Patrick Nielsen Hayden quotes Andrew Northrup on the new found legitimacy of the theory of the usefulness of kicking someones ass as a reason to invade Iraq.
The interesting thing is that to prove we are capable of opening a can of whup-ass we actually defined the outer parameters of the capabilities of the US military as it is comprised today. By that I mean we are in a state right now where a large percentage of the active military and the reserves and Guard is going to rotate at least once through Iraq, and we are currently restricted in our military options because Iraq has consumed a greater percentage of our military resources than would have been believed possible.
Before the Iraq war the idea of the US military being capable of operating at frightening levels on two fronts was firmly believed by tin-pot dictators around the world, let alone other more competitive nations in scale and power. Now that seems like a fanciful delusion, and everyone knows the exact capacity of the US military when it comes to putting boots on the ground.
Air strikes and naval power, sure, we'll deliver that same can of whup-ass anywhere, but boots on the ground? That capacity now has a definition, and it is turning out to be much less than most countries thought we were capable.
That was a useful illusion, diplomatically and militarily, but now we have spent it.
Also, I was out of the country in the wilderness during September 11th, and as a result did not spend the day watching on TV as apparently the rest of the world did. I have to say that based on what I saw in people's eyes when we got back that, for political purposes, and as a shorthand description, the current administration could count on being given quite a bit of leeway in their decision making process due to a national case of post-traumatic stress disorder.
In five years a majority of the American citizens will look back on our own actions and ask themselves "What were we thinking?". That this theory of "we needed to blow something up" is being treated as a legitimate argument strikes me a symptom of a neurosis, and further evidence of the brittle state of the mental health of the nation.
We seem to be, as a populace, twitchy enough that we are easily stampeded, and once stampeded seem willing to delude ourselves as to the legitimacy of the reasons for stampeding. Since stampeding seemed like a good idea at the time, it must have been justified.
And finally, I don't think that all this running around flailing at threats, real and imagined, is actually helping the afore-mentioned PTSD populace get any better. It's having about the same effect as if we were an individual and decided to address our problems by drinking and getting into bar fights.
Posted by dglynn at January 13, 2004 10:09 AM