"Politics of Blame" and other Iraq topics

The war in Iraq is the topic as three professors from the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs take part in the University of Wyoming Dept. of Sociology's Distinguished Colloquium on Thursday, Oct. 11, in Laramie.

Col. James Cook, Wilbur J. Scott and George R. Mastroianni will discuss "The Iraq War: Implications for Future Civil-Military Relations" from 4-6 p.m. in the College of Education auditorium. Donna Barnes, an associate professor of sociology at UW, will serve as moderator.

Cook, head of the academy's department of philosophy, will lead the panel "The Iraq War and the Revolt of the Generals." A professor of sociology at AFA, Scott will front a panel discussion on "The Experiences of Fort Carson's Soldiers in Iraq." Mastroianni, a professor of psychology at the academy, will lead a panel discussion titled "The All-Volunteer Force and the Politics of Blame: Aftermath of the Iraq War."

While it's encouraging to see this type of discussion in Wyoming about the Iraq war, it almost sounds like UW and the AFA profs are jumping the gun on the topic. The war isn't over, and won't be for the forseeable future. It's almost as if they want to get out in front of what's sure to follow war's aftermath: BLAME. Nobody wants a repeat of Vietnam, when vets (many of who were draftees) were blamed for the stupidity of their leaders: politicians and generals. But how can we not parcel some of the Iraq blame to the military? General Patreus just served as point man for Bush & Co. in front of Congress. It's one thing to be a terrific leader on the ground in Iraq, it's another thing to be the fall guy for the stooge-in-charge, George Bush.

As in all things, knowledge is key. Got to the colloquium and listen. It's co-sponsored by the UW departments of anthropology, communication and journalism, criminal justice, international studies and women's studies, Army ROTC, the Milward J. Simpson Fund, the Organization of Active Students Interested in Sociology (OASIS) and the Wyoming Survey Analysis Center (WYSAC).