Pandora's Box

by Dan Jacoby

In Greek mythology, Pandora was given a sealed box as a wedding gift, and told she would have a happy marriage and a happy life if only she didn't open the box. Of course, she did open it, and a whole host of evils escaped, wreaking death and destruction upon the world. The last thing left in the box was named Hope, the idea being that as long as there's hope there can be happiness.

Sometimes I wonder if, after September 11, a magical creature had whispered in President Bush's ear "I'm giving you a box called Iraq. You can be happy if only you stay out of this box."

If only...

After removing the Taliban from power in Afghanistan, we had a tremendous opportunity to finish the job. We could have installed a stable government, helped build roads, and schools, provided electricity -- and quite probably captured Osama Bin Laden. The world would have cheered our efforts, and offers to help would have poured in. We would have been safer.

We could have been happy.

Instead, the Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld/Rice monomania with Iraq was just too tempting. Buoyed by what seemed an astonishing victory in Afghanistan, and loaded with arrogance, they just had to open that box. Sure, they had to lie (a lot!) in order to sell their plan, but perhaps they couldn't help themselves. And look what escaped:

  • Over 600 American troops killed, and that number rising quickly
  • 3,500 Americans wounded, and counting
  • Hundreds of billions of dollars down the tubes
  • World opinion turned against us
  • Severe escalation of terrorist attacks
  • A reconstituted Taliban, which now controls one-third of Afghanistan
  • No end to this catastrophe in sight

Before we invaded, Senator Joe Biden publicly predicted that we would have to keep 78,000 troops in Iraq for a period of three years. The White House pooh-poohed that prediction, and ironically they were right (well, sort of). The situation in Iraq, according to optimistic Bush administration projections, is going to require at least 110,000 American troops for another three to four years on top of the year we've already spent there.

This is what happens when you don't look before you leap.

The Bush bigwigs didn't bother to make sure that the "intelligence" they had was accurate. In fact, we can be certain that they knew better, because if they had actually gotten such bad intelligence, surely someone at the CIA would have been fired by now. More likely, they knew exactly what they were getting into, and what it would cost, but didn't care.

We know they didn't care because President Bush joked about the search for weapons of mass destruction.

We also know that George W. Bush and his team of advisors have no clue how to fix the situation. They have no clue how to respond to the escalating attacks on American military and quasi-military personnel. They have no clue what to do about the escalating attacks on our few allies in the mock "coalition". They have no clue how to turn over power, or whom to turn it over to. They have no clue how to explain their position, to America, to our allies, to the United Nations, or to the world.

So where is the hope?

The hope lies in the fact that in the long run Iraqis have no real alternative to accepting a new way of governing themselves. If they don't accept responsibility for managing their own affairs, and find a way for the many disparate groups within the country, there will be enormous civil war. Millions of Iraqis will die.

But George W. Bush and his supporters cannot realize this hope. They cannot make it happen, because nobody in Iraq will let them. Bush and his team have lied, cheated and bombed their way into a morass that they have no way of getting of. They cannot lie their way out. They cannot cheat their way out. And they cannot bomb their way out.

Four American security forces are killed in Fallujah, their bodies beaten, mutilated, dragged through the streets (shades of Somalia) and strung up to hang from a bridge. And all the Bush team has is empty words and meaningless promises. They don't know how to prevent it from happening again. And it will happen again; more Americans will be brutally murdered. And when it does, Bush will still have no answer.

The only way to keep hope alive in Iraq is regime change here at home -- we must replace George W. Bush.

Getting rid of Bush and his team of liars will allow other countries to get involved in Iraq. By repudiating the lies of George W. Bush, America sends a message to the world that we're ready to make things right. By throwing Bush out of office, we have a chance of reducing terrorism and making America safer.

Right now, it's our only hope.

 

Copyright 2004, Dan Jacoby

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