Room for a View > Commentary
The Selling of the War on Iraq
by Todd Paul; Edited by Lorna Tychostup
Photos by Alan Pouge

There's nothing so instructional as watching a good huckster put one over. Right now, the American public is reaching into its wallet, about to buy the snake oil, the miracle soap, the water treatment and the calf-bound, gold-plated 13-volume limited-edition heirloom set handsomely mounted for display in your home or office.

Polls, speechwriters, spin doctors, and positioning have long been an accepted part of the political landscape. But a September 7 article in the New York Times underscored the fact that where Iraq is concerned, we're on the receiving end of a world-class hard-sell.

Titled "Special campaign in works to sell public on Iraq peril," the article, by Elizabeth Bumiller, began, "White House officials said Friday that the administration was following a meticulously planned marketing strategy to persuade the public, the Congress and the allies of the need to confront the threat from Saddam Hussein."

According to Bumiller, administration officials were at pains to explain that their "rollout of the strategy" had been carefully planned prior to Bush's August vacation, and "was not hastily concocted" despite Republican expressions of doubt, the appearance of "disarray," and contradictory statements on Iraq from the White House.

The message seemed to be, Don't worry: Things may seem chaotic, but you're still being skillfully manipulated. Trust us.

The article went on to detail the administration's strategy, from the selection of the September 11 speechmaking location ("the television camera angles were more spectacular from Ellis Island, where the Statue of Liberty will be seen aglow behind Bush") to the coercion of Congress ("the White House lobbying campaign on Capitol Hill would include not-so-subtle mentions of the regrets experienced by those lawmakers, like former Sen. Sam Nunn, who did not vote for the 1991 'use of force' resolution before the Persian Gulf War.... 'In the end, it will be difficult for someone to vote against it,' the administration official said.")

The entire selling campaign was being coordinated by White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card Jr., who explained the September rollout in terms Madison Avenue could understand. "From a marketing point of view," said Card, "you don't introduce new products in August."

Wait a minute. Setting aside the question of whether Saddam Hussein is a bad guy (he is), whether we had a hand in making him a bigger bad guy than he was before (we did), and whether we have the right/obligation/need to bomb his country (consult moral compass now), what does Card's statement tell us about our nation?

When did war become a "product"? When did the president become a salesman? And just when did we Americans change from citizens to consumers?

I can't prove it, but I think it was the elder President Bush, back in the late '80s, who first referred to "the consumers of this great nation" from the White House podium.

By the time Bush Jr. urged the people to spend, spend, spend in the wake of September 11, the habit was firmly ingrained.

In a September 23, 2001 Washington Post article, Robert Reich dubbed this phenomenon "market patriotism" and observed, "A growing chorus is telling Americans that one of the best ways to demonstrate that the nation won't be cowed by terrorism is to continue to buy shares of stock and retail goods.... The theory is that we demonstrate our resolve to the rest of the world by investing and consuming at least as much as we did before, preferably more. The terrorists tried to strike at the heart of American capitalism. We show that American capitalism is alive and well by giving it as much of our credit card as possible."

This strikes me as a pretty good description of the situation. Notice that Reich doesn't mention "American democracy." Nor did Bush and Cheney urge Americans to deepen their commitment to the democratic process following 9/11, for example by contacting their representatives or, God forbid, registering to vote. No, it was capitalism that was attacked, and a capitalist response was called for.

All of which leads me to the conclusion that capitalism, in its modern form, is essentially anti-democratic.

We have multi-national corporations bigger and more powerful than nations. We have international trade organizations that can overrule the will of sovereign states. Functions of our government-prisons, the military, police agencies, schools-are becoming increasingly privatized. Money, not ideas, wins elections.

The more citizens become consumers, the more war becomes a product, the more people die because of a sales pitch.

The most amazing part of this particular pitch is that everyone in the world knows we're going to war against Iraq, even though nobody really knows why.

What's the rationale? There's no link with al Qaeda. Iraq isn't threatening its neighbors. They've already agreed to U.N. weapons inspectors. In the list of unrelated actions 9/11 has been used to justify, war against Iraq ranks up there even above, for example, letting the FBI look into which library books you borrowed.

Yesterday, Bush asked Congress for unlimited authority to take any and all actions against Iraq without further consultation or approval, and regardless of what transpires between Iraq and the U.N.
In fact, the wording would allow Bush to wage war throughout the entire Persian Gulf region (this is just to give Congress something to say "no" to; Bush knows once the war starts, he will have whatever authority he needs to expand it).

In a breathtaking flight of doublespeak, Bush told reporters, "I don't trust Iraq, and neither should the free world.... I've asked for Congress's support to enable the administration to keep the peace."

Bush intends to wage laser-guided peace on Iraq this fall and winter. That leaves just enough time for Congress to stage a debate, disagree on the fine points, sling some campaign-year rhetoric and line up behind the war.

And just enough time for American consumers to put away their credit cards, turn off the Shopping Channel, call their representatives in Congress, and start acting like citizens again.