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www.reason.com
May 25, 2004
Right Or Wrong?
Obscene gloating over US failures in Iraq
Cathy Young

Are some Americans, including journalists, rooting for the enemy while
their country is at war?

This question is coming up with increasing
frequency as the troubles in Iraq continue.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
www.reason.com
May 25, 2004
Right Or Wrong?
Obscene gloating over US failures in Iraq
Cathy Young

Are some Americans, including journalists, rooting for the enemy while
their country is at war? This question is coming up with increasing
frequency as the troubles in Iraq continue.

The May 15 issue of the British magazine The Spectator published an
article [free reg. req.] by Daily Telegraph correspondent Toby
Harnden, recounting a conversation he had with an unnamed "American
magazine journalist of serious accomplishment and impeccable liberal
credentials."

According to Harnden, "Not only had she 'known' the Iraq war would
fail, but she considered it essential that it did so because this
would ensure that the `evil' George W. Bush would no longer be running
her country. Her editors back on the East Coast were giggling, she
said, over what a disaster Iraq had turned out to be. `Lots of us talk
about how awful it would be if this worked out.' " Harnden goes on to
say that when he asked the woman if "thousands more dead Iraqis would
be a good thing," her answer was, essentially, yes.

If this story-tailor-made to confirm every conservative's worst
suspicions about the media establishment-is true, it illustrates a
repugnant mentality. But some of those criticizing such attitudes
reveal a mindset that, in some ways, is equally misguided. On the
widely read Instapundit.com weblog, University of Tennessee law
professor Glenn Reynolds writes, "To explain things in words of few
syllables: It's wrong to root for your country's defeat." Reynolds
adds that it's especially wrong "when that defeat would mean the death
of innocents" and "when it's merely for domestic political advantage."
It's hard to disagree with the last two statements. But what about the
sweeping assertion that rooting for your country's defeat is wrong?

This view is hardly limited to Reynolds alone. The other day on the
Fox News Channel news show From the Heartland, while interviewing
left-wing cartoonist Ted Rall, host and former congressman John Kasich
expressed dismay and shock that anyone could root against their own
country in a war.

Yet what if your country, or your government, is engaged in a war that
is unjust and immoral? What if it's your country that is wantonly
killing innocents, as well as sacrificing the lives of its own
soldiers for no good reason?

I should point out that none of this, in my view, is true of the war
in Iraq. History's final verdict on this war is still a long way from
being in. Yet, it is an indisputable fact that, for good or bad
reasons, we went to war against a brutal, sadistic regime in Iraq-a
regime that was the worst enemy of its own people.

It is also a fact
that, for the most part, the United States has gone to great lengths
to avoid injury and death to civilians. Indeed, despite all the
troubles, polls have shown that a majority of Iraqis still believe
that the US-led war was right and that it has made their lives better.

I should also note that in this case, the gloating over our failures
in Iraq can be downright obscene. Rall, who debated Kasich on war and
patriotism on Fox News, has mocked former football player Pat Tillman,
killed in action in Afghanistan, as a "sap" who joined the army after
the Sept. 11 attacks because he wanted to "kill Arabs."

Michael Moore, the so-called documentary filmmaker, compares the Iraqi
insurgents-who indiscriminately kill their own compatriots-to the
fighters of the American revolution. He also states that US forces
should stay in Iraq because we must pay with our blood for this war.
None of these folks show much concern for the Iraqis victimized by
Saddam Hussein and his minions, or by the terrorists today.

["liberal compassion???~nan]

But "my country, right or wrong" is not an answer to these ideologues.

Such an attitude is worthy of the Soviet Union (where, surely, it
wasn't wrong for dissidents to root against their government during
the war in Czechoslovakia in 1968 or in Afghanistan in the 1980s), not
of a free country.

Ironically, the same conservatives who believe that no decent American
can sympathize with the other side during a war also generally believe
that our troops in Iraq deserve the support of the Iraqis because we
liberated them from an evil regime. Yet, following their logic,
patriotic Iraqis would have had to support a homegrown tyrant over
foreign occupation.

The difference, of course, is that we're not a dictatorship. So let's
not demand mindless, knee-jerk patriotism as if we were. I want to
support my country because it's right, not just because it's mine.

Cathy Young is a Reason contributing editor. This column appeared in
the Boston Globe on May 24, 2004.

Indeed, despite all the
troubles, polls have shown that a majority of Iraqis still believe
that the US-led war was right and that it has made their lives better.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
www.reason.com
May 25, 2004
Right Or Wrong?
Obscene gloating over US failures in Iraq
Cathy Young

Are some Americans, including journalists, rooting for the enemy while