Abstract
This book preserves the raw and vivid memories of combat veterans and their families as well as those of public officials. The stories span from the battlefield to the offices of Washington to capture the broadest spectrum of voices, all of which depict the reality of the Iraq War. They uncover the emotional toll of war on its participants. What goes through a soldier’s mind when he or she witnesses (or participates) in killing? How does a volunteer soldier evolve into an antiwar activist? How does it feel to lose a son or daughter in war? By examining the unfettered and often riveting words of soldiers and other individuals who were touched by the war, including some who came to reject what they saw, readers will better understand the true nature of war.
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Notes
Tom Clancy, Tony Zinni, and Tony Koltz, Battle Ready (New York: Penguin, 2004), p. 426. David Cloud and Eric Schmitt, “More Retired Generals Call for Rumsfeld’s Resignation,” New York Times, April 14, 2006, pp. Al and A17.
Thich Nhat Hanh, Peace Is Every Step (New York: Bantam Books, 1992), p. 103.
Andrew Bacevich, “Warrior Politics,” Atlantic Monthly (May 2007). Bacevich is correct to caution us against the glorification of the military. Yet, he also argues that soldiers in uniform should not engage in politics against the war. “Although sworn to obey,” “they have undertaken to obstruct.” Of course, militarism is sustained precisely by way of such oaths that encourage silence in the face of misguided policies or war crimes. If Nazi soldiers in uniform petitioned against its war machine, one should not appeal to their oath of allegiance to silence them. Bacevich feels that encouraging groups of soldiers to “join the debate is short-sighted and dangerous.” Perhaps it can be dangerous, but it also can facilitate democracy. Consider that the English Civil War, which in many ways was the catalyst of modern democracy, included radical elements of Levellers who worked with Agitators, who were military men in uniform. They petitioned their commanders and demanded democratic procedures. Soldiers engaging in dissent are not, ipso facto, dangerous. For a readable account of the Agitators, see Fenner Brockway, Britain’s First Socialists: The Levellers, Agitators and Diggers of the English Revolution (London: Quartet Books, 1980), pp. 35–57.
For an elaboration on this point, see Michael Frisch, A Shared Authority: Essays on the Craft and Meaning of Oral and Public History (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1990), pp. 175–76.
Michael Frisch, “Sharing Authority: Oral History and the Collaborative Process,” Oral History Review (Winter 2003), v. 30, n. 1, p. 111.
Linda Shopes, “Commentary: Shared Authority,” Oral History Review (Winter 2003), v. 30, n. 1, p. 105.
Staughton Lynd, “Oral History from Below,” Oral History Review (Spring 1993), v. 21, n. 1, pp. 1–8. Lynd, “History from Below.” Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Organization of American Historians, New York, March 2008.
Jean Krasno and James Sullivan, The United Nations and Iraq: Defanging the Viper (Westport, CT: Praeger, 2003).
Alessandro Portelli, The Death of Luigi Trastulli and Other Stories: Form and Meaning in Oral History (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1991), pp. 1–26.
For details, see Carl Mirra, “Conscientious Objection in Operation Desert Storm,” Peace Review (April–June 2006), v. 18, n. 2, pp. 199–205. Mirra, ed., Enduring Freedom or Enduring War? Prospects and Costs of the New American 21st Century (Washington, DC: Maisonneuve Press, 2005).
In 2005, a Gallup Poll discovered that almost 60 percent of Americans wished that the United States would remove its forces from Iraq; see Susan Page, “Poll: USA Is Losing Patience on Iraq,” USA TODAY, June 12, 2005. A December 2006 CNN poll indicated that nearly 70 percent of Americans “expressed opposition” to the Iraq War, and over 50 percent favored the withdrawal of U.S. troops within one year; see “CNN Poll: U.S. Support for Iraq War Falls to 31 Percent,” December 18, 2006, available at <http://www.cnn.com/POLITICS/blogs/politicalticker/2006/12/cnn-poll-us-support-for-iraq-war-falls.html>, accessed July 18, 2008. The Program on International Policy Attitudes, affiliated with the Center for International Security Studies at the University of Maryland, surveyed nearly 4,500 people in four Muslim countries from December 2006 to February 2007. An overwhelming majority want U.S. forces to withdraw from Muslim countries; see “Muslims Believe US Seeks to Undermine Islam: Majorities Want US Forces Out of Islamic Countries And Approve of Attacks on US Troops,” available at <http://www.worldpublicopinion.org/pipa/articles/home_page/346.php?nid=&id=&pnt=346&lb=hmpg2>, accessed July 18, 2008. Republican support for the war is also in decline as the conflict unfolds, see “Poll: GOP Support for Iraq War Beginning to Waver,” CNN.com, June 26, 2007, <http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/06/26/poll.iraq.schneider/index.html>, accessed August 5, 2007.
Johan Galtung, Transcend and Transform: An Introduction to Conflict Work (Boulder, CO: Paradigm, 2004), p. 59.
Ibid., p. 46.
Christian Appy, Patriots: The Vietnam War Remember from All Sides (New York: Penguin Books, 2003), pp. 152–153. Robert McNamara, In Retrospect: The Tragedy and Lessons of Vietnam (New York: Times Books, 1995), p. 216.
The phrase is Staughton Lynd’s in reference to a debate with Bayard Rustin in 1965. Lynd, “Coalition Politics or Nonviolent Revolution,” Liberation (June–July 1965), pp. 18–21.
For an assessment of the toll of the invasion on Iraqis, see Juan Cole, “9 US Troops Killed; 250,000 Civilians Dead in Bush’s War?” Informed Comment, January 10, 2008, available at <http://juancole.com>, February 15, 2008. Nir Rosen, “The Death of Iraq,” Current History (December 2007), pp. 409–413.
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© 2008 Carl Mirra
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Mirra, C. (2008). Introduction. In: Soldiers and Citizens. Palgrave Studies in Oral History. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230617223_1
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