Accidental Blogger

When it comes to the disastrous Iraq war and its aftermath, Vice President Dick Cheney and perhaps Australian P.M. John Howard remain the last two aggressively optimistic voices among world leaders.  Even George Bush has admitted on a couple of occasions that things have not gone well in Iraq or that he is too well protected in his beautiful White House to know the real situation.  Cheney on the other hand, with his cold eyes and clenched jaw, stubbornly and shamelessly insists that nothing ever went wrong in Iraq, things are proceeding as planned and the US will not retreat dishonorably. Cheney’s unrelenting braggadocio is not shocking or even surprising any more. Although still dangerous, he is becoming a bit of a comical figure. On his recent trip to Japan, Cheney’s official schedule pointedly left out meetings with the Japanese cabinet ministers of Defence and Foreign Affairs who have respectively called starting the Iraq war a "mistake" and the current occupation "immature." But that did not put a damper on Cheney’s bluster.  He managed to put a winning spin on the upcoming troop withdrawal by Britain while promising US soldiers, “We want to complete the mission, we want to get it done right, and we want to return with honor.” 

TOKYO (Reuters) – Vice President Dick Cheney said on Wednesday the United States wants to finish its mission in Iraq and "return with honor", despite the war’s growing unpopularity at home and doubts among U.S. allies.

Cheney’s visit to Tokyo comes just weeks after Japan’s defense minister said starting the Iraq war was a mistake and its foreign minister called the U.S. occupation strategy "immature".

The remarks forced Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, whom Cheney meets later in Wednesday, to scurry to reassure Washington that Tokyo’s backing for U.S. policy in Iraq was unchanged.

But a survey released on Tuesday showed most Japanese voters agreed with Defense Minister Fumio Kyuma when he said President Bush was wrong to start the war.

In a speech delivered aboard the USS Kitty Hawk aircraft carrier at Yokosuka Navy Base near Tokyo, Cheny said: "We know that terrorist attacks are not caused by the use of strength, they are invited by the perception of weakness."

"We know that if we leave Iraq before the mission is completed, the enemy is going to come after us. And I want you to know that the American people will not support a policy of retreat," he added.

So divorced is Cheney from reality, that his delusional utterances and misguided grit reminded me of another war story, several decades old, of some hapless and clueless soldiers who continued fighting a war that had long ago ended in defeat for their side.

On December 17, 1944, the Japanese army sent a twenty-three year old soldier named Hiroo Onoda to the Philippines to join the Sugi Brigade. He was stationed on the small island of Lubang, approximately seventy-five miles southwest of Manila in the Philippines, and his orders were to lead the Lubang Garrison in guerrilla warfare.

As Onoda was departing to begin his mission, his division commander told him, "You are absolutely forbidden to die by your own hand. It may take three years, it may take five, but whatever happens, we’ll come back for you. Until then, so long as you have one soldier, you are to continue to lead him. You may have to live on coconuts. If that’s the case, live on coconuts! Under no circumstances are you to give up your life voluntarily." It turns out that Onoda was exceptionally good at following orders, and it would be 29 years before he finally laid down his arms and surrendered  ….

By the time he formally surrendered to Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos in 1974, Onoda had spent twenty nine of his fifty two years hiding in the jungle, fighting a war that had long been over for the rest of the world. He and his guerrilla soldiers had killed some thirty people unnecessarily, and wounded about a hundred others. But they had done so under the belief that they were at war, and consequently President Marcos granted him a full pardon for the crimes he had committed while in hiding.

Lieutenant Onoda and his cohorts continued fighting an imaginary war while they remained secluded in the remote jungle on an island, without the means to communicate with the outside world. What is Dick Cheney’s excuse?  Are his frequent retreats to mysterious "undisclosed locations" enough to explain his hollow words and bogus leadership?