05 October 2006

MIA or My Country the Crack Whore


There is an amazing story in the latest issue of Esquire magazine about the only American soldier missing in action (MIA) in Iraq.

The writer, Brian Mockenhaupt, brings out the full picture of what it means to be an American in Iraq. It is a place that is exhilerating yet terrifying, a place where patriots become mass murderers (and vice versa), a place where the only thing uglier than death is life itself.

The article recreates the April 2004 ambush during which Matt Maupin disappeared from the convoy which he was guarding. A few weeks later he showed up on Al Jazeera, surrounded by some insurgent group calling itself the Sharp Sword Against the Enemies of God and his Prophet. There has been no sign of him since.

His mother surrounds herself with angel figurines and yellow ribbons. She won't shake the belief that Matt will come home again. His dad has promised not to shave his beard until Matt returns.

Last spring, he met President Bush when Bush threw out the first pitch at a Cincinnati Reds game. "When are you gonna cut that thing?" Bush asked him.

Matt's dad answered, "When you bring home my boy."

In the hope and frustration I felt after reading the article, it occurred to me that this is how addictive war can be. War has to be the most addictive substance in the world. Compared to drugs, sex, or gambling, it is far more destructive, far more costly, far more pernicious.

Think about the new round of justifications for the Iraq War: somehow leaving would mean that the deaths of Americans there would have been in vain--so we sacrifice more of our men and women so that their deaths can someday be justified by more deaths; or there is the shrill talk of "victory" by the President and the mission "yet to be accomplished. My favorite one is the "untold" number of lives saved from terrorist attacks in the American homeland by the destruction of tens of thousands of lives in Iraq.

Compare this with addictions. I've worked with addicts in prisons and halfway houses, so I'm pretty experienced with this crowd. "I'm working on it," they will say before disappearing for another hit. Addicts can also paint wonderful pictures of what progress they will make "on the wagon" away from the gutter, and they like to pretend that they could be a lot worse off--even if it doesn't make sense to the observer.

Even now, as two wars go wrong, we hear whispers from the addicts in Washington calling for "one more war [against Iran]." All it will take is one more--that's all, then we can quit, we know we can.

Except war breeds only more war. One of the orphans created by Americans in Iraq over the last 2 1/2 years is destined to someday make orphans out of innocent American children. One of the methods used in winning the Cold War against the Soviets was the arming of mujahadin by the United States. We know how that turned out.

I think that people in other countries recognize how addictive war can be. Tell a German or Japanese about a "good war," and they will just roll their eyes. I think people in other countries now look at the United States with the same combination of fear and pity that use to view whinos and druggies.

Americans still see themselves as Lady Liberty, but to the rest of the world, our country looks like a Meth Addict, plastering its face with lipstick and stumbling around in high heels, fishnet stockings and miniskirt askew (as in the picture, right, of a meth addict).

It isn't a matter of if but when our country must recover from this addiction. I don't want to have to learn the hard way: the way the peoples of France, Germany, and Japan had to learn. I would like to do what I can to help my country kick the habit: no more blood, no more war, no more "addict answers" to problems that require cooperation and not violence.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

JD,

Addictive to whom?

The neocons and hawkish think tanks? Sure.

The GOP government? Probably, at least as long as it's a useful political tool.

The news media? Yep.

The public? I don't know. Sure there's an initial rush when the bombs are dropping. But what about now? Based upon the news coverage, you'd think Iraq and Afghanistan are almost forgotten wars. Unless you know someone over there, how much impact does the Iraq war have on the daily life of the average American?

It's hard to be addicted to something you're barely conscious of.

JD said...

I am not one of those who sees the public as being somehow separate from politicians, the think tanks, and the media. I think they are all connected.

Politicians are where they are because of the public. A thinking public holds people like this accountable. I have never cast a vote for George W. Bush, but that doesn't mean that I'm not affected by his leadership--nor does it mean that I have done everything I could to help my fellow citizens make correct decisions about him.

The media are slaves to popular opinion. There are opinionated individuals on both sides within the news media--a good thing, I think. But it is up to the public to make correct choices for news and entertainment sources.

I am the public. I need to work harder to break the habit, I guess.

andrewbaker77 said...

Spot on your words. Meth hits with every bomb drop.
Unfortunately, your words are nearly 10 years old, a lifetime in addiction years, and nothing's improved.
The end is certainly coming soon. Which end? We'll find out. - AB in SantaBarbara and Sabah