![\"\"](\"http:\/\/consistent-life.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/2-blog-Iran.jpg\")
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Criticizing Suleimani?<\/h3>\n
One piece of anti-war commentary provoked by the Suleimani assassination disturbed me, however. The commentary was an unusually direct articulation of an unfortunate attitude I have encountered among a few critics of American foreign policy. Further, this attitude reflects a kind of partisanship that can be displayed by activists for other causes, as well.<\/p>\n
In his newsletter Nonzero, <\/em>journalist Robert Wright lamented certain media commentary on the Suleimani assassination. Wright, who opposed the assassination, wasn\u2019t concerned with pundits who supported the killing. His main complaint was that too many people, while criticizing the U.S. assassination, also engaged in criticism of Suleimani. Condemnation of Suleimani for having \u201cblood on his hands\u201d prompted Wright\u2019s concern<\/a>:<\/p>\n [P]eople who note the blood on Suleimani\u2019s hands go on to raise doubts about the wisdom of assassinating him. Condemning Suleimani seems to be a ritual that commentators and politicians must perform before condemning, or even questioning, the killing of Suleimani.<\/p>\n Thus: \u201cSuleimani was responsible for unthinkable violence and the world is better off without him. But\u2026\u201d (Rep. Adam Schiff). Or \u201cSuleimani was a terrible man who caused terrible violence in the world. But\u2026\u201d (Rep. Jerry Nadler)<\/p>\n Even a scathing critique of the assassination by Barbara Slavin of the Atlantic Council was objectionable to Wright:<\/p>\n Or this doozy of a first-paragraph disclaimer in a generally excellent New York Times<\/em> op-ed by Barbara Slavin: \u201cFew tears will be shed in many parts of the world for Maj. Gen. Qassim Suleimani, whose Quds Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps ruthlessly spread Iranian influence and contributed to the deaths of thousands of Syrians, Iraqis and Iranians, as well as hundreds of American servicemen in Iraq, over the past decade and a half. But\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n He goes on to say,<\/p>\n I think the compulsory recitation of his crimes has a big downside. Even when it precedes a critique of heedless American militarism, it can wind up reinforcing the narrative that sustains that militarism.<\/p>\n Wright points out, quite correctly, that the United States also has a great deal of blood on its hands and has committed more crimes than the Iranian regime has. He also makes the reasonable argument that the U.S. bears the larger share of blame for hostility between the two nations. Many of Iran\u2019s actions can be understood as attempts to protect themselves against the U.S.<\/p>\n Yet how is recognizing any of this incompatible with recognizing Suleimani or other Iranian officials\u2019 responsibility for violence or human rights violations?<\/p>\n Wright asserts that criticizing Suleimani fosters a simplistic view of Iranian leaders as evil:<\/p>\n [F]rom the point of view of warmongers, depicting a country\u2019s leaders [as evil and implacable] is a twofer: it makes violence against them seem justified, and it makes exploring their perspective\u2014an exercise that might undermine that justification\u2014unlikely\u2026<\/p>\n The various kinds of moral disclaimers that critics of Trump\u2019s killing of Suleimani engage in\u2014he has blood on his hands, but<\/em>; the world is better off without him, but<\/em>; the killing was morally justified, but<\/em>\u2014also, in some small way, help sustain the image of Iran that has brought us to the brink of war.<\/p>\n While much of Wright\u2019s analysis is well taken, his conclusion about the dangers of criticizing Suleimani strikes me as questionable. Wright isn\u2019t claiming such negative comments were false, that Suleimani was actually innocent of wrongdoing and didn\u2019t have blood on his hands. Within the same newsletter, he acknowledges (I think sincerely) \u201cThere\u2019s no denying that Suleimani does (or did) have a lot of blood on his hands. He is responsible for many deaths, including the deaths of innocent civilians.\u201d<\/p>\n His position seems to be (to put it in my own words) that condemning Suleimani will complicate the larger picture of American guilt for the conflict with Iran, and make it harder to empathize with the Iranians. So we shouldn\u2019t talk about Suleimani\u2019s misdeeds, even though they\u2019re real. Such talk apparently undermines opposition to assassination and war.