It's Not A War

Once again, we are hearing that we should not question the Administration during “times of war.” First, for any administration to claim that the people need to censor themselves because the administration does not want to be bothered with dissent is in and of itself anti-democratic. Further, it is unlikely that any insurgents in Iraq is watching the news and saying because there are voices of dissent, the insurgents must be winning the hearts and minds of the Americans. Of course, under the theory that there should not be any questioning of the administration would also lead one to believe that there should not be any elections until the “war” is over, whenever that will occur. Of course we have not cancelled elections and the opposition party is not restricted to only saying they are going to continue the “war” the way this administration is doing it – just because the opposition party is saying this does not mean that it is legally restricted to saying it.

Nonetheless, even if it were true that we should not question the Administration during “times of war” the rhetoric does not work any more because we are not at war.

In 2000, when Governor Bush was running for office, he said that he would not allow the United States to engage in nation building. Nonetheless, he broke that promise many years ago. On May 2, 2003, Bush went to the USS Lincoln and announced that the mission was accomplished. At that moment, he officially declared that the war in Iraq was over. Starting on May 3, 2003 through the present the United States has been solely engaged in nation building. There is no ongoing war, and the Administration cannot claim that we are at war. Thus, the people should feel free to voice dissent whenever and however they wish.

Just because there are skirmishes and people are being killed does not mean we are at war. In any of this nation’s biggest cities, there are people who are being shot at and killed on a regular basis; however, noone would claim that there is a war going on in those cities. In Mogadishu, the United States Army was engaged in battles with “insurgents,” but noone declared that to be a war. Rather, that was nation building that was started by President Bush, 41, and continued by President Clinton. Thus, shootings and killings do not necessarily qualify an action as a war.

To be a war, a nation must still be engaged in military conflict with another nation. Although, the Administration has tried to change this definition to suit its own needs it has been unsuccessful to do so. On May 2, 2003, Bush announced that the Iraqi government had been overthrown and that it was no longer under the control of Saddam Hussein. When that occurred, the war against Iraq ended. At that point the United States determined that it needed to rebuild the destruction and help establish a new government and economy so it would be a stable nation. In come Haliburton, Bechtel and other US corporations to make a profit off the backs of Americans and Iraqis alike.

So long as we are engaged in nation building and profit making, the Administration needs to stop threatening people who engage in dissent. George Bush criticized the Clinton Administration for his nation building efforts, and Bush should be open to the same form of criticism. The media and politicians should also start calling the Administration’s actions what they are: Nation Building.