William Meredith Carr must have had a terrible hangover on October 10, 1881, because he named his newly born son Ezra Edgar. That mistake was compounded when in 1922, that Ezra passed that name on to me. It has always been my belief that only the Holy Ghost or Moqtada al Sadr has a more regrettable name.
The original Ezra made a point in 1934 or 1935 which bears examination as we are looking for a way to end our involvement in the Iraqi war. On a Sunday afternoon, I was sweeping out the garage while of my father tried to adjust the doors so that they would close more tightly. As my father worked, a young man approached and presented him with a problem. I could overhear the young man saying that he had a difficult situation that he did not know how to resolve. But my father, the one with the second grade education, listened to the young man intently. When it was my father’s turn to speak, he said simply, “Boy, you must be a man. You must take responsibility and be a man.” I was only a few feet away and I could hear this exchange and the advice that was offered.
Now as we are floundering in our attempt to extricate ourselves from the Iraqi war, it seems to me that the idea of being a man has wonderful merit. The person who could now be a man is our Commander-in-Chief, Chief Executive and Chief Decider. That, of course, is George W. Bush.
We undertook the invasion of Iraq, a sovereign nation, under the auspices of the president of this country. The rest of the world and most of us in the United States now refer to this conflict as “Bush’s war.”
At the moment, one week before the midterm elections, Bush is preparing the way to blame the Iraqis for the future of their country. We invaded Iraq, destroyed the infra-structure, imprisoned thousands of people, installed several governments and created general turmoil. Now as the citizens of the United States grow impatient, George Bush is saying in effect, “It’s not my problem; the problem belongs to those Iraqis.”
The application of my father’s rule of “Being a man” starts with George Bush saying that the war was his idea, it was a whopping mistake, and that he is assuming full responsibility for it. Bush should grant that it is not the Iraqis problem to solve, but his to deal with.
Next, Bush should say that this is a thoroughly unwinnable war. His father and Brent Scowcroft tried to tell him this in a book that they wrote in the early ‘90’s. Bush said that he did not listen to his own father, but rather relied upon a “higher father.” It must be assumed that Bush was in a dialogue with the Holy Trinity.
When Bush assumes responsibility for starting the war and for ending it, he will then be fulfilling my father’s wish of, “being a man.” Unfortunately, Bush’s track record of being a man is virtually nonexistent. When the Vietnam War came, Bush used his family connections to jump 500 other candidates to get into the Texas Air National Guard. Before long, he copped out on the National Guard and in effect, never served one day in military service. He left that to people like John Kerry.
When George Bush is confronted by strength, he folds. About three years back, Bush, for example, threatened to put import duties on European steel. When the Europeans threatened to put a similar tariff on fruits and vegetables imported from places like Florida, Bush folded. Bush is only a strong man when he sends other people into battle to get killed.
After Bush says that he will be a man and assume responsibility for starting the war, he then will have another responsibility for ending it. This again is another opportunity to be a man.
When men make a wrong turn in their automobiles, they tend to compound the mistake by driving faster in the hope of seeing a familiar landmark. Women, on the other hand, will recognize their mistake and will stop and turn around. What we need here is for Bush to say that this war was his idea, it is an unwinnable war, and that our troops should be withdrawn immediately.
The point that is obvious here is that our presence in Iraq as an occupation force is the major cause of this conflict. If we were to withdraw, the major irritant in this war would be removed. This point is backed by many generals in the British and the American armies.
Obviously, I am aware that a civil war could very well follow. On the other hand, what we have now in Iraq is a smoldering civil war. A full-fledged conflagration is soon to follow whether we stay or leave. My belief is that sooner or later the Sunnis and the Shias will either work out an accommodation between them or there will be a civil war to settle matters. Whether we stay or leave, merely means postponing that settlement or that war. The Sunnis and Shias have been in a murderous dispute for more than 1400 years over who is the rightful successor to the Prophet Mohammed. At this late date, our occupation is simply another irritant in this dispute between two religious groups.
