Three Anti-War things

I’m very interested in how the response to Cindy Sheehan plays out. I think anyone interested in anti-war politics should avoid the discussion, or contest the terms at all costs. Here’s why: the why doesn’t matter. Cindy Sheehan mattered for her intervention, for the creation of a new discourse around the war that coincided with an increasingly difficult war-thing (more on this later), making it politically acceptable as a ‘patriot’ to reject the war in Iraq. However, discussing her resignation catapults her back into the question, instead of letting it ride after her rhetorical task was (mostly successfully) completed. Talking about her resignation makes a news story/political question out of the ‘anti-war movement’s’ acceptance of… people? It makes feelings in general an issue, which always privileges reactionary responses, because change necessarily implies upsetting people. Cindy Sheehan screwed up big with a resignation letter.

Also: the Iraq war doesn’t exist. There is an occupation, but no war to fight. There’s no enemy, only an ongoing police action suppressing a conflict between any number of other people. Who are we fighting? ‘The insurgency’ is an incoherent concept; the link to the war on terror is discredited, though popular. Referring to a ‘war’ makes it seem like there’s something to win, which makes it more difficult to in. Occupations continue, falter, suppress, but don’t win. Continuing to call whatever the US is doing in Iraq a ‘war’ elides the differences between ‘terrorists’ in Iraq and ‘terrorists’ of the war on terror, and suggests that continued occupation can produce something useful.

Last: supporting the Democratic party on the war is antithetical to a sustainable anti-war strategy. The rhetoric of ‘benchmark’ implies that responsibility for not-violence lies with the Iraqis, and that the US policy lies between two choices: withdraw or occupation. IT also ignores any question of accountability: there are a vast number of other policies concerning the war in Iraq that have nothing to do with withdraw which are necessary to create democratic accountability, at the core of the pro war effort in the first place. Indictments, investigations, prosecutions, etc. may need to be at the forefront of a real anti-war strategy, in terms of sustainable prevention.

Duncan