Today marks the 5^th anniversary of the invasion of Iraq.  The Bush Administration, its neoconservative allies, its congressional supporters, and the acquiescent mainstream media need to take this week as an opportunity for critical self-examination.  It is time for them to face the fact that they have a problem, an addiction to this war.  Here are just a few of the signs and examples:

• Defensiveness, temper tantrums, resentful behavior – i.e. the labeling of those who oppose the war as defeatists, unpatriotic, “blame America first” types, or saying that they don’t “support the troops”
• Unexplained moodiness or irritability – i.e. Dick Cheney
• Violent temper or bizarre behavior – i.e. John McCain, John Bolton, or most all neoconservatives
• Excessive need for privacy; secretive or suspicious behavior – i.e. the perversion of the States Secrets Act, the misuse of Executive Privilege, or the secrecy surrounding Dick Cheney’s 2001 Energy Task Force
• Paranoia or suspicious behavior – i.e. the neoconservative contention that the intelligence community purposely misled the county about the threat Iraq posed to embarrass the Bush administration
• Unexplained silliness or giddiness – i.e. President Bush
• Chronic dishonesty – i.e. the non-existent WMDs, links between Saddam Hussein and 9/11, and the claim President Bush continues to make that Saddam Hussein refused to allow UN weapons inspectors into Iraq
• Unexplained need for money, can’t explain where the money goes, stealing – i.e. the $12 billion dollars in cash “lost” by Paul Bremer’s Coalition Provisional Authority following the invasion, the 190,000 missing weapons meant for the Iraqi army, and the use of “emergency supplementals” in an attempt to bypass congressional oversight into funding the continuing occupation

These are serious problems.  There are those who have found help for alcohol, drug, and other problems through 12 step programs.  As this war enters its sixth year of existence the people who still support it need to take the time to look in the mirror and realize the destruction this ill-advised war has caused and start doing the things necessary to remedy that:

1). Admit that, despite its enormous military and economic strength, the United States does not control the rest of the world.

There is not doubt that the United States is the most powerful nation in the world.  It has the most well-funded, well-trained, and technologically advanced military in the world.  It has the world’s largest economy with a Gross Domestic Product of $13 trillion a year.  Even with all the power at its disposal the United States has limits to what it can do.  The Iraq War is the ultimate example of the limits of power.  Attempting to export American-style democracy at the point of a gun was a strategy doomed from the beginning.  The United States needs to realize the limitations of its power in order to find new ways to protect itself while respecting the self-determination of others.

 2). Come to believe that a power greater than the Bush Administration could restore sanity to foreign policy

The Constitution of the United States is a power greater than the nation’s government.  It is not a document that merely defines what powers the government possesses but also puts limits on those powers.  Article 1 of the constitution explicitly gives the power to declare war to the legislative branch, the representatives of the people.  The Senate and House of Representatives need to hold themselves accountable, and if not need to be held accountable by the people they represent, for their own failures in both the days leading up to the war and throughout the occupation.  The legislative branch cannot turn its power to declare war over to the executive branch even if it wishes to do so.  The framers of the constitution did this to prevent promiscuous warfare.  The congress has abdicated its responsibility at every turn in this war and needs to remember that there is a way for them to hold themselves accountable and that is by following the constitution.

 3). Make a decision to ensure foreign policy remains within constitutional limits and international law as provided by the Geneva Conventions, the Nuremberg Tribunal, and the United Nations’ Charter

During the Nuremberg Tribunal, after World War II, the chief American prosecutor Robert H. Jackson said, “To initiate a war of aggression, therefore, is not only an international crime; it is the supreme international crime differing only from other wars crimes in that it contains within itself the accumulated evil of the whole.”  In its decision to invade Iraq, the Bush administration flagrantly violated this principle.  There are few that would argue that a nation doesn’t have the right to defend itself in the face of danger, but that was not the case this time.  Iraq present no threat to the security of the United States, and any minimal threat that did exist could have been dealt with through other options.  United Nations weapons inspectors were in Iraq.  Chief inspector Hans Blix had reported to the United Nations Security Council that “….access has been provided to all sites we have wanted to inspect.”  The United Nations is flawed, but its purpose from its very beginning was as a tool to avoid violent conflict.  The Bush Administration, while paying lip service to the UN, consciously chose to ignore the UN Charter’s provision against aggressive warfare even though, that charter having been approved by the congress, was now a part of U.S. law. The abuses that took place at Abu Ghraib prison were clear violations of the Geneva Conventions regarding the treatment of prisoners of war.  The United States needs to realize that despite its power there are others who may know better in certain circumstances.  It is time to understand that an international consensus can be helpful, and absolutely necessary when there is no threat to the nation’s security involved, as was the case with Iraq.

 4). Make a searching and fearless moral inventory of its policies

The United States is a great nation.  The principles it was founded upon are the bedrock of a free society and the liberties that its citizen enjoy are the definition of freedom.  The United States is not perfect.  It is up to a citizenry to hold its government accountable for the mistakes it is bound to make and for that government to admit to those mistakes and work to correct them.  There are those who have claimed that to criticize a policy during a time of war is unpatriotic, but it is at times of great danger when critical self-examination is most needed. 

