocella.com.