Iraq, Free Speech, and Secretary Rumsfeld

One thing I love about my family is that it takes up a lot of bandwidth on the spectrum of political thought. Recently, we have been having a robust exchange on Iraq, free speech and Secretary Rumsfeld. My brother-in-law is a Major with the Rough Riders in Iraq. He weighed in with the following e-mail.

The world is not as black and white as many in academia and politics see it. Those in academic circles usually see the world along much cleaner lines than most, and it’s a good thing, because it allows for debate. Debate would be very boring if everything were seen as shades of gray, because the differences would be too obscure to lend any meaning to the argument.

However, when taken to extremes, debate becomes unproductive. Polemics in debate leads to a kind of blindness, because it causes people to believe without question anything that supports their thesis (ask Dan Rather and his producers). We see this on both the left and right in our political landscape today; it is evident in the labels used to describe both. Words like evil are used by folks on both sides of the aisle. The far right uses the word evil when they talk about the “liberal agenda” and its support for a “godless society, gay marriage and abortion.” The left uses the word evil to describe the current administration’s war on terror. Thus the goodness that should come from these debates is stifled by a sort of mania, which in turn leads to exactly what I see here in Iraq every day. The Shia hate the Sunni, and the Sunni hate the Shia. No lie or fabrication with regards to some atrocity being committed by one group or the other is too fantastic to believe. Thus the blind hatred and killing continues (over 1800 killed last month in Baghdad alone). In the end, if Iraq fails it will be because of this hatred, rather than any mistakes / blunders the Bush Administration has made.

I do not believe the rhetoric from the left that the Bush Administration is exaggerating the threat to our country in a bid to remain in power. The great thing about America is no matter what the current administration does, it cannot remain in power. I don’t see the Constitution being amended anytime soon to allow for more than 2 presidential terms, and anyone who thinks that the next administration will keep the same SEC DEF or other cabinet members from an administration with a 35% approval rating knows nothing about politics in America. I for one will welcome the change.

Finally, don’t be fooled by those on the far left who say there is no reason to be afraid. They are wrong. There is much to fear.

First, we should fear terrorism, specifically radical Islamic Terrorists. They have no mercy and will not be deterred from doing all they can to cause us harm. I face this threat every day here. Does this mean we need to be in Iraq? Maybe. Maybe not. But just because you think it is wrong to be here does not mean the threat to America is not real. The Bush Administration did not concoct the recent plot to blow up US airliners in the UK. The threat is very real, and will not go away once we leave Iraq.

Second and more importantly, we should fear the rhetoric of polemics. It caused the failure of the Athenian Democracy, and leads to the loss of freedom of speech and expression (perhaps even the freedom to think) that many on the left are so rightly concerned about.