The Dream of an Anti-War America

Part 1: The War on Terror

In the attacks of September 11th 2001, over 3,000 Americans were killed in New York City when al-Qaeda affiliated terrorists supported by Saudi Arabia highjacked civilian flights and crashed the planes into the twin towers of the World Trade Center.

Images depicting the crash from “Britannica; September 11 Attacks”

Terrorists deliberately flew planes into those skyscrapers to kill Americans and create a devastatingly tragic scene. The American people watched in agony as innocent civilians at the top of those skyscrapers were forced to choose between jumping to their deaths outside or staying inside to be burned by the fire below. Then 1 hour and 42 minutes after the initial plane crash an entire tower collapsed, and then the other came crashing down too. The destruction left thousands of Americans trapped in rubble and the city spent weeks searching for people or their remains.

When people attack your community, there’s a strong natural urge to want to fight to protect them. There was no shortage of patriotic Americans ready to fight to defend our safety and security, but that is not what thousands of Americans were sent to fight and die for in George Bush’s illegal wars in the Middle East. The entire world seemed to acknowledge and support our right to self-defense and our military campaign to bring those responsible to justice. But Bush started a war so much bigger than a self-defense war against those who attacked us, he started a war machine with unreasonable and never-ending war ambitions;

“Our war on terror begins with al Qaeda, but it does not end there.  It will not end until every terrorist group of global reach has been found, stopped and defeated.”

- President George W. Bush, September 20, 2001

George Bush’s War on Terror had a powerful self-defense justification and a supportive population desiring justice, revenge, and retribution. Unfortunately as a result of that national urge to defend ourselves after 9/11, we allowed George Bush to lie us into devastating wars halfway around the world mostly against people who did not attack us. By October 2001, George Bush had launched retaliatory strikes against al-Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan beginning America’s longest-ever war. He also placed a $25 million dollar Dead-or-Alive bounty on Osama Bin Laden, the chief designer of the attack. Strangely, even though 15 out of 19 attackers were from Saudi Arabia and the Saudi government helped organize and fund the plot, they were not among our targets. Also strangely, in December 2001 American troops had the opportunity to capture or kill Bin Laden but some high up person chose not to do so;

"bin Laden…walked unmolested out of Tora Bora and disappeared into Pakistan's unregulated tribal area."

"Requests were…turned down for U.S. troops to block the mountain paths leading to sanctuary…The vast array of American military power, from sniper teams to the most mobile divisions of the Marine Corps and the Army, was kept on the sidelines.”

CNN Report: 'Bin Laden was within our grasp'

The justified retaliation started after September 11th could’ve been over 3 months later in December, but instead it lasted over 20 years. Osama went into hiding and the war in Afghanistan transitioned from a phase of toppling the Taliban and al-Qaeda to an amorphously defined nation-building phase. Based on after-the-fact interviews conducted by our government which were only made public because of a multi-year lawsuit, the Afghanistan Papers revealed the utter chaos in the totally unnecessary 2nd phase of the war;

“At first, the rationale for invading Afghanistan was clear: to destroy al-Qaeda. But once that had been largely accomplished, officials said the mission grew muddled as they began adopting contradictory strategies and unattainable goals. Those running the war said they struggled to answer even basic questions: Who is the enemy? Whom can we count on as allies? And, how will we know when we have won?”

Washington Post

Throughout all that chaos the CIA began using “Enhanced Interrogation Techniques” to extract information about terrorism from suspected terrorists. Acting under authorization from the Bush Administration the CIA would kidnap civilians from the Middle East and detain them without due process for years while torturing them daily with a wide array of truly insidious torture practices;

“Detainees were forced to stand on broken limbs for hours, kept in complete darkness, deprived of sleep for up to 180 hours, sometimes standing, sometimes with their arms shackled above their heads.

Prisoners were subjected to “rectal feeding” without medical necessity. Rectal exams were conducted with “excessive force”. The report highlights one prisoner later diagnosed with anal fissures, chronic hemorrhoids and “symptomatic rectal prolapse”.

The report mentions mock executions, Russian roulette. US agents threatened to slit the throat of a detainee’s mother, sexually abuse another and threatened prisoners’ children. One prisoner died of hypothermia brought on in part by being forced to sit on a bare concrete floor without pants.”