 5). Admit to the American people the exact nature of the lies and misleading statements made in the run-up to the Iraq War

The Bush Administration needs to set the record straight with the American people.  They need to make clear that there was no Iraqi connection to the 9/11 terrorists attacks, which was proved by a Pentagon report released quietly this past weekend that had examined over 600,000 Iraqi documents.  They need to state, unequivocally, that while Saddam Hussein was a brutal dictator, he had met his obligations to the international community by dismantling his weapons programs and allowing United Nations weapons inspectors into his country.  The administration needs to drop its line that “mistakes were made.”  It needs to be said that grievous errors were made because of arrogance and that millions of people, both Iraqi and American, have suffered for it.  An acquiescent mainstream media needs to admit that it was willing to take the Bush Administration at its word in the claims it made in the run-up to the invasion of Iraq.  A free and independent press is the hallmark of a free society and is enshrined in the constitution.  Offering the dissenting opinions that were made about the Bush Administration’s prewar claims would have given the American people the opportunity to make an informed decision as to whether or not justice would have been served in the invasion of a sovereign country that had never attacked, or threatened to attack the United States.

 6). Admit that there are defects in American foreign policy and work to remove them

American foreign policy is fundamentally and fatally flawed.  It is unsustainable militarily, economically, and morally.  It is not American responsibility, and should not be American policy, to “police” the world.  This policy has required that the world become an American police state patrolled by American soldiers.  It is a policy that has come to be seen around the world as an attempt at American military domination of the globe.  Many of these policies have been formed with the best of intentions and resulted in the worst of consequences.  The British and Roman empires claimed that they were maintaining order in a chaotic world, and it was because of that their empires would eventually crumble.  People will ultimately resist when someone attempts to dominate them, even if they claim to be good in their intentions.  The invasion of Iraq was one extreme example of America’s overall foreign policy.

 7). Humbly ask the Iraqi people to forgive these shortcomings

In all its claims of liberating and bringing democracy to the Iraqi people the Bush Administration refuses to acknowledge the fact that its war has destroyed a country.  The decision to invade a weak, and basically defenseless, country may have removed a brutal tyrant, but it replaced him with a military occupation, bombings, an insurgency, Al Qaeda, ethnic cleansing, and a humanitarian and bureaucratic nightmare.  Throughout all of this President Bush and his political allies have displayed nothing short of pure hubris.  They have arrogantly claimed that the Iraqis are better off now than they were before the invasion.  This claim ignores the fact that most Iraqis now receive less than eight hours of electricity a day, suffer through sectarian violence, and have a government that has been labeled as one of the most corrupt in the world.  The Iraqi people are owed an apology and an admission that this invasion was undertaken because of ignorance, arrogance, and a lust for greater power.

 8). Make a list of all persons the invasion of Iraq had harmed and become willing to make amends to them all

The list of those harmed by the invasion of Iraq is too long for anyone to truly understand.  One place to start with would be the American people who were lied to and, continue to be, misled in an attempt to gain support for the war.  Next would be soldiers who were forced to fight for an illegitimate cause, in particular the over 25,000 wounded and nearly 4,000 killed.  Perhaps most important would be the 2.5 million Iraqis now living as refugees, the 2 million internally displaced Iraqis, and an estimated 650,000 dead. 

9). Make direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others

Advocates for and supporters of General David Petreaus’ “Surge” strategy may claim the initial success of this new strategy as a way of make amends for the mistakes that have been made throughout the occupation of Iraq.  There are those, like presumptive republican presidential nominee and one of the main supporters of the war from the very beginning, John McCain, that claim to look back at the reasons why Iraq was invaded is a pointless endeavor.  He often says, “We’re there now.”  But any “success” brought about by the surge must be seen through the perspective of whether or not the invasion and occupation were legitimate from the very beginning.  The Bush Administration must make amends by giving the Iraqi people their country back.  It cannot give them a battlefield in the War on Terror or a staging area for future wars of aggression.  And it, along with the United States congress, must make amends to the American people for the lies it told them.  It must admit that there was no threat from Al Qaeda in Iraq until after the invasion, and that Saddam Hussein had no connection to the attacks of 9/11.  The United States must return to the boundaries set forth by the constitution for the sake of its people and its future.

10). Continue to take personal inventory and when wrong promptly admit it

From here on out the United States and its government in particular, must be able to look at itself critically.  The time has come for a mature nation to realize that it can and will make mistakes, but that the willingness to admit to those mistakes and learn from them is what will continue to make America great.  The days when a person critical of American policy is labeled as unpatriotic need to end.

 11). Through self-reflection learn from the mistakes that brought about the Iraq War in order to not repeat them

This needs to be a continual process for the United States especially in the area of foreign policy.  “Might makes right” is a phrase that need not apply to the United States.  Its power gives it an awesome responsibility and part of that responsibility is constraining that power.  Only through self-reflection can a mistake like the invasion of Iraq be prevented from being repeated.

 12). Having learned from the mistakes made, the United States can set forth as a leading example to the international community

Many great men and women have suffered through problems with drugs or alcohol.  It is never an easy task for someone to face down their demons, face up to their mistakes, and admit that they have a problem.  For those that have admitted they have a problem and been willing to do something about, the road is often very hard to travel, but in the end they can come out better for having traveled it.  It was something President Bush was able to do in his youth.  It is time that he does it once again.  The United States is a great nation, but it is facing a serious problem.  Admitting the failing of its policies and moving forward will allow the United States to once again take on a mantle of leadership in the world and to be admired for what it is.

Anyone who has ever been through a true 12 step program knows that they are never “cured,” that their problem is always with them.  In the same way, the American people remember that “the price of liberty is eternal vigilance.”