<\/p>\n This seems misguided to me. Moreover, this misguided thinking isn\u2019t unique to Wright, although he is more matter-of-fact about it than other anti-war commentators. Self-identified \u201crogue journalist\u201d Caitlin Johnstone made essentially the same argument<\/a> as Wright, except with regard to Bashar Assad\u2019s Syria rather than Iran. Glenn Greenwald, a well-known critic of the American national security state, has also responded to criticism of human rights violations by anti-American regimes and groups by changing the subject, either emphasizing America\u2019s many crimes<\/a> or attacking his ideological opponents<\/a> for supposed hypocrisy.<\/p>\n To be sure, unqualified, passionately asserted claims have advantages. They\u2019re simple, forceful, and provocative. They attract attention, and can sometimes serve as effective rallying cries to action. The importance and urgency of a cause\u2014in this case, stopping a war\u2014seems to demand a firm, unequivocal stance that makes no concessions to the other side.<\/p>\n Also, in a political environment where everyone tends to express themselves this way, there\u2019s a strong incentive to follow suit. Facing aggressive advocates of hawkish American policies, anti-war advocates can easily be tempted also to go on the offensive, to bring up America\u2019s many crimes<\/a>, to accuse the hawks of hypocrisy<\/a>, and generally not to yield an inch. More qualified, measured statements tend to get drowned out or come across as wishy-washy.<\/p>\n Such uncomplicated rhetoric has two major flaws, however.<\/p>\n The first is that such rhetoric does little to convince those on the other side. In this case, I doubt a foreign policy hawk who supported the assassination, and perhaps outright war with Iran, would be moved to rethink that position by someone who refused to even acknowledge crimes by Suleimani or the Iranian regime.<\/p>\n Such a refusal\u2019s most likely effect would be to undermine the credibility of the anti-war advocate, who could come across as an apologist for the other country\u2019s regime. Or at least the anti-war advocate would seem unwilling to acknowledge information<\/a> that didn\u2019t clearly promote the anti-war cause.<\/p>\n Even someone who isn\u2019t a hawk, who\u2019s on the fence about assassination or other aggressive actions, might react skeptically if an anti-war advocate seemed to be ignoring inconvenient facts. (A more fruitful approach might be to point out the tremendous cost and disastrous long-term consequences<\/a> of escalated conflicts with Iran or other nations.)<\/p>\n By contrast, the kind of \u201cYes, but\u201d approach Wright objects to might actually get someone not already converted to the anti-war cause to listen. A \u201cYes, but\u201d approach establishes at least some common ground with the unconverted. It also shows the anti-war advocate is careful and reasonable enough to recognize complexity. Indeed, at one point in his commentary, Wright even acknowledges the rhetorical value of such recognition.<\/p>\n The second flaw with these kinds of unqualified claims is perhaps more abstract but no less significant. They take a toll on the person making them.<\/p>\n Deliberately ignoring qualifications, complexities, or facts because acknowledging them might somehow hurt your cause is a good way to undermine your own intellectual and moral integrity. Insisting on a simplistic, partisan view of an issue while dismissing inconvenient facts can become a habit, and a very bad one.<\/p>\n It\u2019s especially dangerous when the inconvenient facts being ignored are deaths or suffering that don\u2019t fit into the preferred partisan narrative.<\/p>\n Falling into this trap is a hazard for all activists, not just those opposed to war but those working on all the issues covered by the consistent life ethic. A commitment to that ethic should involve recognizing every person\u2019s shed blood, whoever\u2019s hands might have shed it.<\/p>\n ================================<\/p>\n For more of our posts from John Whitehead on foreign policy, see:<\/p>\n Rejecting Mass Murder: Looking Back on Hiroshima and Nagasaki<\/a><\/p>\n The Wages of War, Part 1: How Abortion Came to Japan<\/a><\/p>\n Wages of War, Part 2: How Forced Sterilization Came to Japan<\/a><\/p>\n Nuclear Disarmament as a Social Justice Issue<\/a><\/p>\n A War on the People: A Review of One Child Nation<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by John Whitehead The U.S. government\u2019s assassination of Iranian General Qasem Suleimani began the year 2020 with violence, and the possibility of more violence. The assassination, in retaliation for Suleimani\u2019s alleged involvement in attacks on U.S. personnel in Iraq (and supposedly to prevent further attacks), threatened to escalate into open war between the United States… <\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/consistent-life.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/2-blog-peace-sign.jpg\")
<\/p>\nThe Trap<\/h3>\n
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