The Guardian

Torture is immoral, extracting information about terrorism using those practices was totally ineffective, and torture is a violation of the Geneva Convention making it a war crime. Still, George Bush’s Vice President Dick Cheney said "I would do it again in a minute" then confirmed that George Bush was knowingly complicit, "He authorized it. He approved it" (CBS News). Sickeningly, America has made sure that no war criminals face accountability here at home; “No US government officials have been held accountable for creating, authorizing, or implementing the CIA’s secret detention and torture programs.” Actually, the psychologists who created the program were paid $80 million dollars and laws have been passed to protect people like them from prosecution;

“U.S. District Judge Thomas Rice ruled…that the suit…filed…against psychologists James Mitchell and Bruce Jessen was precluded by a 2006 federal law limiting the ability of war-on-terror detainees who are not U.S. citizens to sue in U.S. courts over their detention or treatment.”

Politico

As a result of Bush and Cheney committing war crimes and not wanting to be held accountable, they officially declared their opposition to an international rules-based system of law and order. They strongly advocated for America to reject the legitimacy of organizations like the International Criminal Court which could have held them accountable for war crimes. Many members of the American government, military, and intelligence agencies became war criminals too, so Congress officially ratified our nation’s opposition to international law with the Hague Invasion Act of 2002. That law clearly stated that any American or US ally found guilty of war crimes by the International Criminal Court would be rescued from accountability through military force from The Hague in the Netherlands where the ICC is located. Bush and Cheney vowed to use US military force against an ally to free those guilty of violating international laws of war. Since that law was passed, the American government has been willing to go to war to prevent international laws of war from being enforced fairly on all nations including ourselves.

After setting us down that path, Bush left the Afghan war on simmer while he began pushing a new war narrative; exporting democracy to the Middle East. Bush claimed that we needed to open a new offensive to oust Saddam Hussein from Iraq because of his extensive human rights abuses. The Bush Administration also claimed to have evidence that Saddam possessed Weapons of Mass Destruction which posed a risk to Americans as well as his own people; that was a lie. There was no evidence of WMDs and Bush knew there was no evidence but he sent his Secretary of State to the United Nations to falsely claim there was evidence to justify an invasion under false pretenses. Bush got his offensive Iraq war in 2003 with the stated goal of establishing a democracy;

“The failure of Iraqi democracy would embolden terrorists around the world, increase dangers to the American people, and extinguish the hopes of millions in the region. Iraqi democracy will succeed -- and that success will send forth the news, from Damascus to Teheran -- that freedom can be the future of every nation. The establishment of a free Iraq at the heart of the Middle East will be a watershed event in the global democratic revolution.”

President Bush, 2003

Saddam Hussein went into hiding and then was found and killed, but no WMDs were ever found. The assassination was successful, but it created a power vacuum which led to a US military occupation of Iraq amidst years of civil war. George Bush lied America into a totally unnecessary and offensive war which ended up taking the lives of “more than 4,400 American troops and an estimated 300,000 Iraqis” (PBS). I highly suggest people watch the New York Times documentary called Iraq War Veterans, 20 Years Later: ‘I Don’t Know How to Explain the War to Myself’ to hear from some of the people who were there explain what they did. A top comment on that YouTube video states;

“I don't know one veteran, myself included, who feels like they made a difference. We had no mission apart from "wait until someone fires at you and then fire back." We didn't bring freedom and democracy; we tore the country apart and left it in chaos and ruin. And we treated innocent people like they were terrorists. When people call me a hero and thank me for my service, I flinch. I feel like I should be punished for what I've done, not praised.”

As a result of George Bush lying America into both of those unnecessary War on Terror conflicts in the Middle East, thousands of American servicemembers died in combat and thousands of our military contractors did too. Over 4 million innocent civilians in the Middle East were killed by our illegal war efforts and almost 40 million people were displaced (WSJ). So its no wonder why suicide has actually been far more deadly for American servicemembers than combat. Tens of thousands of American soldiers committed suicide after returning from those post-9/11 wars, leaving many others with lifelong psychological trauma. Bush’s wars cost America $8 trillion dollars which was spent on needless death and destruction instead of on useful things here at home like affordable housing, free college education, universal healthcare, world-renowned infrastructure, or any other societal good $8 trillion dollars could’ve bought. The legacy of George Bush is untold suffering on a truly massive scale, which he may know himself evidenced by this Freudian slip;

