Dayenu – It Would Have Been Enough

Dayenu – It Would Have Been Enough
by Jerome Grossman - 1998

If rich Virginia planter George Washington had merely made common cause
with the shopkeepers and rabble of Boston,
It would have been enough.

If he had only rallied the revolutionary colonists and suffered with them,
It would have been enough.

If he had only refused the temptations of an imperial presidency,
It would have been enough. Dayenu.



If impoverished Illinois lawyer Abraham Lincoln, born in Kentucky,
had merely made common cause with the slave blacks of the South,
It would have been enough.

If he had only fought to preserve the federal Union as a guarantor
of national cohesion and social justice,
It would have been enough.

If he had only inspired the American language with dignity and grace
and wit and brevity,
It would have been enough. Dayenu.



If New York aristocrat Franklin Delano Roosevelt had merely made
common cause with the ill-fed, ill-housed, ill-clothed,
It would have been enough.

If he had only protected the old, the widows, the orphans
with Social Security,
It would have been enough.

If he had only rescued the nation from the despair of the Depression,
It would have been enough.

If he had only resisted and defeated the nihilism of Fascism,
It would have been enough. Dayenu.

Four Presidents Withdrew U.S. Forces and Helped America

Four Presidents Withdrew U.S. Forces and Helped America
by Jerome Grossman

When George W. Bush was riding high, the conqueror of Saddam Hussein, the preemptor threatening to invade any country his intelligence apparatus tells him to, he had dreams of being honored on Mount Rushmore. The Iraqi resistance to the American military occupation has ended that fantasy.
Now is the time for the President to withdraw American forces in accordance with the dictum of General David Petraeus, commander of U.S. Military Forces in Iraq, “There is no military solution to a problem like that in Iraq, to the insurgency of Iraq. Military action is necessary to help improve security – but it is not sufficient.”
Withdrawal would save thousands of American and Iraqi lives but it is difficult for a superpower to admit defeat. But it has been done repeatedly by Presidents whose reputations have not suffered: President Dwight Eisenhower withdrew from Korea, recognizing a bloody stalemate; President Ronald Reagan withdrew from Lebanon after hundreds of U.S. marines were bombed to death; President Gerald Ford withdrew from Vietnam after 58,000 American soldiers died there; President Bill Clinton withdrew from Somalia after 19 American troops were killed there and one dragged through the streets of Mogadishu.
Was there chaos and conflict in these countries after U.S. forces left? Yes. But after the foreigners departed there was one less issue to fight about. Each country must solve its problems in accordance with its history and customs. Did relations with the U.S. improve? Most assuredly, and we are doing plenty of business with them. Withdrawal is the way to make friends and influence people of every background around the globe.

March 20th is the fourth anniversary of the U.S. attack on Iraq

After Four Years of War in Iraq
by Jerome Grossman

March 20th is the fourth anniversary of the U.S. attack on Iraq. Already one of the longest wars in U.S. history, with military victory unlikely if not impossible, the obvious question is, how long before we bring the troops home.
For possible guidance, examine the record of the Vietnam War. On October 15, 1969, the Vietnam Moratorium brought ten million Americans to rallies all over the country calling for an end to the war. It was the largest demonstration in history.
On Boston Common, Senator George McGovern addressed more than 100,000 roaring people who did not work that day to illustrate their seriousness. That evening I spoke to 10,000 who packed Roberts Auditorium at Boston College. As I started to speak, I could feel the anger of the crowd. They did not cheer my words, they roared their feelings. I held onto the lectern against the torrent of anger. At that moment I believed that there was no way the war could continue.
But it did – for four more deadly years, wasting precious American and Vietnamese lives and billions of dollars in a dishonorable futile display of hubris. Will the same process be repeated on Iraq?
It is easy for a superpower to go to war against a backward nation of 25 million people, but it is difficult to get out without losing prestige abroad and political power at home. Let that be the unfortunate lesson to our future presidents.

Complete and Immediate U.S. Withdrawal from Iraq

Complete and Immediate U.S. Withdrawal from Iraq
by Jerome Grossman

On March 16, the U.S. Senate rejected a Democratic resolution calling for the President to “commence the phased redeployment of United States forces from Iraq no later than 120 days after the date of the enactment of this joint resolution…” The vote was 48 to 50, divided mostly along party lines.
Especially noteworthy was the provision that all United States combat forces be redeployed except for a limited number essential for 1) Protecting United States and Coalition personnel and infrastructure, 2.) Training and equipping Iraq forces, and 3) Conducting targeted counter-terrorism operations.
These exceptions to complete withdrawal of U.S. forces are important. Right now there are about 160,000 U.S. troops in Iraq. How many will be required to fulfill the three exceptions and for how long? One estimate is 80,000 troops remaining and that may be too low if counter-terrorism operations are organized on a broad scale.
Protecting the vast U.S. embassy in the Green Zone, as large as a city, will require thousands of defenders. The U.S. trainers of Iraqi troops will be exposed to attach by insurgents and nationalists dedicated to changing the Iraq government and ending the American occupation. Reducing the U.S. garrison is likely to make the remainder more vulnerable to the attacks of those seeking revenge for prior wounds, killings, and Abu Graib.
Arab nationalists and religious Muslims are likely to be suspicious of a partial withdrawal, especially a withdrawal that leaves a puppet government in power and buttresses it with military support.
The opponents of the U.S. will not be reassured by the American record of previous foreign occupations. Significant numbers of U.S. troops have been in Germany since 1944, in Japan since 1945, in South Korea since 1953, in Bosnia since 1995. In addition, the U.S. has bases and troops in hundreds of other foreign places, and there are no plans for them to leave. Moreover, the leading Democratic candidates for President, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, have clearly stated that they will keep some G.I.s in Iraq to deter Al Qaeda and Iran.
If our country wishes to rebuild its reputation and the trust of other nations after the lies, misrepresentations and illegal acts in the invasion and occupation of Iraq, it must withdraw its forces immediately and completely. That will decrease the threat to America by reducing the number of those determined to exact revenge for our actions.