19 Years Ago: Emergency Warning Against the US Invasion of Iraq

Note: I published this last year on Medium, which has since censored me for articles summarizing independent science and data from around the world on Ivermectin and natural immunity. I found a better home on Substack with CoronaWise, a respectful, transcendent, solutions-oriented space for deeper understanding & enlightenment about health and society.

With current events I am now creating this ConsciousPolitics for a solutions-oriented, social science and political psychological analysis of current events especially regarding issues of global violence, war, terrorism, nukes, enmity, conflict transformation and more.

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The March 19, 2003 US led invasion of Iraq was cataclysmic. When the bombing started, I cried, knowing that we were opening the gates of hell. In the months before I had done everything in my power to try to prevent it, but it was a done deal. I felt like I was watching Romeo and Juliet and trying to warn them not to take the poison.

My poster, Photo by Author, present at the very cold NYC rally others

I went on the radio. I brought colleagues from the University of Pennsylvania’s Solomon Asch Center for the Study of Ethnopolitical Conflict with me to lobby Senator Arlen Spector, in Philadelphia and in DC. Alas, to no avail.

I tried unsuccessfully to organize a press conference, including Dr. Phil Zimbardo, well known psychologist, then president of the American Psychological Association and retired Admiral Eugene Carroll, director of the Center for Defense Information, who sadly died at the time.

As a political intuitive, I predicted the 9/11/01 terrorist attacks. Though not knowledgeable about Al Qaeda, I could feel in my body how our aggressive policies would inevitably provoke desires for revenge. In asymmetric conflict dynamics, terrorism is the warfare of the weak.

The US led invasion of Iraq, is considered the blunder of the century. It blew up the Middle East, causing a cascade of death, destruction, trauma, displacements, refugees, environmentlal devastations and geopolitical upheavals… and more terrorism.

George W. Bush boasted that we had the terrorists on the run. We sure did. They morphed from a small, localized group to recruit, expand, splinter into many new groups, and evolve to become more clever, powerful and lethal. According to the law of opposites, our actions multiplied terrorism many times over. So much for the GWOT — Global War on Terror. It produced the war on the war on terror.

They can’t say we didn’t warn them. Below is a statement I wrote with Dr. Marc Pilisuk, my dear friend, colleague. We were co-chairs of the Committee on Global Violence and Security of Psychologists for Social Responsibility and the Society for the Study of Peace, Conflict and Violence, Division 48 of the American Psychological Association.

As consequences continue to reverberate 19 years later, what have we learned?

Here is the Op-Ed we wrote, 1/14/03
Emergency Statement — Our Professional Duty to Inform
Diane Perlman, PhD & Marc Pilisuk, PhD

We are psychologists and social scientists who have worked with trauma, fear, humiliation and violence, and who have studied the psychology of terrorism, conflict, enmity, domination, and creative ways of ending cycles of retaliation. As war preparations accelerate, we see evidence for a clear and present danger that can be prevented.

As psychotherapists, we are bound by an ethical code which states that if someone is dangerous to oneself or others, we are legally required to warn those in danger. Our duty to inform is mandated above all ethical considerations. We cannot remain silent in the face of avoidable danger.

In our professional opinion, the war now being planned is likely to trigger a
series of violent reactions which could spiral out of control and traumatize untold numbers of innocent civilians. Effects of trauma can be devastating and long-lasting, extending from individuals to families and to society. Transmitted from generation to generation, they perpetuate personal suffering and political conflicts. Surviving soldiers will suffer psychological and physical injuries and syndromes, guilt, depression, despair, increased suicide, crime and homelessness.

For billions, war will be experienced as an escalation of the hatred, terror
and evil that is brewing. It will likely provoke massive uprisings against Americans and allies as a retaliation — if and when President George W. Bush orders an attack. Threats, humiliation, and military buildup plant psychological time bombs, increasing terrorist recruitment, motivation and justification for further acts of terror. War is likely increase rather than decrease terrorism. We and our descendants may all be in harm’s way.