The Guardian

I have the utmost respect for those who make the sacrifice to serve in the military, but growing up during George Bush’s War on Terror really shaped my entire perspective. The government of Saudi Arabia helped plan the attack yet they have been our ally taking money, weapons, and fighter jets from us ever since. The United States actually gave Saudi Arabia over $50 billion dollars for their illegal war efforts in Yemen causing an enormous humanitarian catastrophe. Instead of holding the foreign government responsible for 9/11 accountable for their actions, Bush oversaw an occupation of Afghanistan then made the false claim that Saddam Hussein had WMDs prompting a second occupation in Iraq. Bush lied American soldiers into harms way leading to the deaths of over 15,000 US servicemembers and military contractors in combat and then double that amount killed themselves afterwards. I now empathize with veterans like Mike Prysner much more than people who normalize the crimes of George Bush;

Bush War Criminal Protestor

My family has an extensive record of service in the United States military in various capacities. I grew up thinking if politicians are willing to send my family members to fight and die unnecessarily for their corrupt, dishonest interests, then who is fighting for the safety of my family? I realized that by far the most important job the President of the United States takes on is serving as the Commander-in-Chief of the most powerful military on Earth. The President also serves as our nation’s primary diplomatic representative to the world and when they fail in that regard we get endless war. When the President fails to recognize the gravity of their position but instead plays games with military conflicts, they are disrespecting the sacrifice our servicemembers are making. That was a major frustration vented in our government’s investigation into itself then revealed in the Afghanistan Papers;

“Officials who served under Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama said both leaders failed in their most important task as commanders in chief — to devise a clear strategy with concise, attainable objectives.”

Washington Post

I do not believe we should allow our leaders to sacrifice the lives of American soldiers without truly existential threats to our safety and security. War is an inescapable reality in human society and some threats do require a militaristic response, but the situation must warrant it, the target must be justified, and the methods we use must comply with international law. Since George Bush served in office the United States of America has been on the wrong side of world history. Just a few years earlier when the Rome Treaty established the ICC, President Bill Clinton said;

“The United States should have the chance to observe and assess the functioning of the Court, over time, before choosing to become subject to its jurisdiction…

I believe that a properly constituted and structured International Criminal Court would make a profound contribution in deterring egregious human rights abuses worldwide, and that signature increases the chances for productive discussions with other governments to advance these goals in the months and years ahead.”

- Bill Clinton

Bill Clinton helped to design the ICC but then advocated for an observation period before US entry into the court’s jurisdiction. Instead of becoming a signatory or impartial observer of the court, the United States made itself an enemy of the ICC under Bush. That bad precedent from the American government continues in policy and action to this day. In rhetoric, the US is a staunch supporter of the ICC when it suits a President’s political narrative then they become fierce opponents of the ICC when international law conflicts with their narrative. Our national flip-flopping on a rules-based international system of law and order is immensely hypocritical as pointed out by both Russia and Palestine. It is about time the United States ratify the Rome Statute and become a signatory of the International Criminal Court. One common argument against that happening is that it would mean Americans could be convicted and imprisoned by the ICC for war crimes. That is exactly what I want. George Bush and Dick Cheney should be in prison for life for what they did. Not only do I want them held accountable for the millions of civilians in foreign countries killed, I want them held accountable for the tens of thousands of Americans killed who were ordered into illegal and offensive wars. I want American officials guilty of torture to be imprisoned for that heinous and immoral war crime. If American officials including Presidents were held accountable for war crimes, then they would stop committing so many and it would be a good thing for the entire world.

George Bush is a war criminal who deserves to spend the rest of his days in a prison cell. Everyday he is free is a miscarriage of justice and its about time he stands trial in a world court; the ICC. Maybe then when we criticize Putin for his offensive and illegal war in Ukraine it would have some legitimacy behind it. Maybe when we criticize China for their treatment of Uyghur Muslims we would have some real credibility. If we actually want an international system of law and order where even world leaders are held accountable for war crimes, then it is time for the United States to sign onto the ICC and submit our war criminals for prosecution. That is just one of many necessary steps to bring about true and lasting world peace.