Iraq, and learning the lessons of history

Professor Jurg K. Siegenthaler. American University

It is very hard to fathom the current US war issue. Let us look back over the very intense last three months, and further back over history, in search of answers.

The November congressional elections brought the clear verdict that American voters wanted a solution to the Iraq conflict.

On December 6, the non-partisan Iraq Study Group presented a report that assessed the current strategy realistically. It even outlined a possible way out of what it considered a lost cause.

It was difficult to fully take in the experts’ recommendations — there being 79 of them! There was no clear, more hopeful outlook as a Christmas gift. The sobering days of January then brought a drastic simplification in the form of the president’s declared determination to succeed by “moving forward”.

No confidence

Since hearing the people’s message in November, the new Democratically-controlled Congress has made an effort to say no to President Bush’s proposed troop enhancement, and even attempted to suggest alternatives: re-deployment, gradual withdrawal, and above all intense diplomacy.

Over this time span public opinion, as reflected in polls, has consistently shown a lack of support for the executive. No confidence in the president’s Iraq vision was expressed by 62% of the people in August, 66% in September, 64% in October, 70% in December and in January (CNN/USA Today/Gallup figures). What was once thought to be the power of the “bully pulpit” has vanished. The simple election question, “Had Enough?,” asked in November, has turned into the people’s verdict on Iraq today: “Enough.”

Why this judgment has not translated, to date, into larger street protests or intense debate among families and neighbors, is usually explained by the fact that this war has not demanded sacrifice in terms of a military draft, not prompted material shortages, or been shown on TV in its true violence. Nor has television shown the coffins of dead servicemen being brought home. One of the most serious ways in which the country was damaged – its massive loss of regard in the world – has not been sensed much by an inward-looking people.

Historical parallels

While it is difficult to analyse all the intricacies of a mission in peril, there have been some efforts at a general interpretation. Can we understand what is happening in the light of past experience, and not just today’s news flashes? The example most often invoked is the Vietnam war. Parallels between that historic experience and today’s tribulations ought to shed some light. We thought we had learned a lesson, but why is the “decider” not heeding it, why are no “wise men” able to stop the hemorrhage?

I remember that in the run-up to war in Iraq I mentioned to a colleague that we should re-read Karl Marx’s Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte (1852), the author’s most sophisticated attempt at political analysis. In its opening paragraph, he cites Hegel as saying, “… all great, world-historical facts and personages occur, as it were, twice… the first time as tragedy, the second as farce.”

Historical models never fit perfectly. Indeed, Vietnam was a tragedy, and this president’s quest has many aspects of a farce. But the farcical interpretation goes only so far. Napoleon was a better politician than President Bush. Through playing one French population segment off against another, he brought the country two decades of glory until it all came crashing down in the Franco-Prussian War in 1871. The sadder truth is that even the cleverest farce is tragic at heart.

Swiss criticism

It is difficult to consider a comparison with Switzerland on the Iraq issue. In a country with a long-established neutral foreign policy, the question will never arise as to whether a government’s adventurous undertaking abroad does or does not meet with the approval of the people. Policy is one thing and opinion another. In my visits, I have sensed public sentiment to be very critical of the United States’ handling of the Middle East, first often in the form of ridicule of a president, now more frequently in an eagerness to change the subject.

With the Swiss system of direct democracy, we know that even difficult foreign policy issues can be handled in a nuanced way, as demonstrated repeatedly by the country’s legislation on the European Union or immigration. A delicate discussion emerges over time, as the Cabinet must hone its proposals according to what is deemed acceptable and what is not.

What about historical parallels over time? Were I to ask a Swiss historian, I would probe whether there is an element of truth to the thesis that Switzerland doesn’t usually try to repeat what could turn into a bad experience. The Swiss saint Nikolas von Flüe said no to foreign expansion in the 15th century; one micro civil war, the Sonderbund (1847), was the only one; one general strike (1918) was enough.

At a Swiss university that shall remained unnamed, a social science professor lost his job in 1966 because he had published a book critical of the Swiss press coverage on Vietnam. For many reasons, this would be unthinkable today.

Jurg Siegenthaler

The views expressed in this column are not necessarily those of swissinfo.

Biography

Every month retired professor, Jurg Siegenthaler, compares and contrasts aspects of life in Switzerland with that of his adopted homeland, the United States.

He emigrated to the United States from Switzerland in 1967, and is now a retired university professor living close to Washington, DC. He is a graduate of Bern University (Dr.rer.pol., 1966).

His fields of teaching and research encompassed economic history, social theory and social policy analysis. Throughout his career, he has maintained close comparative research interests in the US and Switzerland.

He is associated with the Institute for Socio-Financial Studies, a research non-profit that has done a lot of work improving financial literacy at the community level.

Since his retirement, Jurg Siegenthaler has broadened his involvement in community organizations and in the arts. He is married and lives with his wife in Silver Spring, Maryland.