The "Obama Doctrine": Eternal War For Imperfect = Mankind

President and = commander-in-chief of=20 the armed forces of the United States = Barack Obama=20 delivered his Nobel Peace Prize acceptance = address=20 in Oslo on December 10, which has = immediately led=20 to media discussion of an Obama=20 Doctrine.

With obligatory = references to=20 Martin Luther King, Jr. and Mohandas = Gandhi (the=20 second referred to only by his surname) = but to no=20 other American presidents than Ronald = Reagan,=20 Richard Nixon and John F. Kennedy - fellow = peace=20 prize recipients Theodore Roosevelt, = Woodrow=20 Wilson and Jimmy Carter weren't mentioned = - the=20 U.S. head of state spoke with the = self-assurance=20 of the leader of the world's first = uncontested=20 superpower and at times with the=20 self-righteousness of a would-be prophet = and=20 clairvoyant. And, in the words of German=20 philosopher Friedrich von Schlegel, a = prophet=20 looking backward.

Accompanied by = visionary=20 gaze and cadenced, oratorical solemnity, = his=20 comments included the assertion that "War, = in one=20 form or another, appeared with the first = man."=20 Unless this unsubstantiated claim was an = allusion=20 to the account in the Book of Genesis in = the=20 Hebrew Bible of Cain murdering his brother = Abel,=20 which would hardly constitute war in any=20 intelligible meaning of the word (nor was = Cain the=20 first man according to that source), it is = unclear=20 where Obama acquired the conviction that = war is=20 coeval with and presumably an integral = part of=20 humanity.

Paleontologists generally = trace=20 the arrival of modern man, homo sapiens, = back=20 200,000 years, yet the first authenticated = written=20 histories are barely 2,400 years old. How = Obama=20 and his speechwriters filled in the = 197,600-year=20 gap to prove that the practice of war is = as old as=20 mankind and implicitly inseparable from = the human=20 condition is a question an enterprising = reporter=20 might venture to ask at the next = presidential=20 press conference.

Perhaps delusions = of=20 omniscience is the answer. The Oslo speech = is=20 replete with references to and = appropriations of=20 the attributes of divinity. And to = historical and=20 anthropological fatalism; a deeply = pessimistic=20 concept of Providence.

Obama = affirmed that=20 "no Holy War can ever be a just war. For = if you=20 truly believe that you are carrying out = divine=20 will, then there is no need for = restraint." Then=20 shortly afterward stated "Let us reach for = the=20 world that ought to be - that spark of the = divine=20 that still stirs within each of our = souls." An=20 adversary's invocation of the divine is = false,=20 heretical, sacrilegious; Washington's is = true,=20 unerring, sufficient to justify any = action,=20 however violent and deadly. As = unadulterated an=20 illustration of secular Manicheaism as can = be=20 found in the modern world.

Toward = the=20 beginning of his speech the first standing = American president in ninety years to = receive the=20 Peace Prize acknowledged that "perhaps the = most=20 profound issue surrounding my receipt of = this=20 prize is the fact that I am the = Commander-in-Chief=20 of the military of a nation in the midst = of two=20 wars."

Understandably he exerted no = effort=20 to justify one of the two wars in = question, that=20 in Iraq, but endorsed and pledged the = continuation=20 of the other, that in Afghanistan and = increasingly=20 Pakistan - while elsewhere speaking = disparagingly=20 of the European Crusades of the later = Middle=20 Ages.

Neither the Nobel Committee = nor its=20 honoree seemed inordinately if at all = concerned by=20 the unprecedented awarding of the = prestigious and=20 generous ($1.4 million) Peace Prize to a=20 commander-in-chief in charge of two = simultaneous=20 wars far from his nation's shores and in = countries=20 whose governments and peoples never = threatened it=20 in any manner.

In language that = never=20 before was heard during a peace prize = acceptance=20 speech, Obama added "we are at war, and = I'm=20 responsible for the deployment of = thousands of=20 young Americans to battle in a distant = land. Some=20 will kill, and some will be = killed."

With=20 not a scintilla of national = self-awareness,=20 balance or irony, he also derided the fact = that=20 "modern technology allows a few small men = with=20 outsized rage to murder innocents on a = horrific=20 scale," as he orders unmanned aerial = vehicles=20 (drones) linked by space satellites to = launch=20 deadly missile attacks in Afghanistan and=20 Pakistan.

