Lee Harris: The Lesson of Fallujah

Tech Central Station ^ | April 2, 2004 | Lee Harris

[quidnunc]

The Bush administration has promised to respond to Fallujah. But how can a civilized nation such as our own respond to what had happened there this week? We cannot do to them what they did to us. They know that, and we now know it too. We cannot dismember bodies, and hang them from telephone lines. We cannot cheer and yell when men who have done nothing to hurt us are butchered like animals. We cannot do to them the things that they have done to us. We cannot pay them back in kind.

Yes, we can declare our intention to hunt down those responsible for such atrocities. We have announced that we are determined to bring the culprits to justice. But what does justice have to do with Fallujah? Where do any of our civilized ideas of justice fit into a world in which such things not only happen, but are celebrated?

I have only heard verbal reports about what happened. I have not been able to bring myself to look at the pictures of what was done there. I have to keep it at a distance from my consciousness, as I suspect many other Americans must do as well. But those who set out to reconstruct Iraq from the ground up need to stare at those ghastly images for as long as it takes for their message to sink in.

There are laws that govern the development of civilized life, just as there are laws that govern the natural order, and those in the Bush administration who supposed that democracy would spontaneously emerge from the overthrow of Saddam Hussein chose to ignore these laws because they did not fit in with their ideological illusion. Over and over again, we heard from the administration that all human beings are alike, and that we all want the same thing.

The American engineers whose bodies were torn apart did not want the same things as the mob that savaged them. They had come to Iraq to lend a helping hand, and perhaps to make a few bucks. They wished to do no one any harm. Like the brave American soldiers who have given up their lives in the defense of the Iraqi people, they expected to live out a full and rather ordinary life. They never imagined that their deaths would occasion dancing in the streets and delirious shouts of joy.

-snip-

[quidnunc]

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[Torie]

Fallujah should spell the end of the neo-conservative fantasy that all human beings want the same things.

No comment. I am too tired, and don't want to say something that I would regret.

[ChocChipCookie]

He does make some valid points. I don't think that the history of Islam supports the notion that it is a religion of peace, supportive of freedom and democracy.

[Travis McGee]

Scott Helveston, Navy SEAL. R.I.P.

[MNJohnnie]

Well another rant by a member of the Isolationist Wing of the Hard Right. OH MY, Run away and HIDE a mob of 150 barbarians killed 4 security contractors in Iraq. THAT PROVES Iraq is a failure and we must run way and hide under our beds so the foreigners do not get us. The lesson of Falluja for anyone who has a brain not wired to the Hard Right's failed Isolationist politics is that in a Nation of 25 Million, there are thousands of baddies. Guess what, the American people understand that. What they do NOT understand is people like THIS author, OR Hillary Clinton, who try to use this atrocity to score political points to justified their failed politics of Isolationism and Appeasement.

[Sola Veritas]

"But how can a civilized nation such as our own respond to what had happened there this week? We cannot do to them what they did to us."

I appreciate what the author of this is trying to say, but there are some errors in logic on his part. Or should I say, there are errors in his perceptions.

(1) There is NO such thing as a civilized war. There is no "civil" way to take human life. However, war can and is justified in some cases. I believe our "war" in the mideast right now is justified - if for no other reason than simple self defense. Since, if my reasoning is correct, there is no such thing as a civilized war. Then we need to take whatever actions, no matter how brutal, necessary to pacify these people.

(2) The writer errs when he intimates that President Bush was naive to assume all want freedom and democracy. I think that is fundamentally correct. Unfortunately, the real Muslims don't see freedom and democracy as we do. Therefore, they must be eliminated. Yes, it will take time and a great deal of bloodshed, but it can be accomplished. Once these types are no more, then the rest will be drawn to our ways.

(3) Whatever, we must free ourselves of self-imposed restraints - in the name of civilization - if we ever hope to preserve our civilization. Until we can wage total and unrelenting war where failure is not an option, we will not succeed. When we learn to "suck it up" and do the hard things that run contrary to the "better angels of our nature" then we can and will succeed. In my opinion, and I hope I am wrong, we have no other choice.

[quidnunc]

MNJohnnie wrote: Well another rant by a member of the Isolationist Wing of the Hard Right.

No Lee Harris is neither an isolationmist or a paleoconservative.

He just isn't sanguine about the prospects of democracy in the Arab world.

[Wombat101]

Mr. Harris, for all the respect I have for him, has made a mistake here, I think. People do, indeed, all want the same things, if by that we mean; safety, protection from disease, plentiful food, a job and an education. These are the only things that have enabled civilization to survive in the first place -- and if you don't think Muslims want these things (and more) then ask yourself why so many are willing to defy God and live amongst the infidel to get them.

