A Little Barnicle On The Side

Mike Barnicle, the infamous columnist from Boston and erstwhile talk-radio host, had this to say about the war in Iraq in a recent radio op-ed (listen) on the occasion of the 4000th American killed in that conflict:

"This war though, is unique. First of all, it is unique because it is a war of choice. This president chose to invade Iraq, not because we had to but because Bush and a few others wanted to. You can call and complain all you want about that my friends, but it's a simple statement of fact. It's also unique because it is being fought by so few among us who pay such a high price while so many are asked to do nothing. Nothing at all. Make no sacrifice whatsoever. It's unique because it remains largely a civil war between religious and tribal factions that have fought and hated one another for centuries. It's unique because we are in the middle. It is unique because nobody can define what victory means or when it will arrive. 4000 casualities. 5 years. And most night's it doesn't even make the top of the evening news. That's Iraq today. That's unique."

There would be no stretching of any reasonable person's sense of credulity if I stated that Mr. Barnicle has expressed himself in terms that can be called emblematic. Many folks feel the way he feels; their opinions are perfectly aligned with his. Perhaps not a few possess the means to express their opinions in a public forum; I would bet though that many don't, and that Mr. Barnicle speaks for them.

But the ideas presented in Mr. Barnicle's lamentation are quite sophomoric, his sympathetic voice not withstanding. It makes no sense, for instance, to denigrate an effort because its success cannot be defined; it is equally goofy to lament an effort because no one can predict when it will cease. Football games have a terminus called a clock; but most endeavors are not monitored by a scorekeeper in a booth. Life doesn't usually give us what we expect, in neat little packages, all tidy and prim.

Let's give Mr. Barnicle's thoughts a quick look:

1) "This war ... is unique because it is a war of choice."

Mr. Barnicle had to have been under some dire time constraints to have drafted this inanity. Every war is a war of choice; there is nothing NECESSARY about war. There has not been a single major (and probably even minor) military enterprise in American history that was not chosen. Besides, there is something to that apparently forgotten thing known as the human will. It's free.

2) "This war ... is unique because it is being fought by so few among us who pay such a high price while so many are asked to do nothing."

I was too young to understand the deep sacrifices Americans were asked to make during the Vietnam War. However, I don't ever recall any rationing of food stuffs, or gasoline; there were no shut-downs in manufacturing plants in my home state of New Jersey; there were no black outs. During the Gulf War of 1991, I can't recall a single sacrifice expected of me or my peers, though I did have a dear friend and college roommate serve in that conflict (and he's not been the same since). Again, there was nothing like, let's say, World War 2's demands on American life during the Gulf War, just like there was no call to bear hardship during America's conflict in Bosnia. All of these "wars of choice" (those since Vietnam) marked something that was, in fact, quite wonderful: American servicemen and women CHOSE, in a free military devoid of compulsion, to fight on our behalf so we would not have to. They sacrificed themselves so we would not need to be sacrificed. This fact is one of the true indications of America's greatness and power: America has the strength to send volunteers so that those who remain behind don't EVEN WOBBLE. That is what is REALLY meant when people talk about preserving and protecting freedom.

Just as an aside, I, for one, would love to find anyone in the United States who has been asked, as Mr. Barnicle reports, to do nothing. Who would ask such a fool's question?

But I quibble.

3) "This war ... is unique because it remains largely a civil war between religious and tribal factions that have fought and hated one another for centuries."

No doubt Americans have heard from countless other Americans that Iraq is steeped in civil war. Mr. Barnicle surely counts among those who so declaim. It is a declamation nearly as old as the Iraq conflict itself. But perhaps Mr. Barnicle missed this poll from last year, taken from the largest sample of Iraqis since the fall of Saddam, wherein the majority of Iraqis are quite certain they are NOT in a civil war. Read that fine report here, and read this fine quote gleaned from it:

The poll, the biggest since coalition troops entered Iraq on March 20, 2003, shows that by a majority of two to one, Iraqis prefer the current leadership to Saddam Hussein’s regime, regardless of the security crisis and a lack of public services.

The survey, published today, also reveals that contrary to the views of many western analysts, most Iraqis do not believe they are embroiled in a civil war.

Indeed, it is amazing how such news is missed. Of course, no one here is saying the poll is definitive. What I am saying is that Mr. Barnicle should be a little more circumspect.

4)"This war ... is unique because nobody can define what victory means or when it will arrive."

Please. When -- EXACTLY -- did the Allied powers predict the end of World War 2, and when did they describe what their victory MUST look like? Answer: there is no answer precisely because it is essentially a non-question. War is not like climbing a mountain, or going to a Red Sox game, or going to college. War is a messy art. It is about adaptation and flexibility. It is more like evolution than it is a solid-state theory of creation.

It would be nice to say that Mr. Barnicle is showing impatience and thus cut him some slack, but that is not what he is showing. What he is showing is an inflexibility rooted in intellectual immaturity. Such thinking is childishness disguised as moral loftiness. (Sorry.)

Regrettably, on the day in which another soldier died, Mr. Barnicle leaves us with nothing more than moral certitude devoid of certainty.

Peace.

©Bill Gnade 2008/Contratimes. All Rights Reserved.