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Dissonance, Therapy or Politics
by Marc Cooper for the LA Weekly •
Friday, Apr. 04, 2003 at 1:33 AM
Peace movement misses the point by marching now
If only the Bush administration had political strategies and policies half as smart as its high-tech weaponry. Who was not transfixed, and at some level or another horrified, by that first seven-minute shock-and-awe barrage that turned the Baghdad night into an orange-hellish glow of mini–mushroom clouds and rivers of flame? And as similar bombardments continued through the week, any reasonable spectator could likely assume that the Iraqi capital was being decimated and that nothing less than mass carnage was being carried directly into our living rooms via CNN.
And yet, this same administration that bulldozed recklessly into this unnecessary war, and whose notion of diplomacy was to plow over both foes and allies with equal abandon, was conducting one of the most tightly targeted, if not restrained, wars in modern history.
The number of civilians killed remains in the dozens — too many, but far shy of the mass graves that could be imagined on the first night of the war.
So for those of us who had argued against the war, there was some solace. At least on one crucial point, the administration was telling the truth. Its military strategy was indeed attempting to force the surrender of Saddam Hussein’s regime by scaring the wits out of it — and not, fortunately, by committing wanton destruction and indiscriminate massacres. Of course, that picture may change as the war intensifies and as more information becomes available. Outside of the tight focus of the camera lens fixed on the target of downtown government buildings, most of the rest of Baghdad was being spared, and the lights, the water, the phones, even the Internet lines, were still all up and running.
Of course, administration hopes for a three-day war were stopped cold by unexpected levels of Iraqi resistance in the southern part of the country. And as this column is being written, as American forces move northward, and Saddam Hussein concentrates his elite troops around his capital, the world prepares for the unpredictable horror of what may become the Battle of Baghdad.
Already, “progressive” anti-war Web sites like Commondreams.org are more or less gloating over these troubles, running every report they can suggesting that George W. Bush is about to bog down in a quagmire. But this hope, if you can call it that, is radically ill-placed. Just as a dozen years of draconian American sanctions against Iraq battered everyone except Saddam Hussein, this war going off the tracks would devastate just about everyone except George Bush.
A prolonged siege of Baghdad would provoke a humanitarian crisis of biblical proportions, running the Iraqi civilian population through a meat grinder of hunger and death. Military casualties on both sides would soar. And the already inflamed passions of much of the Arab world — and not only Arabs — could explode. It would be much worse even than the disaster we’re currently seeing in Basra. The consequences of a short war in Iraq are going to be bad enough. Only an idiot could hope for a prolonged conflict. That’s why the best we can now hope for is a swift and definitive conclusion of the war.
Notice I did not say we should stop the war. First of all, we simply cannot. The war will, hopefully, be over soon enough on its own. Second, and more to the point, about the only silver lining in this American misadventure for the Iraqi people is that it does the spell the end of one of the most barbaric 30-year dictatorships on the face of the Earth. To call off the tanks at this juncture, thereby saving Saddam’s skin, would be a double betrayal of the Iraqi people. With all the miscalculation, hubris, arrogance and imperial disdain that undergird this war, at least let its only saving grace be consummated by leveling Saddam’s regime.
Maybe someone in the peace movement should figure out that not only Bush could stop this war. So could Saddam — by resigning his unelected post and saving his people any further sacrifice. Yet I’ve yet to see one anti-war placard allude to Saddam’s responsibilities in securing the peace.
But talk about quagmires. The peace movement, which promises so much in its scope and energy, itself remains bogged down in a minimalist program of simply and only opposing U.S. military action. That’s hardly enough. The movement suffers a malady similar to that of the Bushies, but in reverse: smart principles but dumb — no, make that stupid — operational politics. Pure rejectionism, since the outbreak of war makes the peace movement as blind and indiscriminate as a WWII-vintage iron-cast bomb, though considerably less dangerous and infinitely less powerful.
Blocking traffic when 74 percent of the American people support the war, or endlessly whining about CNN’s coverage, or grandstanding as Michael Moore did at the Oscars telling America that a president who currently enjoys (for all the sordid reasons we know) stratospheric popularity ratings is “fictitious,” has much more to do with personal therapy than with effective politics. Continue on that tack and you can pretty much count on another four years of Bush, no matter how ugly the war turns.
Protecting the Iraqi people, as the peace movement rightfully desires, is one helluva lot more complicated than merely shielding them from the collateral damage caused by U.S. bombs. (That is, unless you really believe that America is the “greatest terrorist state in the world,” as is so often repeated on KPFK’s drive-time shows. If your world-view is that facile, then indeed we have little more to discuss.)
Those who chant “U.S. out of Iraq” ought to be prepared, then, to offer themselves as human shields to protect the Kurds against threatening Turkish troops (a task currently in the hands of U.S. special forces). Or as shields to protect the southern marsh Arabs against occupation by the theocratic armed forces of Iran. Perhaps all those human shields, idle now after fleeing Baghdad when Saddam’s government ordered them anchored to strategic military targets, could assume these new responsibilities.
