Abstract

Many Peaces, One War

The author discusses the views of the grass-roots organizations that oppose the occupation of Iraq, and considers what impact their differences in opinion could have on the movement as a whole. Iraq lies in ruin, the US military occupation is generating a sustained guerrilla resistance, crime is rampant in Baghdad and an Iraqi civil war along ethnic and religious lines is a real possibility. Against this background, the American peace movement--a diverse collection of dissenters that includes pragmatic conservatives, concerned moderates, frustrated military families, Arab-Americans, anarchists, peaceniks and more--is attempting to come up with demands and strategies that are both radical and realistic, that both challenge the Bush Administration and unite the opposition, which plans to descend on Washington for a mass demonstration on October 25. It's no small task. The central point of contention is whether the United States should quit Iraq completely and at all costs or hand off the occupation (which is really a counterinsurgency war) to some sort of international/United Nations security force, with Or without US participation. In light of these splits, what is most impressive is that the movement has managed to maintain as much tactical, strategic and ideological coherence as it has. The main goal for the left now is to articulate a counternarrative that casts Iraq as an expensive and illegal war that breeds terrorism.