Rantle

by Eric Anschutz

Some time ago, I wrote about “America the Beautiful.” Here is just a bit of what I said: “Putting aside any specious claim to exceptionalism, America is, without doubt, exceptional. Sprawling from the Atlantic to the Pacific, rich in natural resources, endowed coast to coast with endless acres of fertile land, favorable climate, dynamic, creative and productive industries, our America has for two centuries been a magnet for the needy, the adventurous and courageous from every part of the world. The resulting diversity of our citizenry has given this nation a multicultural and richly colorful heritage that links our people to those of every other nation and culture on earth; yet, this unparalleled diversity has become integrated and blended to bring about a remarkable tolerance for differences among us, and a collective pride we share in things American.”

I recall those words to make a point: America, our nation of 300 million people, with its many endowments and its history of national and international economic and cultural success, has allowed itself to become fearful of a tall bearded zealot, hiding in a cave somewhere in the mountains of Pakistan. Osama bin Laden is supported by fanatics, armed with such weapons as box cutters and Uzi’s and homemade bombs. These are the weapons of a band of criminals, not of armies. Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda offer nothing positive. Their program for the future of Islam is further disenfranchisement from the world, economic and cultural darkness, subjugation and head to toe burqas for women, enlistment in suicidal Jihadism for men, and the cruelty of Sharia Islamic law for all.

I am sick and tired of our nation living in fear. We learn daily of more hundreds of Iraqi innocents dying at the hands of thugs gone wild. We fear Al Qaeda. We fear Sunni insurgents. We fear Shia Militias. We fear students and nurses and school teachers who might detonate hand grenades in a pizza parlor. We fear taxicabs and trucks that might be carrying explosives as they drive slowly into a mid-Baghdad or mid-Kabul plaza.

By calling this a war and calling the enemy terrorists, we have elevated members of Al Qaeda and other Jihadists from the ranks of criminals, which they are, to the ranks of soldiers, which they are not. Criminals are stigmatized in all cultures, including Islam. Soldiers, on the other hand, are honored. By fostering the notion that America is engaged in a “war against terrorism,” we have endowed Al Qaeda with a cause – with a program – with a noble purpose. Across the Middle East, Osama and his Al Qaeda are seen as a kind of Islamic Robin Hood, at war with America, the invader and occupier and pillager of the Middle East. By our “war” terminology, and by our continued massive presence in Iraq, we are giving them the status of underdog and branding us as the bully, and we are giving to Al Qaeda their only real claim to legitimacy which is that they want to force American troops out of the Middle East.

Consider this bit of wisdom from the US Army/Marine Corps Counterinsurgency Field Manual: “Any operation that kills five insurgents is counterproductive if collateral damage leads to the recruitment of 50 more insurgents.” General Petraeus, who directed the writing of that manual, surely understands all this. It’s time to bring our troops home.

By Eric Anschutz, March 5, 2008

Some months ago, I wrote a column urging us to “Get Out of Iraq and Into America.” The ongoing discussion of economic stimulus prompts me to once again address that subject. The peace-dividend argument is simple: the $10 billion monthly we waste on a counterproductive war in Iraq should instead be spent improving America, and the total $1-2 trillion cost of the war could have been spent to far better purpose here in America. The economic stimulus argument is also straightforward: rebuilding our infrastructure would employ thousands, even millions, of Americans (such work cannot be outsourced to India or China). And (as I would define the term) the national security argument is compelling: the safety and the health and the comfort and the quality of life of our people would be immeasurably improved. There is no downside to infrastructure improvement. Why are we not doing it?

Remember the bridge in Minneapolis? Large numbers of cars and trucks plunged 60 feet into a river, and 13 lives were lost. Just before that event, a, underground steam pipe exploded in Manhattan, sending a geyser of filth and asbestos-laden debris into the air, causing millions of dollars of damage in the area. Many schools across America are more than a century old, with ancient plumbing, inadequate heating, and sewage lines that back up into classrooms. Rats and other vermin are ever-present. Aged and inadequately built levees caused the loss of much of New Orleans during the Katrina Hurricane.

Our ports are inadequate to handle increasing international trade. Sewers and levees and dams and water supplies and railroads and airports and urban transportation systems and waste disposal systems across our nation are woefully inadequate. These inadequacies cost us money, endanger our lives, and reduce our health. Most of our infrastructure was constructed years ago, when population and usage were far less than today. Delay in improvements and modernization is short-sighted and fiscally and socially and politically irresponsible.

Spending in Iraq, which has so badly depleted our economy, is part of the reason for failure to invest in infrastructure. But the problem is bigger than that. Americans are traditionally tax-averse. Republicans have won elections time and again because of their simplistic and completely erroneous mantra: “you can spend your money better than the government can.” We hear it in debates between the Republican candidates, each promising ever-lower taxes. What they don’t tell you is that ever-lower taxes means ever-worse infrastructure, ever-greater deterioration of our health, competitiveness, safety, comfort and productivity as the quality of our water and air and roadways and urban transport and sewers and waste management and flood control decrease ever further below world-class standards. Absent investment in infrastructure, we are sliding irrevocably toward the status of a second tier nation.

Have we forgotten the meaning of the word “investment?” The American Society of Civil Engineers performed a study of infrastructure needs in 2005, concluding that it would take more than $1.5 trillion to bring the US infrastructure into reasonably decent shape. That, in a strange coincidence, is about what the Iraq war will cost. McCain and other Republican true-believers tell us again and again that greater investment in military power is essential. For what? We already spend more on “defense” than all other nations combined. Our military aircraft fly faster and higher and carry “smarter” weapons than any other air force in the world. No other nation has a navy that compares in size or massive power to ours. Our soldiers have tanks and automatic weaponry and are brave and well trained. But, sophisticated and massive military force proved on 9-11 to be useless against box-cutters, and since then, in Iraq and Afghanistan, our massive arsenal has proved ineffective against the ubiquitous IED’s (Improvised Explosive Devices) and suicide bombers employed so widely and with deadly success against us.

So, again, I say, out of Iraq, and into America. Out of every-bigger military budgets, and into investment in infrastructure. Out of South Korea and Japan and Italy and Germany (why in the world are we still there?) and the 126 other countries in which American troops are deployed, and into a relationship with the world based on negotiation and trade and a massive effort to understand one another.