War? What War?

I’ve always felt queasy calling our military action in Iraq a “war”. First of all because wars are supposed to be declared by Congress, and they let the President start this action. And lately what has been going on in Iraq hasn’t felt like a war.

But as usual, Thom Hartmann expresses these things much more clearly than I do. Thom says that the “War in Iraq” ended in May of 2003 when the US Military defeated the Iraqi Military. Mission Accomplished and our boys (and girls) won it.

What we have had since the end of the war is an occupation. Wars can be won or lost. But occupations only end when the occupier leaves or is violently thrown out. So there is no dishonor in planning for redeployments that will end this occupation. America did not “lose” when the occupations of Japan or Germany ended after World War II.

The words we use to describe ourselves and the world are important. 95% of those attacking U.S. forces in Iraq consider themselves to be “anti-occupation fighters.” We need to stop talking about a “war in Iraq” that does not exist. The U.S. Military is good at winning wars, but the U.S. Military is not good at occupying countries. We need to refer to this situation as accurately as possible: U.S. Military forces are occupying Iraq. And we must plan and execute an honorable end to that occupation.

We will not be able to even talk about ending the occupation as long as people continue to inaccurately label this situation as a “war”. We won the war. No we need to end the occupation. When Republicans push to portray the current Iraqi situation as a “war” they are making it psychologically difficult for Americans to talk about what needs to be done. When they vilify Democrats and others who want to end the occupation of Iraq, they say that “cowards want to cut and run’, that we want to “lose the war”. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Americans must frame this discussion accurately. The War is Over. Let’s End the Occupation of Iraq.