The peace movement must also concern itself with humanitarian relief. The fight to directly include the U.N. in the administering of that relief (instead of the Bush administration’s proposed reliance on private pork-barrel contractors) is our fight — one infinitely more important than impotently shaking our fists at the CNN building on Sunset Boulevard.
If you don’t trust George Bush, as you should not, and you consider yourself part of the peace movement, then you also better start taking an active interest in who will populate a post-Saddam government. And accept it: Protests or not, there is going to be a new government in Iraq, and very, very soon. Better some of our friends and allies in that new regime than only those favored by Wolfowitz and Cheney. But the peace movement will have no anti-Saddam Iraqi allies if it continues to express no real solidarity with those Iraqis who stand in opposition to Saddam and who might — yes — be actively supporting the war.
For a solid week now, I’ve been arguing these points with a dear friend who says that while she very much wants to see the end of Saddam, she just cannot under any circumstances “support this war.” But this isn’t about supporting the war. It’s about accepting the unfortunate fact that the war has been imposed upon us as an irrefutable reality. We can close our eyes and stamp our feet and hope that by chanting enough it will go away. Or we can truly assume our democratic responsibilities and try to influence the situation so that the outcome is as positive as possible. That’s not much of a choice, admittedly. But it’s all we have.
The greatest threat we face is that after Iraq, the administration will spread the war elsewhere. It will be imperative to block such a move. To do so, we will need politics, not therapy. Time for the peace movement to start thinking and proposing. Merely acting out just won’t cut it.
Why is this beeyatch on the IMC?
by mediawatcher
Friday, Apr. 04, 2003 at 2:17 AM
More moderate thinking posing as "practical" knowledge.
How could the IMC stoop so lo?
Are things really that bad that do-nothings like Marc Cooper get airtime to voice their passive cynicism.
The IMC needs to fuck off with that shit.
You might as well post an article by Bush Admirer.
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why is this beyatch on the IMC?
by irpy
Friday, Apr. 04, 2003 at 2:54 AM
he's on the imc because he asks a good question.
If we can't stop this war, how do we organize to stop the rest of the bush plans for world domination.
quit your bitching and start thinking.
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Marc Cooper.... WEASEL
by antifa
Friday, Apr. 04, 2003 at 10:46 AM
Marc Cooper is nothing short of a "wolf in sheep's clothing." He was driven out of KPFK, where he did everything possible to STIP progressive politics from that station. Cooper supported bannings, firings, and censorship at KPFK... now he sits enthrowned at the L.A. Meekly, firing pot shots at the left that drove him out of KPFK.
Cooper is a shill, a weasel, a racist. He doesn't even have the courage to come out and openly agree with his buddy, Christopher Hitches, who is calling the war against Iraq a "liberation." Don't be fooled by Marc Cooper... I don't mind his dribble being posted here as it's an opportunity to expose and denounce him. But his spirit is NOT our spirit. He belongs at the L.A. Meekly along with all the sex exploitation ads.
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and so...
by irpy
Friday, Apr. 04, 2003 at 11:51 AM
great, he's a weasel.
Now, how do we stop the bush regime from future war plans with the large and movement we have?
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Marc Cooper - war apologist
by Steven Porch
Friday, Apr. 04, 2003 at 12:30 PM
Marc Cooper is a columnist - a fifth columnist - who has now become a not-so-subtle proponent of this shameful and murderous invasion of Iraq. It sounds as if he really aspires to the ultimate spin doctor position now held by this regime's propaganda minister, Ari Fleischer. To experience the US "liberation" he so enthusiastically supports, I would like to see him "embedded" on the front lines with a family in Baghdad and then let him explain to us what a privilege it is to enjoy the arrival of American-style freedom at first hand.
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time to start thinking
by lane
Friday, Apr. 04, 2003 at 1:06 PM
"For a solid week now, I’ve been arguing these points with a dear friend who says that while she very much wants to see the end of Saddam, she just cannot under any circumstances “support this war.” But this isn’t about supporting the war. It’s about accepting the unfortunate fact that the war has been imposed upon us as an irrefutable reality. We can close our eyes and stamp our feet and hope that by chanting enough it will go away. Or we can truly assume our democratic responsibilities and try to influence the situation so that the outcome is as positive as possible. That’s not much of a choice, admittedly. But it’s all we have.
The greatest threat we face is that after Iraq, the administration will spread the war elsewhere. It will be imperative to block such a move. To do so, we will need politics, not therapy. Time for the peace movement to start thinking and proposing. Merely acting out just won’t cut it. "
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Marc has defected...
by Tim Kelley
Friday, Apr. 04, 2003 at 3:27 PM
Let's face it...Marc Cooper has defected to the right.
