Back
in Australia, while we definitely have a government and
troops committed to the conflicts taking place in Iraq
and Afghanistan and do not take such commitments lightly,
there's a definite difference in the national character
compared with America that affects the profile of the
situation. For one thing, we haven't suffered over 1700
casualties. That said, Australians are, in general terms,
certainly not oblivious of the conflict, and in fact there's
an overwhelming public opposition to the Iraq War that
has encouraged many individuals to seek a better, thorough
understanding of the issues involved. But further than
that, while Australians are far from being either unsympathetic
or unpatriotic, their displays of loyalty and commitment
to the troops and to 'the cause' are in stark contrast
to the 'American way'.
I'm
cautious about sounding too blasé and critical
of the American national character here I, after all,
have strong personal ties to the country' but I suppose
you also have to be careful about being too harsh on a
population that has grown up from their first day at school
reciting the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag, has their
former leaders memorialized in gargantuan, semi'religious
monuments in Washington D.C, and has grown up in a society
where terms and phrases like 'liberty', 'preserving freedom'
and 'God Bless America' are used as often as 'pass the
salt, please'. The fact is, when you're at the center
of an empire, whether Ancient Roman or modern American,
I'm sure you quite understandably buy into the ideology
' that sense of importance, significance and even invincibility
that can, perhaps ultimately, prove to be your own empire's
own undoing.
Regardless
of what may or may not contribute to the fall of empires,
however, when such a nation is at war, even those who
are opposed to the conflict still seem to carry with them
a dialogue and strains of opposition that are tinged with
that same righteousness and sense of working for the greater
good that can at times make voices of challenge seem a
little too close to a comfort fence of saying nothing
at all. Even here in the liberal, blue streaked New England
states of America, I've encountered few folks in opposition
to the Iraq War who still don't discuss the issue without
use of those same loaded, self important phrases of ensuring
freedom for the Iraqi peoples, putting an end to evil
in the Middle East and making this great nation of ours
only greater.
Part
of this measured slide in dialogue away from overt negativity
is a function of politics as well as of practical reality.
Whenever men and women of your own nation are on the
ground at war, losing lives by the day, and in the face
of a challenging, dangerous enemy, it's little surprise
to hear voices from across the spectrum trying to keep
morale high and efforts focused on as clean and bloodless
an outcome as possible. In America, where veteran's
groups and the military corporation make up a powerful
voting and lobby group, you'll rarely see a politician,
regardless of ideological persuasion, that is readily
willing to destroy his or her own career by making comments
that will leave them isolated (hell, on the basis of
fake evidence or not, most of these Republicans and
Democrats agreed to go to war in the first place). Even
among the public, whether in the peace marches of New
York and Seattle over a year ago, or in the conversations
taking place in coffee houses and bars across the country
today, you'll find few individuals so heartless or affected
by Vietnam-era Mi Lai levels of disgust and dissent
that they'd declare their problems with Iraq and Afghanistan
had anything to do with the soldiers' it's the politicians
and decision'makers in command they have the problem
with (though civilian deaths during the course of the
conflict, and scandals at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo
Bay haven't helped the American troops' image, to be
sure).
But
at the same time, it's an especially dangerous path
to try and directly silence voices of opposition, and
especially within a 'democracy' that Americans claim
is such a pure model for the world to follow. Post 9-11,
there were numerous instances of teachers being removed
from their jobs for sharing differing views of the conflict
with their students. In the past few months, the ability
of the media to keep their sources confidential has
been under threat from the U.S justice system, and all
in the name of national security. Indeed currently,
one of the Republican Party's most aggressive tactics
with regard to the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts has
been to declare that opposition voices to the war equate
to opposition to 'our troops' and 'undermine America's
safety'. Fearful of being identified as unpatriotic
and critical of sweet farm boys from America's heartland
currently kicking in doors in Baghdad, many Democrats
have worryingly scampered for cover.
It's
important for Republicans and Democrats alike, the American
media, and a free'thinking public to remember the distinction
between real, important criticism of the war and the
reasons for going to war and criticism of the actual
men and women at ground level carrying out the orders
for war. If American patriotic fervor poisons an individual's
willingness to speak out against a conflict, against
a specific policy or government action, or against anything
for that matter, the survival of democracy in the United
States is truly at stake, and the Bush administration
will have taken one step closer to autocracy, something
many would argue is already a risk given the current
government's willingness to tie corporatism and non'secularism
into their approach.
Americans
are in no way oblivious to the fact that their nation
is at war. Nightly news reports posting photos of the
deceased are a grim, inescapable reminder of that fact.
Driving from Massachusetts to Maine last week I was
struck by the sight in almost every local town I encountered
of yet another banner or sign posted out the front of
a house wishing a soldier safety and success abroad.
Over
the July 4th holiday, tainted with overused phrases
about 'freedom' and 'liberty', and hackneyed renditions
of 'Amazing Grace' and 'America the Beautiful' as it
was, the weekend's television schedule was riddled with
'tributes to the soldiers' and yet another 'Nick and
Jessica Simpson sing to the troops' special. Americans
may well be often charged of ignorance, but ignorant
of the war they are not. Ignorant of the regrettable,
but very acute deficiencies of democracy 'as preferable
as it is to any other form of government' may be another
matter, however.
If
they can only sort through some of the potentially harmful,
inflated ideology and dialogue to get to a truer understanding
of the nature and harsh political realities of this
conflict, they may have a greater chance of preserving
the original, honest ideals of American democracy than
a war in faraway Iraq or Afghanistan ever could.
