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"The Way of the Warrior" and the Iraq war

Eddie Roth

Commodore
Commodore
Seeing The Way of the Warrior again after many years, I suddenly find an aspect to it that I didn't (and couldn't) see before. It's well known that Star Trek has always liked to tell stories as commentary on real life social and political events. But it seems in this case, DS9 prefigured a political development that was yet to come: The Iraq War.

After all, the episode revolves around the Klingon leader using the nebulous threat of the Dominion to invade Cardassia, based on skimpy evidence of a coup d'état there. Fearing involvement of the Dominion - and secretly desiring to increase the Klingons' base of power - he goes against the wishes of the galactic community and begins a war that severely damages the relationship between the Empire and the rest of the galaxy. Ultimately Sisko convinces Gowron that the war against Cardassia plays directly into Dominion plans to destabilize the Alpha Quadrant.

Isn't this somewhat similar to what happened in the months before the Iraq invasion? President Bush trying to assemble his coalition, seeking approval for his invasion plans, but running into skepticism especially from the EU, whose member states mostly warned that attacking Iraq would destabilize the region so much that al-Qaida would have a great opportunity to solidify its influence there - whereas the justification given for the war was the opposite: al-Qaida, according to Bush, was already there and working with the Saddam regime... which was of course, like in the DS9 version, proven to be untrue.

I know I'm reaching here, but aren't the parallels interesting? What do you think about "The Gowron doctrine"? Did he act out of genuine concern about the influence of an undetectable enemy or was it all a ploy to regain imperial stature? How about Bush?

And is Worf the Colin Powell in this, the one who, after some hesitation, goes against his own people because he doesn't believe they were justified?
 
It's been pointed out before in this forum.

There are some parallels but preemptive strikes and how they make other military powers feel isn't a startlingly original idea. Any type of significant military deployment makes others wary, its human nature.

There is no doubt that Gowron cared little about whether or not the claims of Changeling influence in the coup were real or not. He used the reason as a way to get the empire to war to silence the voices that the empire had gone soft and maybe also to bathe his leadership in a crowning glory, Gowron - the chancellor that conquered Cardassia.

However an additional interesting fact is that we don't know that the Klingons were in fact incorrect with their claims. Sure the Defiant didn't find any Founders when they got the Council but a day or so before they also failed to discover that Martok was a changeling! That puts Sisko's claim that there was no Founder interference on shaky grounds. There is also the fact that the Founders didn't need to be a member of the council on that ship. They could have been other conspirators in the coup, lesser council members, assistants or members of the dissadent movement.

I know at the time they hadn't made the decision to make Martok a Founder but by doing so they also throw any testing done at the same time into doubt. The fact is that the Klingons might have been completely correct and the Detapa Council was oozing with Founders and their invasion was "justified".
 
^ I don't think so, the founder was on Qu'nos turning the Klingon Empire into an Agency of Chaos.
The collapse of the Order provided the Dissident movement with a key opportunity to overthrow the dictatorship of the Central Command and change the social nature of the Cardassian Union. We don't know exactly what happened during this revolution but it is my understanding that this was a purely internal affair that the KE and the Founders took advantage of.
 
However an additional interesting fact is that we don't know that the Klingons were in fact incorrect with their claims. Sure the Defiant didn't find any Founders when they got the Council but a day or so before they also failed to discover that Martok was a changeling! That puts Sisko's claim that there was no Founder interference on shaky grounds. There is also the fact that the Founders didn't need to be a member of the council on that ship. They could have been other conspirators in the coup, lesser council members, assistants or members of the dissadent movement.

I know at the time they hadn't made the decision to make Martok a Founder but by doing so they also throw any testing done at the same time into doubt. The fact is that the Klingons might have been completely correct and the Detapa Council was oozing with Founders and their invasion was "justified".

I don't think the Klingons were right in attacking Cardassia, as the Cardassians went through some sort of internal political change, possibly due to the loss of the Obsidian Order/Tal Shiar fleet in 'The Die Is Cast'. With all of the raging Founder paranoia at the end of season 3, the Klingons felt jittery about the Cardassians and decided to do something about it, that in turn led to conflict between them and the Federation.

This is what the Founders wanted - conflict amongst the two strongest Alpha Quadrant powers left to divert attention away from them. Of course, the irony in all of this is that the Klingon attack was the major event that pushed the Cardassians into joining the Dominion.

Anyway, in response to the OP, I completely agree. I rewatched the series last year and as it was the first time I'd seen 'Way of the Warrior' in a few years, I too noticed parallels with some of the events leading up to the Iraq war. The Klingons attacking the Cardassians with no proof in particular was the best one, especially when it turned out that Cardassia hadn't been invaded.

I just smiled. It's good that DS9 can continue to be relevant 10 years after it went off air. It helps that particular problems like Iraq tend to happen time and time again throughout history so that the episode can be allegory for many similar events.
 
The previous Pope's condemnation of the Iraq War made me think immediately of, reminded me of, Emperor Kahless's condemnation of the "Klingons" invasion of, & war with, the Cardassians in TWOTW.
 
Not.this.shit.again.jpg
 
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