Anthony
Arnove
Iraq: The Logic of Withdrawal
(New Press, April 2006)
ISBN: 1595580794
Coherent.
That's the one word review of Anthony Arnove's latest book, Iraq: The
Logic of Withdrawal. Incoherent. That's what Washington's policy in
Iraq seems to be. What makes Arnove's book so important is that he
dissects that policy and proves that the war in Iraq is not
an incoherent bumble that's gone awry. In fact, as Arnove makes
abundantly clear, it's US foreign policy as it's always been. This
remains the case even in the light of Condoleezza Rice's admission of
thousands of tactical errors. After all, Ms. Rice didn't admit that the
war itself was an error, only the manner in which it is fought.
As the war drags interminably on and
people continue to die, the antiwar movement in the US is still fumbling
around questions of timetables and demands. One element of the movement
has hitched itself to the progressive wing of the Democratic party -- a
connection that has stifled that element's ability to make the only
reasonable demand an antiwar movement can make: Get out of Iraq now and
bring the occupying troops home. The rest of us in the movement continue
to make this demand, but seem to go unheard. Part of the reason for this
lies in the fact that our allies do have those connections in the public
mind to the Democrats, but the greater reason is our inability to
mobilize the broader mass of the US public -- a public that opinion
polls tell us is overwhelmingly opposed to the continuation of the war.
Like the similarly titled book written in
1966 about the US war in Vietnam by Arnove's inspiration and
collaborator Howard Zinn, Iraq: The Logic of Withdrawal, is not a
shrill exercise in rhetoric. It isn't full of make love not war
sentiment or calls to hit the barricades with your black bandannas and
gas masks. It is exactly what it says it is: a logical, point-by-point
argument to the world as to why we need to insist that US troops leave
Iraq immediately. There is passion in these pages, but it is the passion
of pure logic in the defense of humanity and the earth we live on.
Well-researched and well-spoken, the reasonableness of Arnove's
presentation does more than expose the madness of the men and women who
are running this war, it peels away the madness of the system that those
men and women work for.
It is this element of the book that goes beyond a mere call to end
this war. One of the debates within the movement, especially among
the liberals and some leftists, is how much of the conversation should
be about empire. Arnove argues that because of the economic
and geopolitical reasons behind the US invasion and occupation of Iraq,
the occupation can only truly end when the antiwar movement understands
that it must be an anti-imperialist movement. Like Mark Twain and his
circle of anti-imperialist activists back in the late nineteenth and
early twentieth centuries, Arnove wants the reader to understand that it
is the needs of the financial system we live in that demands that our
men and women go off to kill and die. He does this patiently and
clearly, without a hint of self-righteousness.
Although there is a part of me that sees war as completely lacking
in logic and reason, I also understand that the reasons wars are fought
are completely logical if one accepts their underlying premise. If the
war is one fought to expand and maintain an empire, than that premise
is that any resource or place that will help in that task is fair
game. That is the logic that informs Washington, just like it was the
logic that informed all empires before it. As noted above, it is not a
logic that has the best interests of the occupied people or the people
whose children make up the occupier's army in mind. The only logical
endeavor that benefits those people is immediate withdrawal.
Furthermore, it is also why we in the US and Britain have more in common
with the Iraqi resistance and its supporters than we do with the
politicians and generals running this war.
Of course, while this may be apparent to antiwar activists
that understand the true reasons and nature of this war, it is not
apparent to most people. Partially because of that, even many people who
opposed the war before it began are uncertain about the timetable for
leaving it. Arnove's book is an extremely capable and very readable
introduction to the argument for immediate and unconditional withdrawal.
Not only does he list the reasons that Washington really began this war,
he provides a compelling and coherent list of reasons why we should get
the hell out. This compact and comprehensive text needs to reach as
many people as possible. Buy it and share it. Ask your library to
purchase it.
Ron Jacobs is a library worker and
anti-imperialist activist who lives in Asheville, North Carolina. He is
the author of
The Way the Wind Blew: A History of the Weather Underground
(Verso 1997).