I've seen several blog posts about the cost of the Iraq war being both a domestic an foreign policy issue. Something always precedes these wars we launch though, and that is the De-humanization of the foreign population of our enemies. Through intense propaganda we turn our own citizenry into something less than what they were, or, we De-humanize Americans.
Testimonial: My car broke down a while back and I walked about a quarter mile to the local CVS to purchase some tools. While I was there, me and a black man wearing robe similar to those worn by Afghanis started a conversation about cars. He happened to be a mechanic and phoned his garage to see if anyone was still around to help me.
A 40 year old white woman walked in front of us and said, "You really should wear some pants (he actually was wearing pants underneath the robe)"
Me and the guy laughed we thought she was joking. The she said, "this isn't Afghanistan you know."
Well, I was stunned! I looked at my new friend and he kept laughing. I became outraged though. He saw that I was upset (and I may have said a thing or two as well) and then he said that he gets that all the time. He is a devote African-American Muslim but he said nowadays it is worst to be thought of as Muslim than African-American.
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That man was more classy than I in that moment. Watching Obama stay cool under amazing circumstances reminds me of my own short-comings. I'd like to think that things like that are relegated to a by-gone era and today Americans have moved passed that. I've spent to many years in liberal Ann Arbor, associating with mainly rich college kids it seems. But I digress.
After the encounter I couldn't help but think how low that woman was at that moment. She is probably someone's mother, sister, aunt...she may be a beloved member of her church and a good person in her community. But somehow bigotry has polluted this woman to her very core. To the point where she can try to hurt a kind, peaceful man that has done nothing to her.
This is a domestic issue. Our wars and necessary propaganda for the start and continuation of our wars is corrupting us in ways we may not even understand.
To be able to tolerate that our government has killed a million Iraqis and Afghans since 2003 and not dissolve our government and arrest them for crimes against humanity is just one aspect of this. I know with my brain that this is the right thing to do but I remember something terrible.
I was all for the war in Afghanistan. And though politically this is the "good war" I will say that this war was wrong, a mistake, and a crime. Afghanistan did not attack us. Neither did any Afghani attack us. linking Al Queda with the Taliban was necessary and made all the more easy after years of media demonization (propaganda) against the Taliban.
The truth is we are not the first empire that tried to conquer Afghanistan. Ghangis Khan tried and failed. Alexander the Great tried and failed. The Russians tried and it destroyed them. And now we, the United States, are there and having no more luck than the Russians had.
The insidiousness of the propaganda invaded and polluted me until I was willing to accept an illogical, illegal, and flat out stupid war without batting an eye. In fact, I wanted revenge for 9/11. As though killing thousands of Afghans would restore the towers.
These wars have a larger price on our country than the price of steel and oil for the machinery of war. It takes a toll on our souls.