The problem with Muslims, and particularly the ones in the Middle East, is that they like civilization, they just don't like WHERE IT COMES FROM (i.e. The West). They're absolutely baffled as to how such "godless people" can produce everything from chewing gum to artificial hearts and prosper, while God's own chosen and devoted few often suffer from the lack of basic necessities (water, shelter, freedom, etc). We Westerners must be hiding something from them and it drives them nuts because to figure out just what it is that we have and they don't would require them to: a) engage in critical thinking, b) question God and his "chosen" authorities anc c) admit that they are a f*cked up people. None of those options is either attractive nor often even ALLOWED in their societies.

The Lesson of Fallujah is not that the enemy has figured out what they can get away with, the lesson is that we're not dealing with rational people.

The United States has vast experience in dealing with irrational enemies; Japan, Germany, the Moros, the Barbary Pirates, Communists, Fascists and Nazis. We know exactly what to do when an enemy doesn't know he's beat -- we flatten them or destroy them. These folks only understand destruction, so make an example of Fallujah and let it revert to nature.

Sometimes, you have to play the game by the enemy's rules in order to win, even if it's distasteful.

[Sola Veritas]

Post Script - We need to make an example of this place. We have photos of those that did these deeds. Round them up and summarily execute them. Bury them with dead pigs and with their head pointed away from Mecca. Then build latrines over the unmarked graves of these executed. Compel the entire populace to use these latrines.

We must entire kill them or make them fear and dread us. Later, when the bad ones are no more. Then we can try to win the hearts of those remaining.

[AmericanVictory]

They dont need democracy, they need republicanism of the sort which we created in the "noble experiment" of our founding, within their own context.

[KangarooJacqui]

We know exactly what to do when an enemy doesn't know he's beat -- we flatten them or destroy them. These folks only understand destruction, so make an example of Fallujah and let it revert to nature.
Sometimes, you have to play the game by the enemy's rules in order to win, even if it's distasteful.

Exactly what I wanted to say, only you said it better. Sorry, for those of you weak of heart (like the writer of this article), but the only thing these twerps understand is an M-16 fired repeatedly up their backsides...

[greenwolf]

The Bush administration has promised to respond to Fallujah. But how can a civilized nation such as our own respond to what had happened there this week? We cannot do to them what they did to us. They know that, and we now know it too. We cannot dismember bodies, and hang them from telephone lines...

Maybe... We COULD, however, build an electric fence around the stinking place and cut off the water and electricity and give the idiots a couple of months to think it over.

My guess is that the ones left alive would have better attitudes.

[hershey]

Unfortunately, we are at war. This is not a cops and robbers crime. Arresting those who killed, burned, mutilated, etc., will only fuel Arab fantasies of dismembering and humiliating more dead Americans. They understand overwhelming force and painful consequences. We should make sure they get both.

[Polybius]

"But how can a civilized nation such as our own respond to what had happened there this week? We cannot do to them what they did to us."

In other words, civilized nations are powerless against an uncivilized enemy.

You have to wonder how civilization ever survived.

You don't need to mutilate dead bodies, MOAB women and children or act like Nazis. You merely have to identify your enemy, isolate your enemy and then kill your enemy. That is what war is all about.

Here is how I would handled this Sunni Triangle snake pit:

1. Set up a cordon sanitaire around Fallujah. Nobody goes in. The residents only go out, once, through check points to be sorted into "totally harmeless" or "in need of imprisonment".

2. Wait as long as it takes to have nobody left in the city except the Bathist die-hards.

3. Wage mechanical urban warfare on the city and the holdouts with heavy emphasis on air power and artillery and practically no emphasis on infantry.

4. Sustain the attack until there is not a stray dog left alive to roam the streets.

You have killed your enemy, spared the innocent and taught the enemy in other cities that it is unhealthy to mess with the U.S.

Rinse and repeat as often as necessary.

[Filibuster_60]

You merely have to identify your enemy, isolate your enemy and then kill your enemy. That is what war is all about.

As long as we rely on local Iraqis for HUMINT, many of these thugs will roam free. It's their home turf. The insurgents are fully aware that HUMINT is our weak link. They've infiltrated the local police and have without doubt acted as phony informers. Not a single Iraqi in that town is to be trusted - yet we need to be able to trust somebody if any kind of precision action is to be taken.

[etcetera]

Do a CIA number on the Fallujah Sunnis. Whack Sistani, blame it on the Sunnis. Let the Shiites take care of Fallujah.

[Let's Roll]

Ditto