Down in the United States, President Bush is in trouble; the half of thepopulation that were foolish enough to believe him in the first place arechanging their minds. Polls show his popularity rating dipping into the30 per cent range, and his military is losing confidence in theleadership of his administration.

A number of senior officers werepublicly opposed to the invasion of Iraq from the beginning, and nowmore are coming forward, criticizing the war and calling for the removalof the Secretary of Defense. The junior officers are not happy either. Ina recent letter published in the Seattle Times a Marine Captain wrote:

“I now know I wrongfully placed my faith and trust in a presidentialadministration hopelessly mired in incompetence, hubris and a lack ofaccountability. It planned a war based on false intelligence andunrealistic assumptions. It has strategically surrendered the condition ofvictory in Iraq to people who do not share our vision, values or interests.The Bush administration has proven successful at only one thing in Iraq — painting us into a corner with no feasible exit.”

You can bet that when Generals publicly condemn the performance ofthe Secretary of Defense and company grade officers stick their neckout and write letters to the newspapers criticizing the Commander-in-Chief, there is serious trouble brewing among the troops. The VietnamWar came to an end for the U.S. when the military became unreliable asmany troops began avoiding battle in country, and undermining theeffectiveness of their units everywhere.

Today, some people are sayingthat conditions in Iraq are even worse than Vietnam. There is certainly abad odour rising as to how this folly might end.

A recent article in the Christian Science Monitor summarized thecomplaints of the generals and others, and the rebuttals by those stillclinging to the administration’s line. It put forward the view that what weare seeing in all of this is a blame game beginning over who lost Iraq.

For those who know their U.S. history it is reminiscent of the 1950s and theMcCarthy witch hunts when one of the issues was who lost China,referring to the victory there of Mao Tse-tung over the U.S. backedarmies of Chang Kai-shek. Of course, what lost China and Vietnam andwhat may well lose both Iraq and Afghanistan is a profound lack ofunderstanding of the history and culture of the target region combinedwith political and economic policies designed primarily to serve theinterests of foreigners.

It has been said that a goal of Al Qaeda was to draw U.S. forces out ofthe United States and entangle them in conflicts in the Middle Eastwhere they could be easily attacked. If that is so it has certainly workedwith American and Coalition troops caught in the meat grinders of Iraqand Afghanistan.

It has also been said that the wars in those twocountries have done wonders for anti-Western groups, motivating manyto join their ranks. Sadly, Canada, which was wise enough to avoid themess in Iraq, got suckered into the one in Afghanistan. No doubt thismakes the American government happy, and probably a few Canadiansricher, but are happy Americans and war profits worth our soldiers dying?

Recently Minister of Defence Gordon O’Connor defended Canada’sAfghan mission by implying that we must not wait for terrorists to attackus before we recognize a threat. A curious statement given that sendingtroops to Afghanistan or any other hot spot created by the Americans isa lot like whacking a wasp nest with a stick. Chances are you are morelikely to get stung than if you just let it be or find some better way to dealwith the wasps.

Of course one has to wonder what’s in it for Gordon, aretired general and until recently a lobbyist for the defence industry. Ifnothing else beefing up the military and going to war will be profitable fordefence contractors. Canadians should be wondering about conflict ofinterest and asking questions why a major defence industry promoterhas been handed the keys to Canada’s armed forces.

While the defence industry profits on this war the troops get to swatwasps and be stung, and more than that they may have been put in aposition by our government to be charged with war crimes. Because ofagreements with the U.S. we could be turning prisoners over to agenciesthat employ torture in violation of international protocols that Canada is aparty to. Those who do so could be liable for prosecution in theInternational Criminal Court.

Our troops have been put at a needless risk by our government, throwninto a war that could have been avoided and saddled with an agreementthat goes against international law. How and when this will end is stillunclear, but often at the end all that is left with the rubble andruined lives is the debate over who lost what. One thing is certain,however, no matter which way the tide flows, the biggest losers arealways those troops and civilians at the pointy end of the stick.