Thoughts on the 'freedom fighters'

Some of my fellow Iraq war opponents romanticize the Iraqi insurgency in a way I can't really accept. It's one thing to say the insurgency is understandable. This sort of thing was always inevitable. It was one of the neo-conservatives' greatest errors (aside from the actual aggression itself) that they failed to anticipate this. It's one thing to say that if the US were invaded, even anti-Bush people would rally behind him. It's certainly true that one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter.

But to say something is understandable is an entirely different proposition that to say it is entirely admirable.

Some people seem to be under the delusion that just because the insurgents oppose the occupation that they must be saints. That the insurgents would become Churchill and Lincoln rolled into one if only the oppressive occupation were ended. That it's ok that for the insurgents to behead aid workers and other non-military people or to attack wedding parties. Real heroes!

(Admittedly, this mentality is aided an abetted by the contemptible assertion by some on the right that what aid workers are doing and what occupation forces are doing are morally equivalent)

Some are also under the delusion that just because Bush is wrong, then anyone who opposes Bush is automatically right. That our administration's own dubious motives somehow proves the morality of the insurgency.

To be charitible, it's very faulty logic. It's the same nonsense used by the American right to say that "Because Jacques Chirac opposes the war and he's a crook, then the invasion must be a nifty idea."

Some say the insurgents really want self-determination and nothing else, though it's not clear how beheading aid workers facilitates that process.

This is an example of presumptuously imposing one's values on to a group whose beliefs are wholly antithetical. It goes something like this. "I oppose the aggression and occupation because it's immoral and inhumane and the Iraqis should run their own country. The insurgents oppose the occupation too, so they must do so for the same reasons as I."

Rather than imposing your own personal beliefs on the insurgents, look at what they actually say.

Musab al-Zarqawi, one of the insurgents' ideological models, said earlier this week, "We have declared an all-out war on this evil principle of democracy and those who follow this wrong ideology," adding that saying supplanting the rule of God with that of a popular majority was "infidelity itself."

Self-determination? I'm sorry if I'm not convinced. A theocracy, advocated by folks like al-Zarqawi, is the polar opposite of the ideals I believe in. Theocrats, be they Christian or Muslim, don't believe in democracy or human rights or basic tolerance. They don't believe in equal rights for gays or women or anyone who doesn't share their religion or their particular sect of their particular religion.

The Taliban's repression, bitterly attacked by liberal-minded non-governmental organizations long before they were demonized by the American right after 9/11, are an excellent example of what the insurgency might have in mind. How any so-called progressive, no matter how anti-Bush they might be, could possibly have the slightest sympathy for this regressive, anti-liberal agenda is beyond me.

I'm sorry but I don't care much for the whole inhumanity of war. If an Iraqi sees his son beheaded by the insurgents, do you really think he's going to say, "Hey, at least he was murdered by the 'freedom fighters' not the 'foreign infidels,' so it's ok"? I suppose it's possible but I'd like to see evidence suggesting this likelihood.

Unlike the 'Everything including the bad weather is America's/Bush's fault' crowd or the 'America is always perfect and righteous and we'll bomb the hell out of anyone who thinks different' crowd, I refuse to be an apologist, either intentional or unwitting, for anyone's atrocities.

It ALL sickens me and I will defiantly maintain that revulsion in spite of what ideologues of any side might insist. One side's inhumanity does not invalidate or change the other side's inhumanity.

So excuse me if I don't romanticize this crap even if I don't like the occupation and opposed the aggression in the first place. We're there. Elections are scheduled for this upcoming weekend. Let's do the elections and go from there. You want self-determination? These elections, however flawed, are your best bet to getting anywhere near that general direction. And if you disagree, then as always, I expect to hear viable alternatives.