rumsfeld fired as iraq burns

"Naturally, the common people don’t want war. But after all, it is the leaders of a country who determine the policy. And it is always a simple matter to drag people along whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. This is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in every country." Herman Goering - Hitler’s Reich-Marshall at the Nuremberg War Crimes Trials

On the morning of September 12, 2001, my mother and I opened the paper and read that Al Qeda was responsible for the attacks the day before. We were relieved, because the night before, in the midst of shock and grief, we talked about our concern that Iraq might have been involved. At least now we knew that my father’s homeland would not be sucked into this mess. Then Donald Rumsfeld held a press conference.

“We’re looking for an Iraq connection,” I remember him saying. I was so confused, because anyone who had a basic knowledge of the region knew that Saddam Hussein and Osama Bin Laden hated each other. In fact, it was Bin Laden who wanted to go after the Iraqi dictator during the first Gulf War. But here was the Secretary of Defense trying to convince the country that the two were in cahoots. The Secretary and the President he worked for lied, manipulated and played on false fears to justify and convince the country to invade Iraq.

And now - six years, $350 billion, and millions of lives lost, destroyed or displaced - Donald Rumsfeld is gone. But the legacy and damage done will remain: Illegally invading an sovereign nation on false pretence. Failing to plan for the occupation. Arrogantly dismissing the wisdom and advice of experts on the region. Ignorantly ignoring the growing insurgency. Providing for a loss of civil liberties and human rights. Allowing for torture. All in the name of freedom.

It should be noted that this war was doomed from the beginning. Last week CNN reported that in 1999 the U.S. conducted war games to determine what it would take to invade and hold Iraq. The military and intelligence communities concluded that it would take at least 400,000 troops, and even then there was the possibility of losing the country (read the article here).

Donald Rumsfeld is not the only one guilty of what amounts to war crimes against the people of Iraq and the U.S. soldiers sent into a death trap. The other men who orchestrated the idea that Iraq must be invaded, such as the Vice President, are guilty as well. And as support for the war has sunk, some of the architects are jumping ship. Richard Pearl, the man who first created the policy and convinced the President of invading Iraq is now backpedaling:

"I think if I had been delphic, and had seen where we are today, and people had said, 'Should we go into Iraq?,' I think now I probably would have said, 'No, let's consider other strategies....' Could we have managed that threat by means other than a direct military intervention? Well, maybe we could have."

Do these men get to decieve and destroy a country and get away with "oops?" Ultimately - as the famous Truman doctrine states - the buck stops with the President. It was on his watch, and under his leadership, that the United States invaded a country that looked like the people who had attacked us on September 11th.

I have to admit that I find some sense of justice in Donald Rumsfeld being forced out. I take his actions personally. Because of his arrogance, lies and failures - along with those of the President and Vice President - my cousin is dead. His daughters are fatherless. My family has to all cram into one house for safety as they look for ways to leave the only homeland they have ever known. An entire country is lost. If this is George Bush’s idea of “winning in Iraq” then I fear what his idea of losing would look like.

Changing the course through firing Rumsfeld is too late to save Iraq. The President, the Vice President are guilty, too, and it is far past time for accountability. There is no one right now who can show them the door, so both history and God will have to judge this administration for the sins in Iraq.

That same September morning I woke up and read about who had attacked us, these men were realizing that they had been caught with their pants down, and at the same time had been given an opportunity to expand the empire. So they cooked up a war, lied to their people, and the Middle East went up in flames.