The central themes of = Obama's=20 speech are reiterations of standing U.S. = policy=20 going back over a decade with the waging = of war=20 against Yugoslavia in early 1999 without = United=20 Nations authorization or even a nominal = attempt to=20 obtain one; that the U.S. and its Western = military=20 allies can decide individually and = collectively=20 when, to what degree, where and for what = purpose=20 to use military force anywhere in the = world. And=20 the prerogative to employ military force = outside=20 national borders is reserved exclusively = for the=20 United States, its fellow NATO members and = select=20 military clients outside the Euro-Atlantic = zone=20 such as Colombia, Ethiopia, Georgia, = Israel and=20 Saudi Arabia of late.

What is = arguably unique in Obama's address is the=20 bluntness with which it reaffirmed this = doctrine=20 of international lawlessness. Excerpts = along this=20 line, shorn of ingenuous qualifications = and=20 decorative camouflage, include:

"We = must=20 begin by acknowledging the hard truth: We = will not=20 eradicate violent conflict in our = lifetimes. There=20 will be times when nations - acting = individually=20 or in concert - will find the use of force = not=20 only necessary but morally = justified."

He=20 offered a summary of the just war argument = that a=20 White House researcher could have cribbed = from=20 Wikipedia.

"[A]s a head of state = sworn to=20 protect and defend my nation, I cannot be = guided=20 by their [Gandhi's and King's] examples = alone. I=20 face the world as it is, and cannot stand = idle in=20 the face of threats to the American = people. For=20 make no mistake: Evil does exist in the=20 world."

"I - like any head of state = -=20 reserve the right to act unilaterally if = necessary=20 to defend my nation."

Evil, as a = noun=20 rather than an adjective, is used twice in = the=20 speech, emblematic of a quasi-theological = tone=20 alternating with coldly and even callously = pragmatic = pronouncements.

Indicative of the=20 second category are comments like=20 these:

"[T]he instruments of war do = have a=20 role to play in preserving the = peace."

"A=20 non-violent movement could not have halted = Hitler's armies. Negotiations cannot = convince al=20 Qaeda's leaders to lay down their arms. To = say=20 that force may sometimes be necessary is = not a=20 call to cynicism....

"I raise this = point, I=20 begin with this point because in many = countries=20 there is a deep ambivalence about military = action=20 today, no matter what the cause. And at = times,=20 this is joined by a reflexive suspicion of = America, the world's sole military=20 superpower."

Comparing a small = handful of=20 al-Qaeda personnel to Hitler's Wehrmacht = is=20 unconscionable. Whatever else the former = are, they=20 barely have arms to lay down. But Obama = does, the=20 world's largest and most deadly = conventional and=20 nuclear arsenal.

His playing the = trump card=20 of Nazi Germany is not only an act of = rhetorical=20 recklessness, it is historically = unjustified.=20 There would have been no need to confront = the=20 Third Reich's legions if timely diplomatic = actions=20 had been taken when Hitler sent troops = into the=20 Rhineland in 1936; if Britain and France = had not=20 collaborated with Hitler's Germany and = Mussolini's=20 Italy to enforce the naval blockade of = Republican=20 Spain while German aircraft devastated = Guernica=20 and other towns and German and Italian = troops=20 poured into the country by the tens of = thousands=20 in support of Generalissimo Franco's = uprising. If,=20 finally, Britain, France, Germany and = Italy had=20 not met in Munich in 1938 to sacrifice=20 Czechoslovakia's Sudetenland to Hitler to=20 encourage his murderous drive to the east. = The=20 same four nations met 70 years later, last = year,=20 to reprise the Munich betrayal by = engineering the=20 secession of Kosovo from Serbia, to = demonstrate=20 how much had been learned in=20 the
interim.

As to the = accusation=20 that many nations bear an alleged "deep=20 ambivalence about military action" and = even more=20 so "a reflexive suspicion of America, the = world's=20 sole military superpower," it bespeaks = alike=20 arrogance, sanctimony, and an absolute=20 imperviousness to the reality of American = foreign=20 policy now and in the recent and not so = recent=20 past. According to this imperial "sole = military=20 superpower" perspective, the White House = and the=20 Pentagon can never be wrong. Not even = partially,=20 unavoidably or unintentionally.

If = others=20 find fault with anything the world's only = military=20 juggernaut does, it is a reflection of = their own=20 misguided pacifism and ingrained, = pathological=20 "anti-Americanism." Perhaps this = constitutes the=20 aforementioned "threats to the American = people,"=20 as there aren't any others in Afghanistan = or in=20 the world as a whole that were = convincingly=20 identified in the speech.

