We Won't Be Fighting for Freedom in Iraq

Robert Jensen writes today,

The Defense Department's "Defend America" Web site reads, "Dear member of the U.S. military: Thank you for defending our freedom." Fill in your name and hometown and click to join the more than 2 million who have sent the message.

The sentiment seems hard to argue with. No matter what one thinks of the coming war against Iraq, can't we all send such a message to those who serve?

Not if we want to be honest about U.S. war plans, for those troops won't be defending our freedom but defending America's control over the strategically crucial energy resources of the Middle East. They will be in the service of the empire, fighting a war for the power and profits of the few, not freedom for the many.

Jensen goes on to argue that we need "to separate what may motivate people in the armed forces from the real role of the U.S. military."

I have no doubt that many of the people who serve believe they are fighting for freedom, an honorable goal we should respect. But they are doing that for a government with a different objective--to shore up U.S. power and guarantee the profits of an elite--that we shouldn't support.

There is no disrespect in urging fellow citizens who have joined the military to ask, "What am I really fighting for?" and, "Who really benefits from the risks I take?"

If we civilians truly care about the troops--as well as the innocent people of Iraq who will die in a war--we should make it clear to Washington that we won't support wars for power and instead demand a sane foreign policy that seeks real freedom and justice, not dominance and control.

My message to the troops would be: "Thank you for being willing to defend freedom, but please join the resistance to this unjust war."