The False Premise of War

Dear Mr. President,

The other night I was having dinner with a friend and a couple next to us was discussing you. She said, “but he didn’t even apologize” and he defended whatever it was you didn’t apologize for. Their discussion of what you had or hadn’t done continued and after a while, we joined in. I mentioned the healthcare and longevity study that put us dead last among the other developed countries in the study and he said confidently, “Obamacare will fix that.” When I pointed out that Obamacare was a giveaway to the insurance, pharmaceutical and hospital industries, she defended you with, “But he does the best he can with Republicans blocking his every move,” standard arguments for Obamapologists. Same with drone wars and targeted assassinations: “We have to get them before they get us,” he said (a true believer). An op-ed in yesterday’s New York Times by Jennifer Daskal, “Don’t Close Guantanamo,” argues that Guantanamo should be kept open for now. Many of the 166 prisoners, she argues, are Yemenis and because of the instability in Yemen it’s dangerous to release them back into their home country. She also contends that conditions at Guantanamo have improved significantly and that the 166 are better off there than if they were sent to other prisons. I read the article in utter disbelief and then realized that her views and the couple’s in the restaurant are based on the same false premise: that war can be justified and necessary. Once you accept that, there is no need to question the causes of war (or the causes of 9/11) and from that we can easily justify indefinite detention, targeted assassinations and suspension of habeas corpus. Guantanamo has housed many innocents who had nothing to do with Al Qaeda or terrorism. We tortured many prisoners, slaughtered tens of thousands and still terrorize and murder with impunity, and all of it based on lies, ignorance and cupidity. Without examining our own complicity, without accountability or responsibility, and without any change in foreign policy, nothing will change and violence, suffering and injustice will continue. As I told that couple in the restaurant, “Obama is possibly the worst president in history because he had the capacity, the intelligence and indeed, the mandate to change all this and make the world better and more peaceful, but he did just the opposite.” You blew your shot at immortality, Mr. President, and you will go down as one of the great failures. In spite of your Nobel Peace Prize.