What may = be the=20 most noteworthy - and disturbing - line in = the=20 address is what Obama characterised as the = "recognition of history; the imperfections = of man=20 and the limits of reason." Lest this = observation=20 be construed as an example of personal or = national=20 humility, other - grandiose Americocentric = -=20 comments surrounding it leave no doubt = that the=20 inadequacies in question are only applied = to=20 others.

One would search in vain = for a=20 comparable utterance by another American = head of=20 state. For a nation that prides itself on = being=20 the first one founded on the principles of = the=20 18th century Enlightenment and the = previous=20 century's Age of Reason, that its leader = would lay=20 stress on inherent and ineradicable human = frailty=20 and at least by implication on some truth = that is=20 apart from and superior to reason is = nothing less=20 than alarming. The door is left open to=20 irrationalism and its correlates, that the = ultimate right can be might and that there = are=20 national imperatives beyond good and=20 evil.

And if people are by nature = flawed=20 and their reasoning correspondingly = impaired, then=20 for humanity, "Born but to die and = reasoning but=20 to err" (Alexander Pope), war may indeed = be its=20 birthright and violent conflicts will not = be=20 eradicated in its lifetime. War, which = came into=20 existence with mankind, will last as long = as it=20 does. They may both end, as Obama believes = they=20 originated, simultaneously.

How the = leader=20 of the West, both the nation and the = individual,=20 has arrived at this bleak and = deterministic=20 impasse was also mentioned in Obama's = speech in=20 reference to pivotal post-Cold War events = that=20 have defined this new century.

It = is only a=20 single step from:

"I believe that = force can=20 be justified on humanitarian grounds, as = it was in=20 the Balkans, or in other places that have = been=20 scarred by war. Inaction tears at our = conscience=20 and can lead to more costly intervention = later.=20 That's why all responsible nations must = embrace=20 the role that militaries with a clear = mandate can=20 play to keep the = peace."

To:

"The=20 belief that peace is desirable is rarely = enough to=20 achieve it. Peace requires responsibility. = Peace=20 entails sacrifice. That's why NATO = continues to be=20 indispensable."

In proclaiming = these and=20 similar sentiments, Obama made reference = to his=20 host country in alluding to the war in=20 Afghanistan: "[W]e are joined by 42 other=20 countries - including Norway - in an = effort to=20 defend ourselves and all nations from = further=20 attacks."

Again, threats are = magnified to=20 inflated and even universal dimensions. = All=20 nations on the planet are threatened and = some of=20 them - 43 NATO states and partners - are = fending=20 off the barbarians at the gates. It is = difficult=20 to distinguish the new Obama Doctrine from = the=20 preceding Blair and Bush ones except in = regard to=20 its intended scope.

It is a mission = outside=20 of time, space and constraints. "The = United States=20 of America has helped underwrite global = security=20 for more than six decades with the blood = of our=20 citizens and the strength of our = arms....America's=20 commitment to global security will never = waver.=20 But in a world in which threats are more = diffuse,=20 and missions more complex, America cannot = act=20 alone. America alone cannot secure the = peace. This=20 is true in Afghanistan. This is true in = failed=20 states like Somalia....And sadly, it will = continue=20 to be true in unstable regions for years = to=20 come.

"The leaders and soldiers of = NATO=20 countries, and other friends and allies,=20 demonstrate this truth through the = capacity and=20 courage they've shown in = Afghanistan."

The=20 U.S. president adduced other nations - by = name -=20 that present threats to America and its = values,=20 its allies and the world as a whole in = addition to=20 Afghanistan and Somalia, which are Iran, = Myanmar,=20 North Korea, Sudan and Zimbabwe. All five = were=20 either on George W. Bush's post-September = 11 list=20 of state sponsors of terrorism or on = Condoleezza=20 Rice's later roster of "outposts of = tyranny" or=20 both.

Hopes that the policies of = Obama's=20 predecessor were somehow outside of the = historical=20 continuum, solely related to the aftermath = of=20 September 11, 2001, have been dashed. The = rapidly=20 escalating war in South Asia is proof = enough of=20 that lamentable fact. War is not a = Biblical=20 suspension of ethics but the foundation of = national = policy.

In his=20 novel La B=EAte Humaine (The Human Beast) = Emile Zola=20 interwove images of a French crowd = clamoring for a=20 disastrous war with Prussia ("A Berlin!") = and a=20 locomotive heading at full steam down the = track=20 without an engineer. Obama's speech in = Oslo=20 indicates that America remains bent on = rushing=20 headlong to war even after a change of = engineers.=20 Veteran warhawks Robert Gates, James = Jones,=20 Richard Holbrooke, David Petraeus and = Stanley=20 McChrystal have stoked the furnace for a = long=20 run.

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