War planners, gripped by indignations and hidden geopolitical motivations, tend to be overconfident, exaggerating potential for success while downplaying negative consequences. They surround themselves with advisors who support their one-sided views, and ignore, dismiss or punish those who warn of dangers. They are surprised when events backfire catastrophically. Most negative unintended consequences, due to psychological ignorance, are predictable and inevitable if we go to war. History is filled with military blunders and unintended consequences.

The Bush administration and mainstream media present illogical, uninformed, and dishonest justifications for war that require a denial of facts, irrational beliefs, and disregard for human consequences. Exaggerated threats and stereotyped enemy images increase fear and tension in ways that can produce a self-fulfilling prophecy. Beliefs that military action is “necessary”, and that there are no better alternatives, ignore bodies of knowledge of tension reduction and conflict transformation.

The fantasy that US forces can simply take out Saddam and establish democracy without unleashing catastrophic reactions, is naive and unrealistic. We have been misled to believe war will prevent violence later. CIA officials, military leaders,and social scientists say the opposite is true. What is deceptively called a preemptive strike and preventive war is more accurately called a provocative strike. Our aggressive bullying style, tough talk, and domination produce unstable, dangerous conditions.

Gripped by our images of a dangerous, evil enemy, we are oblivious to the “mirror image of the enemy,” by which they see themselves as noble, just, and true, and see us as hostile, aggressive, and evil. Military action will confirm these images, inspire demonization of the US, and inflame passions for retaliation in “self-defense.” The way to be more secure is to make your enemy more secure. People are more dangerous when threatened and backed into a corner.

We live in a world with proliferating weapons of mass destruction and terrorism as a form of asymmetrical warfare. There is no amount of domination that cannot be turned against us. Possessing and boldly threatening to use nuclear weapons, we provoke proliferation by frightening other countries and terrorist groups into acquiring their own for deterrence and self-protection.

Strategies of war and counter-terrorism that attempt to physically eliminate
enemies, terrorists and “infrastructure” without addressing the underlying
psychological forces and root causes, provoke more clever terrorism and escalate cycles of retaliation. They cannot make us safer. There is no endgame

We are warning the public to see through the deception and manipulation of
emotions and beliefs in a “necessary” war. War is not a last resort. It is the worst resort. War is a failure of imagination. The current paradigm is not survivable.

We have enough knowledge and ability to devote significant resources to develop ways to replace war with effective methods, based in the social sciences, that understand the psychology of our enemies and can reduce tension, fear, and violence A few examples are setting up a council of wise elders, including Nobel Peace Prize winners, indicting Saddam to the International Criminal Court, working with allies, deploying the Global Nonviolent Peace force, citizen diplomacy, sending massive numbers of unarmed civilians, a Marshall plan, and other ideas to be explored by wise experts.

We must all do everything in our power to prevent a catastrophe. Americans have the capacity to use our great power in new ways, consistent with the true ideals of our country.

Diane Perlman, PhD & Marc Pilisuk, PhD. are licensed psychologists, political psychologists, and Co-chairs, Committee on Global Violence and Security, of the Society for the Study of Peace, Conflict and Violence, Division 48 of the American Psychological Association and Psychologists for Social Responsibility (for identification purposes.) Both have contributed chapters to The Psychology of Terrorism, Edited by Chris Stout, 2002

Diane Perlman, PhD
* Member, TRANSCEND Practitioner Peacebuilders Network
* Fellow, The Solomon Asch Center for the Study of Ethnopolitical Conflict
* Senior Fellow, Global Dialogue Institute
* Research Associate, the Citizens Panel on Ultimate Weapons at the Center on Violence and Human Survival.
* Liaison to Psychology community, Global Nonviolent Peace Force
* Founding member and Research Associate, The Transcending Trauma Project
* Speaker for Physicians for Social Responsibility in the 1980s and 1990s
* Media Task Force, Psychotherapists for Social Responsibility

Marc Pilisuk, PhD
* Professor Emeritus, University of California
* Faculty, Saybrook Graduate School and research Center
* Author of International Conflcit and Social Policy, The Healing Web: Social Networks and Human Survival
* Past President of the Society for the Study of Peace, Conflict and Violence, Division 48 of the American Psychological Association