Decision ‘08

Cohen - Again - Surprises

I don’t know what in blue blazes Richard Cohen has been drinking, but give me some of that! There was a time when I couldn’t read his columns without cringing - and that’s not even mentioning the infamous anti-algebra tirade - but lately I find myself in awe of how much sense he’s making. From his latest:

For many who supported going to war in Iraq, the nature of the regime was important, even paramount. It is disappointing that this no longer gets mentioned. I suppose the handwriting was on the wall when Michael Moore failed to mention Saddam’s crimes at all in his movie “Fahrenheit 9/11.” Years from now, someone coming across the film could conclude that the U.S. picked on the Middle Eastern version of Switzerland. Now, all the weight is on one side of the moral scale.

But what would have happened if the war had actually ended back when George Bush stood under that “Mission Accomplished” banner? The U.S. combat death toll then was 139. (It’s now approaching 2,500.) Would it have been worth 139 American lives to put an end to a regime that had murdered many thousands of its own people and had been responsible for two major wars? After all, aren’t some of the people who want Washington to do something in Darfur the same people who so rigorously opposed the Iraq War on moral grounds? What if we could pacify Darfur — immense, arid and without population centers — at the cost of 139 American lives? What is the morality of that? Two hundred thousand have already died there. Should we intervene?

Pardon me for raising the question without answering it. I do so only to discomfort, if I can, some of the people who are so certain of their moral righteousness when it comes to the Iraq War. I want to know why the crimes of Saddam Hussein never figure into their thinking and why it was morally wrong — not merely unwise — to topple him. Raising this question in no way excuses the Bush administration’s incompetence, fibbing, exaggerations and the way it has abused American democracy. All that remains — but so does the lingering question about morality.

This is why the trial of Saddam Hussein is such a calamity. The only redeeming element of this wretched war is its moral component — the desire of some people to do good by ridding the world of a thug and his regime — and that story, once so simple, has been obfuscated by delays and antics. We have somehow turned a criminal into a clown. It’s a metaphor, it’s a commentary, but mostly, like everything else about this war, it’s just a damn shame.

Anyone who reads this blog regularly knows I remain guardedly optimistic about the ultimate outcome in Iraq - but the gist of Cohen’s piece is so on target that for once, I’m gonna let it slide…