A Rebuttal to Post-War(?) McCarthyism

Posted on April 12, 2003 in Citizenship War

Nothing seems more permanent than a long-established government about to lose power, nothing more invincible than a grand army on the morning of its annihilation.
— John Ralston Saul

I finally tracked down who Raye was talking about. Kane was not happy that we opponents of the war didn’t rush to the pen with our thoughts as soon as Bagdhad fell. Kane writes:

These bloggers will not rejoice for the Iraqi people, not now when the first signs of liberation are evident, nor when the Iraqi people finally gain their freedom. And it’s sad, because those that have the rights of democracy should rejoice when a repressed people taste freedom.

Kane attacks us for not mentioning things like a children’s prison (we have those here) and a warehouse filled with human remains. (I am waiting for independent verification as I always do for both Iraq and the allies. I trust no government filtered news from a war zone. Period.) We only seemed to mention the bad stuff about the United States, Kane went on. We’re bad bad bad people.

I doubt that Kane has ever read my weblog. I can only imagine the kneejerk responses that Kane would write on seeing what I’ve said here. Well, I have some news for Kane:

I’m doing what I’ve always done: I’m waiting and watching before I register an opinion. In my training, thinking before you speak is a virtue.

Are the scenes on the streets supposed to make me suddenly turn “pro-American” because “we won it”? I never doubted that we would — it wasn’t about “our boys” for me: it was about the underlying reasons for the war, the disinformation campaign (I’ve commented on both sides), the civilian casualty count, and the destruction of the United Nations.

Kane’s whole article can be boiled down to “If you aren’t writing joyous thoughts about the ‘liberation’ of Bagdhad, then you’re unAmerican.” Pardon me, but I am an American and I am exercising my right of free speech to criticize this adventure. No, it is not preserved by force of arms. It is preserved by using it fearlessly.