While watching a recent news report, I heard a phrase we Americans last heard in 2003 during George Bush’s presidency: “Shock and awe.”

That “shock and awe” campaign was designed to use overwhelming U.S. military force to quickly crush Sadam Hussein’s army and the Iraqi government. And it succeeded in less than a month. It was a “missionary operation,” justified by a false narrative that Hussein was using chemical weapons on his own people.

But the administration didn’t have much of a plan for what came next. There was a naïve assumption that by holding elections, democracy would flourish. Instead, factionalism ensued. The chaos enabled the rise of ISIS, and it engendered brutality in the U.S. response: think Abu Ghraib, “black holes,” and Guantanamo — all indelible stains on America’s record.

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But Trump’s “shock and awe” campaign is not aimed at a foreign country. It’s aimed at us. And a nebulous “enemy within.” The idea is to overwhelm the public, the press, civil society, and our system of government with a flurry of executive orders in the first days of his administration.

We don’t know exactly what will ensue. But as we watch how the Trump administration treats our country's immigrants, minorities, and dissidents, we should keep in mind the brutality of the Bush Era campaign's treatment of Iraqi citizens. And we cannot afford to turn a blind eye to how Trump's stated policies appear designed to further enrich the rich and impoverish the poor.

A major lesson of the Iraq War was that for democracy to flourish it must be embraced by the people, not imposed from without. In these early days of Trump II, we must be vigilant and stand up to threats to our democratic institutions and processes.

Shock and awe … God help us all.

James Dana

Grand Haven