When Might is Right.

In the Middle-Ages when Might was Right, if you lost a war, it meant that your enemy was more righteous and that you were morally wrong in the eyes of God. In other words, you deserved to lose if not death itself.

Today, a lot of Americans are changing their minds about the war in Iraq:

A comparison of Gallup polls shows a crucial change in opinion. In August 2003, 15 percent of Americans supported sending more troops to Iraq, 36 percent supported keeping troop levels the same, 32 percent wanted to withdraw some troops, and 14 percent wanted total withdrawal. Now, with the same questions posed, 13 percent favor sending more troops, 28 percent want the same levels, 23 percent want some withdrawn, and 33 percent want to withdraw all troops.

But that change is not brought about by the realization that the war was morally dubious at best or that the American people has been lied to [that there has been no weapon of mass destruction - and thus no threat to national security], no, that change is brought about by worries that the peace has not been won yet.
This is typical of the highly American pragmatic perspective that losers are wrong. In other words, people are only ready to question their national leader only once the perception is that the country may by losing (or at least not winning).

Despite the concerns for the future in Iraq, there is very little talk about the moral aspect of engaging a nation into a war on falses premises. There is a few articles here and there in the press or tentative questions on TV (CNN's 'Dead Wrong' is a good example), but the questions are ambivalent at best. They have to do with "intelligence failure" and not with this administration's failure which has taken virtually no responsibility whatsoever for its "mistakes".

In any case, the wake-up call for some Americans seems to come in too late. Pulling out too quickly and too soon might lead to further chaos. The responsible attitude is to secure Iraq before leaving, both physically and politically. It is a huge task but the Bush administration should have thought twice before getting the nation into this mess. It is sad that so many troops have to pay the price and it is one's hope that Cindy Sheehan's opposition will rally people who will at last hold the White House responsible for their actions.