Why We Lost

“The War Tapes” was culled from footage shot by a New Hampshire National Guard detachment sent to Iraq in 2004. 2004. Remember 2004? The war was so much better then, but it was already lost, as is made clear by this documentary, in which the soldiers’ voices are the only ones that are heard; no sanctimonious Michael Moore commentary to be found here. This is simply a video journal of a tour in Iraq.

These men, however amiable they may seem, however innocent they are of the forces that put this abattoir into motion, are completely incapable of winning, or even defining, the war they were sent to “fight”. None of them are trained in the culture or language of Iraq. They are trained to kill, yes, but if you don’t know who to kill, you end up increasing the number of people willing to kill you.

Since Baghdad “fell” this has been a war of peace, a political war. The problem is that our government never seemed to realize that. Instead of treating the Iraqis as a liberated people, we treated them as a conquered people.

The most introspective member of the detachment featured in “The War Tapes” made an attempt to justify his “mission” by saying that, “it really is unfortunate, but when it comes down to it, if there is any room for doubt, our lives take precedence over those of Iraqi civilians”.

This may seem a sober and common-sense assessment by some, or maybe most, but to me it perfectly explains why we have lost.

If the primary mission of the American military is to protect itself, I have a war plan that would surely and swiftly accomplish this goal: stay in the United States. Why would you invade a hostile country halfway around the world in order to protect your soldiers?

The soldiers from the New Hampshire National Guard were tasked with providing security for convoys. Here’s how this works: Halliburton delivers Pepsi to American bases in Iraq at a 500% mark-up. American soldiers are killed, are allowed to die with their intestines in their hands, screaming for their mothers, because Pepsi is somehow integral to “freedom”.

These soldiers risk their lives to protect trucks belonging to private corporations. When a shot rings out, they swing their chain guns and unleash. These are guns that fire bullets so lethal that they can kill you without directly striking your body. I can’t blame people from New Hampshire for using overbearing, inaccurate, and counterproductive force in Nineveh. Let’s be honest; their first goal is to get home to see their families again.

And therein lies the key to our defeat. This is not a military war; it is a political war. If it were a military war, we would have won it four years ago. Actually, come to think of it, it was a military war….four years ago. Remember that? Remember how we kicked the shit out of Iraq because they were militarily inferior?

And, remember every day since that day four years ago? More than a thousand days, in which we have lost more every day, because we never even bothered to train our soldiers how to fight a political war?

We are supposed to being winning something. Heats and Minds, as the saying goes. If we define our own safety as the most important mission to be achieved, what are the chances that we will win hearts? Minds? Zero.

There are two ways to convince Iraq to become a peaceful ally of the United States. One way is to kill almost everybody in Iraq. The other way is to convince most of the people in Iraq that Americans are genuinely invested in the welfare of average Iraqis. The former is, thankfully, not an option. The latter is impossible.