George Bush and the British have never had an inclination to learn from history. For more than 800 years, for example, the English nation occupied Ireland. For all of those 800 years, the Irish nation fought back. Finally in 1922, the British withdrew from Ireland under a peace treaty which left six counties under British domination. While the rest of Ireland is peaceful, the six counties in Ulster remain a hotbed of conflict. George Bush and Tony Blair should have learned about the fundamental failures of occupation as they attended those elite universities. But apparently, they neglected to do so.
Once our troops are at home, I am well aware that other nations may try to fill the vacuum. That is precisely the price that we must pay for such a foolhardy adventure in Iraq. We must accept the beating that we will probably take from the oil producing nations and we must accept the responsibility for rebuilding the infrastructure of Iraq that we have ruined. This is another opportunity for Bush to be a man and to step up and say that we will assume the responsibility, however heavy the cost.
Once our troops are at home and we no longer give the no-bid contracts to companies such as Halliburton, we may be able to deal with the poverty in this country. We may also be able to redeem some of the U.S. debts that the Chinese and Japanese now hold. The best estimates are that indebtedness to those two Asian countries will cost us $300 billion in interest per year for years to come. That is a tough nut to crack.
Now we get to the heart of the proposal of being a man. During World War II, Franklin Roosevelt and Harry Truman designated certain czars to get things done. For example, there was a czar who presided over the aircraft industry. Under that arrangement, Henry Ford, who operated the enormous Ford plant at River Rouge in Dearborn, Michigan, turned it into a plant to manufacture B-24 bombers. Thousands of bombers came out of that plant and others throughout World War II. There was a will at the presidential level and America responded. In this war, there is no will and no response. Bush contends that we can go on having tax cuts and that there is no need for this generation to redeem our indebtedness. This is Alice in Wonderland stuff.
Now we must make a start to reduce or eliminate our dependence on foreign oil. If we were to name a czar for the oil industry who does not respond to direction from Cheney or Bush, we would be sending the first signal to all of those “Islamic fascist” countries who now hold us hostage. Once we became non-dependent upon Arab or Muslim oil, those countries would lose their stick over us and would recede to 17th or 18th or 19th century levels. It is not easy to do but in fact, Brazil has done just that thing. Brazil is not dependent upon Arab or Venezuelan oil. I suspect that we can achieve the same result if we have the will and the leadership to do it.
When we announce to the world that the United States is not going to be held hostage by the oil producing countries, we can then move to appoint another czar having to do with motor vehicle production. There is no need whatsoever for this country to have automobiles with 400 hp engines to move them. Those automobiles should be very heavily taxed on the order of $25-$30,000 each. There should be a premium on production of automobiles such as the Toyota Prius. Of course there will be screaming but the need is great for us to declare independence of the oil producing countries.
To set an example, Bush should stay at home and not fly Air Force One all around the country. That plane, like all planes of its size, consumes enormous amounts of aviation fuel. He should, for example, avoid taking a trip from his often used vacation home in Crawford, Texas to Washington just to sign a piece of legislation having to do with Terri Schiavo. That trip probably cost the American taxpayers about $500,000. On top of that, it was enormously wasteful of our resources.
After setting an example by putting Air Force One partially in the hangar, Bush might also be a real man and tell the owners of stock car racing they will have to curb their ways. Stock car racing consumes a monumental amount of fuel. It involves one high-powered car chasing another one around an oval circuit endlessly. The sport, as it is often called, is very popular in the South which is where much of Bush’s electoral support comes from. If he wishes to be a man, Bush can put an end to stock car racing until this country becomes oil independent of the Arab nations.
Well there you have it. The idea is to assume responsibility for getting this country into a war that has been judged a colossal mistake. Many observers contend that taking this country into Iraq was the most colossal mistake in the history of the American enterprise. Once responsibility for that war is assumed under the “be a man” doctrine, we can save the cost of our exorbitant occupation in Iraq. Once our troops are home, we can devote our energies to becoming oil independent. Until that day comes, Arab countries will always have our foreign policy in the palm of their hands.
