Ambivalence about the Gulf War
Hausknecht, Murray
Think of the statistician's bell curve and you have the shape of public opinion today. At one tail are antiwar partisans for whom the Gulf War is a continuation of Vietnam, while at the other...
...That is to say, the war in the Persian Gulf can at this time be morally justified and deserving of support, even if the judgment, prudence, and trustworthiness of Bush and his administration are deeply suspect...
...The decision to increase the number of troops from the 250,000 ostensibly deployed for the protection of Saudi Arabia to 500,000 sharply limited future options, and it was made without congressional consultation...
...In the country at large there is probably a skew toward greater support for the war, but this will probably shift if the war is prolonged...
...Rosenthal from conservative troglodytes like Patrick Buchanan, while on the left it fractures the cohesion of those who are ideologically disposed to be more sympathetic to the claims of the Palestinians than to the Israelis' fears for their security...
...Americans, in short, support the war but not, perhaps, wholeheartedly...
...It splits neoconservatives like Norman Podhoretz and A.M...
...First, the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait was a clear violation of a nation's sovereignty...
...war is undertaken in the pursuit of long-range political goals...
...There is a paradox that must be faced here...
...Vietnam inevitably shadows the thoughts of all who cannot bring themselves to support this war, but their certainties are subverted by at least two major differences between the Gulf War and Vietnam...
...The specter of Vietnam haunts the ambivalent...
...Success in war is never simply the surrender of one army to another...
...The invasion of Panama SPRING • 1991 • 157 Comments and Opinions was obscene, and hindsight is not the only basis for condemning the administration's pro-Iraqi tilt in the Middle East right up to the invasion of Kuwait...
...On the right, the belief in the Munich metaphor is shaken by memories of Vietnam that undercut initial certainties...
...Israel is a fissure that cuts across this somewhat oversimplified picture...
...Honor is politically important in any representative democracy and particularly important in our system, where a president wields great power...
...Second, while the hyperbole of equating Saddam Hussein with Hitler should be avoided, the unprovoked missile attacks on Israel, the deliberate spilling of oil into the Gulf, and the previous genocidal attack on the Kurds should be sufficient grounds for ambivalence among those who do not support the war...
...The uneasiness it creates is the price of political commitment in today's world...
...In the case of George Bush, who lacks judgment, prudence, and honor, this becomes an imperative of the first importance...
...These actions reflect a lack of judgment and prudence...
...When elected officials cannot be trusted, it is necessary to subject their actions to continual surveillance...
...The problem of Israel reinforces the ambivalence that pervades almost the entire political spectrum...
...Among those on the left there is an increasing uncertainty about whether the analogy holds, and, consequently, ambivalence ranges from a growing willingness to consider the case for war to a reluctant assent that incorporates a strong hostility to the Bush administration...
...0 Mitchell Cohen 158 • DISSENT...
...The numbers at both extremes are small...
...no democracy can afford to leave such decisions wholly to the president and Congress...
...Ambivalence is a trying state of mind, whatever one's political sentiments...
...I want to argue that ambivalence is politically appropriate and that, for the time being at least, we should not attempt to resolve it...
...In somewhat old-fashioned terms, George Bush is not an honorable man, someone upon whose probity you can rely...
...First, there are questions of judgment and prudence...
...For those who support the war it is necessary to retain a deep distrust of the Bush administration for at least two reasons...
...This is especially important when we ask what the Gulf War is supposed to accomplish...
...When he used the Willie Horton television spot—an appeal to the electorate's racism for which he has never apologized—he demonstrated that he was not worthy of trust...
...At one tail are antiwar partisans for whom the Gulf War is a continuation of Vietnam, while at the other tail is an equally automatic reaction of chauvinistic patriotism...
...If the history of war in the twentieth century has taught us anything it is that in a democratic society those goals must be a matter of public discussion...
...Our ambivalence deprives him of unconditional support, helps maintain necessary vigilance over his actions, and so furthers the possibility that the death and destruction of war might serve some acceptable human ends...
...the bulk of opinion is grouped around the mode of ambivalence...
...If one believes that Bush's invasion of Panama was inexcusable, then one must grant that his defense of Kuwait, if not his decision to go to war, is justifiable...
...if there is ever to be a peaceful and stable international order, the territorial integrity of nationstates must be respected and defended...
...That it is a nation with a repugnant social and political system is irrelevant...
...Second, the Panama invasion and the reinforcement of the troops in Saudi Arabia are related to a moral flaw in George Bush's character apparent even before his election...
Vol. 38 • April 1991 • No. 2
