Winter 2008

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deologies seldom serve the purposes their creators intended. Fanatics shear off the nuances of ideas and drive the jagged points into their enemies. Ordinary politicians turn the sharp edges into anodyne talking points to soothe the ordinary voter. Over time, the original meaning of a creed gets distorted, reversed, or forgotten. But if it speaks to a powerful desire of those in power, the ideology endures, even flourishes, albeit under a different name.

So it is with the big ideas that, together with the phantom threat of Saddam Hussein’s weapons of mass destruction, motivated the United States to invade and occupy Iraq. In March 2003, Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz promised the Veterans of Foreign Wars that the imminent conflict “would be like wars that you’ve fought in, a war of liberation, a war to secure peace and freedom not only for ourselves, but for the Iraqi people who have suffered so long under one of the world’s most brutal tyrannies.” Two years later, George W. Bush declared, “Across the generations, we have proclaimed the imperative of self-government, because no one is fit to be a master, and no one deserves to be a slave.” The president continued, “All who live in tyranny and hopelessness can know the United States will not ignore your oppression, or excuse your oppressors. When you stand for liberty, we will stand with you."
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