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Sorry, G.I. Joe, you aren't fighting for freedom if you fight in Iraq

Date published: 12/26/2002

AUSTIN, Texas--"Dear member of the U.S. military: Thank you for defend- ing our freedom," reads the message on the Department of Defense's "Defend America" Web site. Fill in your name and hometown, and click to join the more than 2 million who have sent the message.

The sentiment seems hard to argue with. No matter what one thinks of the coming war against Iraq, can't we all send such a message to those who serve?

Not if we want to be honest about U.S. war plans, for those troops will not be defending our freedom but defending America's control over the strategically crucial energy resources of the Middle East. They will be in the service of the empire, fighting a war for the power and profits of the few, not freedom for the many.

To some that statement may seem disrespectful. But resistance to the coming war against Iraq does not signal a lack of respect for those who do the fighting. I have never served in the military, but friends and family have, and I have empathy for people on the front lines who face the risks.

I'm also aware that many of those who find themselves on those lines may have joined the military primarily for economic reasons. But if I am truly to respect them--as human beings and as fellow citizens--I should be willing to state clearly my objections to this war.

That requires distinguishing between the rhetoric and reality of U.S. foreign and military policy. Every great power claims noble motives for its wars, but such claims usually cover an uglier reality, and we are no different.

For most of the post-World War II era, the United States' use of force against weaker nations was justified as necessary to stop Soviet plans for world conquest. The Soviet regime was authoritarian, brutal, and interventionist in its own sphere, and it eventually acquired the capacity to destroy us with nuclear weapons.

But the claim that the Soviets were a global military threat to our existence was also a political weapon to frighten Americans into endorsing wars to suppress independent development in the Third World and accepting a permanent wartime economy.

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Date published: 12/26/2002