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Please Marc Cooper from the LA Weekly, do us a favor post your next story in another web s
by a
Friday, Apr. 04, 2003 at 7:33 PM
Please Marc Cooper from the LA Weekly, do us a favor post your next story in another web site. Thank you.
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You Are All Fools
by Millie
Saturday, Apr. 05, 2003 at 2:09 AM
You have all more than ably proved Marc Cooper's argument. Not a single respondent here has even tried to make a coherent argument against what he said. If he's wrong, why don't one of you say something other than call him names and accuse him of being a right winger. I make this challenge as American tanks roll into downtown Baghdad. Stop The War! Well, the war is about over, fools. Show some minimal intelligence and take up Cooper's challenge to actually think what out next move is. GAWD you people are depressing. No wonder we can never win.
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How to win
by Marconi
Sunday, Apr. 06, 2003 at 1:12 AM
How to win:
1. Money, money, money, money, money, money, money, money, money, money, lucre, dinero, scratch, dough, bread, lettuce, cash, funds, assets, resources, money, money, money, money, money. You raise it and you give it to people and they give you things you need. You raise it from a lot of little sources, not a few big ones, or the big ones expect you to give them things they need.
2. It's the media, stupid.
3. Stop letting Marc Cooper and all the other burnouts get in the way. With downers like them around, the game is over before it starts. IMC was started by anarchists and it's way too good a concept to waste any more disk space on the likes of Cooper.
-- .- .-. -.-. --- -. ..
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another two front war
by johnk
Sunday, Apr. 06, 2003 at 2:22 PM
I think Cooper makes some good points, but his rhetoric is straight out of a conservative ad-hominem attack. We're all "acting out"? I don't think so.
Still, he does have some good points. Too much of the left (and even liberal left) is quick to align with "the enemy of my enemy (aka Bush)". We're forgetting to reiterate some of the principles upon which a peace or anti-war movement can stand.
The best thing I've heard on this of late was on KPFK. I forget the host's name, but the show was Native American Airwaves, or something like that. The host went on a great rant about what we have to stand for:
- the end of imperialism, which is fundamentally about environmental pillage - getting more people involved in anti-globalization
Also, given the context, the issue of self-determination was another unstated principle. Without social justice, there cannot be peace.
Cooper's correct - we need to apply some attention to the issue of supporting the best possible "deal" for the people on the ground. But he's a pr--k for saying we need to stop shouting about other. The cameras are on us, and people across the ideological spectrum aren't completely ignorant. They'll catch the message behind the anger and ranting. Some remember the history lessons about the Spanish American war, the Trail of Tears, and the bombing of Hiroshima. This invasion of Iraq is history made tangible, and it feels like history repeating.
As I listened to that show, I was reminded that one of the weaknesses of the anti-war, peace, and anti-globalization movements is their lack of a support base among people of color inside the US. I have no suggestions to resolve this problem... perhaps doing something to relieve the collective amnesia we perpetuate about imperialism, war, and so forth... perhaps altering the message to focus on principles rather than personalities.
Anyway.... peace. Hope you liked this ramble.
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Half-baked Cooper
by Bill Goku
Monday, Apr. 07, 2003 at 11:39 PM
El
"The fight to directly include the U.N. in the administering of that relief (instead of the Bush administration’s proposed reliance on private pork-barrel contractors) is our fight — one infinitely more important than impotently shaking our fists at the CNN building on Sunset Boulevard. "
Marc Cooper is seriously deluded if he thinks that a victorious Bush will give a fig about the UN or anyone trying to pressure him to accept a UN presence in Iraq.
To the extent that he says that that there is a need for new tactics and goals, he is correct. But the goals that he would have the antiwar movement pursue are just crumbs, at best.
The real direction that holds true promise is the political effort to awaken and mobilize the American working class, whose money and social services are being ripped off to finance this war and whose sons and daughters are being sacrificed in Iraq on the alter of corporate profit.
(An aside: compared Cooper, David Corn, Todd Gitlin, et. al., Christopher Hitchens comes across as honesty incarnate. Hitchens at least has the balls to tell you exactly whose side he is now on, rather than standing ambiguously on the sidelines delivering peevish "guidance" lectures to the antiwar movement.)
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Memo from the Right
by Jimmy
Wednesday, Apr. 09, 2003 at 7:01 AM
This article is "right wing" to some of you? Egad!
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Dont_tread_on_me
by Liberty Freedom
Wednesday, Apr. 09, 2003 at 7:53 PM
What can you do to stop Bush and his supporters from expanding their empire? Vote.
Our founders rebelled against the English Empire. Therefore, they made a constitution that allows the people to vote out tyrants. King George can be voted out, unlike our forefathers, we don't have to kill anyone to achieve this. However, the apathy and self-destructive tendancy of ideology's that don't focus on this power lead to inevitable loss. As a result, voting will set you free. Otherwise, Freedom is Slavery. Ignorance is Strength. War is Peace.
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