This past weekend I hopped on Interstate 95 and rubbernecked my way along stimulus-inspired construction lanes down to colonial Williamsburg, a time-warp back to the days of British empire in America and its discontents. A passion-play called “Revolutionary City” was captivating a crowd of tourists along the former colonial capital’s cobblestone avenues, complete with costumed redcoats and town criers on chargers. American myth-making was unfolding before our eyes: the rights of man, the tyranny of a distant monarch, tea parties and taxation without representation. Powder-wigged gentlemen made lofty speeches and minutemen- the irregulars of our own insurgency against our motherland some 240 years ago- were called into action. After visiting a shoemaker, a printer, and the Governor’s Palace, I drove 13 miles down to the battlefield of Yorktown, where 5,000 French troops and the French navy made it possible for Washington to declare victory over Lord Cornwalis.
The French had their own reasons for helping us in our hour of need. Britain was a long-time rival, and any insurrection in America would clearly benefit French global power. Ironically, King Louis’ support of American self-determination presaged the revolution that would engulf his own rule, and all of Europe, shortly thereafter. In hindsight, perhaps no leader in our collective past endured such a swing in judgment- on the right side of history one moment, only to be relegated to its dustbin in short succession.
As the U.S. troop drawdown in Iraq reaches a milestone while the surge peaks in Afghanistan, we might ask ourselves how the American interventions of the early 21st century will be judged decades from now. After a trillion dollars spent (Stiglitz and Bilmes will tell you it’s more like $3 trillion), will we end up on the right side of history?
Iraq has paid an enormous price in lives shattered and communities plundered over the last 7 years. A local tyrant is gone but the jury is still out as to whether a healthy polity will emerge or sectarian hatreds will re-assert themselves. One thing, however, is clear- in the eyes of the emerging Iraqi nation, America is not the shining savior. Perhaps this is ungrateful. Perhaps it is only human given the carnage unleashed. Not much unites the Sunni resistance movements collectively called “Al Muqaawama” and Shia militias sworn to oppose them like the Mahdi Army. Nothing, except perhaps the sacred tenet that America invaded Iraq for its own reasons- for oil, for Israel, for profit- that had little to do with emancipation. Some of these groups have become part of the political structure in Iraq and have laid down their weapons, for now. Others, much like our own founding fathers, believe the Iraqi government is a colonial administration and does not represent their interests but that of a foreign empire. In Afghanistan it is arguably much worse. Large swaths of the country do not consider the Karzai government legitimate, but rather a gang of thieves enabled by outside actors.
You’re wondering: Are you truly comparing Muslim extremist groups, the people killing our brave American men and women, to hallowed saints of American liberty like Madison, Jefferson, and Franklin? Well, it depends on where these saints sit in your imagination and what founding principles they fought for, in your own mind. If your Glenn Beck and the Tea Partiers, the similarities in thinking to the extremists on the other side are striking. You tend to believe that society has become too decadent and lost its relationship with God (Jesus in one case, Allah in the other). Your government is a series of intrusive institutions set up for the benefit of corrupt politicians or part of a vast foreign conspiracy to pillage local or national resources (the UN in one case, Dick Cheney in the other). You want to go back to a more pristine time, a time of innocence (at least, in your own imagination), when the community was strong (the City on the Hill or the Islamic Umma, almost interchangeable), and people knew their place (Blacks/closet Muslims in one case, Infidel Jews/Christians in the other).
It’s important we choose the right side in the insurgencies brewing for the future, both foreign and domestic. Overseas, the temptation in the past has been to guard empire over principle. This has burnished America’s image, particularly in the Muslim world, as long on rhetoric but well short on deeds. And that too has led directly to American lives lost, as Admiral Mullen and General Petraeus have told us in their own words. In Egypt, Arabia, Jordan, to name a few, we support regimes that do not have legitimacy in the eyes of their own people. In Iran, we flirt with inking a grand bargain with anachronistic mullahs who belong in a different century, all to uphold an Israeli nuclear monopoly. In Israel, we unilaterally support a nation that has made great strides in representative, vibrant government, but continues to build its society on the blood of another people. All of these decisions will come back to haunt us when the inexorable march of time once again turns the corner.
