Port 80

I just got done reading an editorial entitled “We went to war just to boost the whitemale ego.” The Onion? No. The Borowitz Report? No. The Lemon? No.

The Times Online? Oh, yes.

This brilliant piece is written by one Norman Mailer, who you may know as a co-founder of the Village Voice. Rambling on for a good 1500 words, this editorial contains many sparkling jewels of political analysis. Apparently, we went to war, among other reasons, because the white male ego has been bruised by the women’s movement and the decline of white players in major league sports. Who would have thought that Tiger Woods was the cause of instability in the Middle East? However, Mailer gets even
better:

We went to war, I could say, because we very much needed a war. The US economy was sinking, the market was gloomy and down, and some classic bastions of the erstwhile American faith (corporate integrity, the FBI, and the Catholic Church, to ci te but three) had each suffered a separate and grievous loss of face. Since our Administration was probably not ready to solve any one of the serious problems before it, it was natural to feel the impulse
to move into larger ventures, thrusts into the empyrean - war!

Why, I do believe Mailer has hit the nail on the head! We went to war because of Cardinal Bernard Law and Ken Lay! Who would have thought it? Indeed, if it were not for Norman Mailer, we would never have put together the connection between Enron and Tommy Franks. Say – wasn’t Enron an energy company? Aha! It’s all about oil!

Allow me to make myself perfectly clear on this matter: Norman Mailer’s argument is hogwash. It is the either purest form of utter and total disingenuousness, or it the purest form of intellectual idiocy. For once in my life, I am torn as to whether I would prefer to have someone lie baldly to my face, or whether to accept that they could be so colossally misinformed and still be accepted by the editors of the Times.

Mr. Mailer, the United States of America does not go to war to give itself an ego trip or to boost sagging morale. War is the purest form of hell on this Earth for both sides. As the Duke of Wellington put it, “Nothing save a battle lost is so terrible as a battle won.”

No, Mr. Mailer, we went to war because Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction in the past, Iraq showed no sign of dismantling them as required by the Gulf-War cease-fire, and because leaving Saddam Hussein in power with weapons of mass destruction is akin to allowing a serial murderer living next door to purchase a Kalashnikov. I would respectfully submit that if you are not terrified by the prospect of the use of weapons of mass destruction, you do not understand the technology employed in these weapons. I strongly suspect September 11th would pale in comparison to the carnage that would be wrought by a successful use of these weapons.

However, it is also true that we went to war because Iraq has been in violation of the cease-fire ending the Gulf War for 12 years. It is also true that we went to war because leaving the Iraqi people to torture and massacre for any longer sickened th e United States. I, for one, think that we already bear some of the blood of those who were murdered in Saddam’s regime while we stood by for far too long. Last, but not least, we went to war because of the links between Iraq and terrorist groups such as al Qaeda.

Winston Churchill once said that “responsibility equals the price of greatness.” After September 11th, the United States was reawakened to that fact. To be blunt, the United States is the only superpower in the world. With that power comes responsibility: In this case, a responsibility to protect ourselves and to liberate the Iraqi people. We did not go to war for laughs and giggles.

In Mailer’s article, he states that “the motives that lead to a nation’s major historical acts can probably rise no higher than the spiritual understanding of its leadership.” I would offer another quote in conjunction to that, from the author Sir Conan Doyle: “Mediocrity knows nothing higher than itself.” In examining the causes of the war, Mailer has taken on a large subject, one filled with arguments of right and
wrong, questions of law and order, reflections on man’s inhumanity to man, discussions of common responsibility of mankind to end that inhumanity, and true matters of life and death. Out of this, Mailer has produced a petty tale of bigotry, bruised egos, and reckless pride. Mr. Mailer, I will not go so far as to say that you are despicable for trivializing an issue with such patent nonsense as is contained in this article.

However, you have certainly proven yourself to be mediocre.

(Hat Tip: Best of the Web)