And while we are at it, we might set an example for the rest of the world by returning Guantanamo Bay to the government of Cuba. GITMO has a thoroughly despicable in the rest of civilized society brought on by the torture of prisoners and by their indefinite confinement without trial. Perhaps it was Shakespeare who said it best. “Out damned spot” which is what we should do for Guantanamo.
Again, after we assume the responsibility for what we have done to Iraq, we can concentrate on settling or attempting to settle the dispute between the Israelis and the Arab nations. Slogans won’t do it. What we need is to show the Arab countries that we intend to treat the Arabs and the Israelis much more evenhandedly than we have done in the past. We can no longer stand by and do nothing while the Israelis reduce the infrastructure of Lebanon to ashes. We can no longer stand by and watch the Israelis capture and imprison as many as 40 members of the Palestinian government. And we cannot remain silent while the Israelis hold several thousand people in Gaza under starving conditions while we have no comment on it. Clearly there must be an expression from the president of this country that it is our intention to treat the Arabs and the Israelis more evenhandedly. That is what “being a man” is all about.
Well there you have an outline for bringing peace to Iraq as well as to the United States. It will cut our outgoing expenses enormously and it will reduce the loss of life on both sides. When Bush was told that the loss in Iraqi lives involved as many as 600,000 people, he replied, “That has no credibility.” The fact of the matter is that George Bush has no credibility. That estimate of Iraqi lives lost comes from American, not Iraqi, sources. So let us hope that Bush either becomes a man or that he is replaced by someone who will assume that responsibility.
I realize that there is very little hope that the plan of “being a man” will be adopted under this administration. The Bush plan seems to be to “stay the course” regardless of the lives that are lost on both sides and the money that is just dribbled away. While there is not much hope that the plan will be adopted any time soon, we avoid it at our own peril. Whether we adopt this plan now or later is only a matter of time. Before we are finished, it is obvious that we will have to end the occupation of Iraq and that we must undertake the enormous effort to become independent of oil producing nations. Anything that does not embrace these two points may well cause the bankruptcy of this country within the foreseeable future.
So you see, all of this flows from my father saying to a young man that he should “Be a Man.” When I enlisted in the American Army in 1942, some 15 to 18 months ahead of my date with the draft board, my father called me aside on the Sunday before I left. He gave me a silver dollar with the date of his birth on it. That was, of course, 1881. He said, “Carry this and you will never be broke.” I carried that silver dollar until December 8, 1943 when it was taken from me by the German prison officials at Rimini, Italy. By joining the American Army well ahead of my date with the draft board, my father was saying to me, “You are doing what a man should do.” I took that as the highest praise that my inarticulate father could offer.
When I returned it to the United States in 1945, I arranged to get another 1881 Silver Dollar to replace the one that had been lost to the German prison authorities. I carried that silver dollar in my pocket for so many years that it was hard to see the eagle on the coin. It now rests in a place of honor in my dresser drawer and when I hold it, I am always reminded of the original Ezra saying, “Be a Man.”
E. E. CARR
October 29, 2006
Essay 213
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Kevin’s commentary: This is how one should criticize a government and a leader. I’m not saying I agree with everything in here, and I’m not sure that a trip in the Air Force One costs half a million dollars, but I’m saying this sort of critique is a million times more useful to everyone than the sorts of slams that you generally run into when you hear people criticize, for example, Obama. It examines policy decisions and their implications. It evaluates the economic landscape of the time and attempts to offer solutions, even if they are a little outlandish like the vehicle tax. It’s absolutely a breath of fresh air when put next to everyone who hates Obama because he’s a God-Damned Socialist without a birth certificate, or whatever nonsense is being spouted lately.
In other news I now have this stuck in my head. Thanks, Pop!