I'm Going to Hell, and You Can't Stop Me!
No, really. And don't try to tell me I'm not, either. I'm going to hell. I deserve it. Why? Because instead of getting my ass out of bed and joining the action against the war in Afghanistan today, I... forgot. I forgot the time. I forgot the place. I forgot that today I could enjoy the rare opportunity to make manifest some of my deepest and most formative values. It's not okay, it is a big deal, and I'm not being overdramatic. You forget to buy milk. You forget to change the fucking toilet paper. You don't forget peace. A world of war, or a world in which I do nothing, not even my very least, to prevent war and the spread of violence, is my own personal Hell.
On the flip side... I'm still going to Hell. I know a lot of people disagree with my ideas. There is quite a bit of support out there for this war, and I'm still coming to terms with the idea of speaking out against something that implicates so much effort and sacrifice and so many human lives, including those of a great many people I care about personally. This being said, I cannot support this war. I cannot support any war, but this one is contentious. I'm not anti-nationalist, and I'm not a pacifist. I don't believe that the reasons that each soldier chooses to fight are invalid, and I do support the banner ideals behind this war. Nonetheless, I don't support this war.
Up until now I've been worried that my reasons were not strong enough, that I needed to come up with something more substantive to justify speaking out against Canada's involvement in Afghanistan. I was wrong. I have three justifications, or at least, three main justifications, for speaking out.
- The costs. Be they human, social, economic, or moral, the costs of this war are astronomical. For the United States this war has cost one tanked economy, countless children 'left behind', a great many human lives, and an immense number of missed or lost opportunities to create progress through technological, educational, and medical programming. For Canada, this war has cost lives, social programs aimed at promoting the health and status of the poor, the disabled, the marginalized, and women, and the last vestiges of a respectable international reputation. This doesn't even begin to compare to the costs being borne by the people of Afghanistan, where reports indicate that quality of life has declined in many regions from the standard under the Taliban. I could go on, and on, and on.
- Responsibility. By taking up the war in Afghanistan, Canada is letting the U.S. off the hook, both internationally and domestically. The war on Iraq was a bit of a circular wag the dog - it left the Bush administration with something to show for its unending War on Everything for a time, but soon the same heat that had been coming off of Afghanistan for months began to make Iraq fester as well. George W. Bush likes to start things he can't finish. Either that, or he just gets bored with things, and doesn't want to finish. The man is good at destroying, but not so great when it comes to creating - failed attempts at rebuilding in Afghanistan, in Iraq, failed attempts at improving the American education system - show me something that Bush has actually seen through, from start to finish, with a progressive, constructive result, and I... well, I won't stop criticizing, but I'll at least give him what little positive credit he deserves. Anyway, all that to say... by stepping into the U.S. role in Afghanistan we've basically let the U.S. and the Bush administration off the hook. They made a great big mess, and now we're haphazardly sweeping it up, letting them save face domestically, by ducking out of one of many unending wars, and internationally, by refocusing the world's attention from failures in Afghanistan to yet another pressure point on the axis of evil. Which brings me to my third justification...
- Enabling. The U.S. military is designed to support two theatres of war, one major, one minor. The major, at the moment, is Iraq. The minor was Afghanistan, until that started getting a little too ugly for Bush's liking. Now, with Canada happily stepping in from second string, the U.S. military is free to take on its exciting new conquest, Iran. We're not helping to rebuild the world piece by piece. We're not creating a model by which other failed states can rescue themselves. We're not making strides towards world peace. All we are doing is enabling the Bush administration to start yet another war that it will not finish, that will accomplish little or nothing, that will leave yet another state in shambles, yet another people raped, broken, diseased, dying, and in a state of volatile insecurity. Good on us.
So there. That's what I've got. I feel quite comfortable with it. So maybe it means I'm going to Hell. Fine. I only wish you'd join me.
