In the current New Republic, Jonathan Chiat issues a big “my bad” on his support for Iraq. Not that he was wrong or anything. He just wasn’t right. But that doesn’t mean he was wrong!
As he says:
Given that things have not gone terribly well to date, a certain degree of humility is in order here.
Ya think? But not to worry, no humility from Mr. Chiat.
Here’s the piece (sub. req.). Let me summarize his key points.
Chiat sums it up nicely: “In retrospect, going to war to save the world from a nonexistent weapons program was an enormous mistake.”
What we need here is a nice metaphor. Something we can all relate to:
One way to think of it is to imagine a known murderer walking down a dark alley with his hand stuck inside his jacket. The police shout at him to put his hands up, yet he continues to walk toward them. After he ignores still more warnings, they shoot him dead, only to discover he was unarmed. Were they wrong to shoot him? Certainly they should not have shot him, but based on what they knew at the time, their decision was correct. It would be hard for those arguing to hold one’s fire to make a compelling case that their advice ought to be heeded in the future.
Here we have the Amadou Diallo theory of realpolitiks. To test this theory, let’s turn to Malcolm Gladwell’s current bestseller Blink, especially Chapter Six: “Seven Seconds in the Bronx: The Delicate Art of Mind Reading.”
On February 3, 1999, Diallo was hanging out in front of his building, looking suspicious. Four cops passed and stopped to check him out. Diallo responded badly and the four shot him, thinking he was pulling out a gun. The officers were acquitted of murder charges.
Gladwell goes into a lot of detail, but here’s the short version.
The officers observe Diallo’s behavior, but they misinterpret it. “…they couldn’t see him well, but right away they began to construct a system to explain his behavior.” They assume the only reason he didn’t submit was because he had a weapon. The officers get over-excited and stop thinking rationally. They don’t have time to stop and reason, so they react spontaneously. Diallo perhaps considers them a threat — white men, after midnight, in a neighborhood they don’t belong in — and first tries to escape back into his building and then starts to pull out his wallet. The first cops fire; the others think some of the gunfire is coming from Diallo’s non-existent gun. In a few seconds, 42 bullets are fired from four semi-automatic pistols.
Ignorance, overreaction, poor communication, faulty analysis… No, I was wrong. No parallels to Iraq at all. Carry on, Mr. Chiat!
Let the street shooting of unrepentant felons commence!
I mean, let the continued democratization commence!