In reaction to a horrible attack on the World Trade Center
towers and the Pentagon,
United States President George W. Bush
has proclaimed what amounts to an overt
and covert war against
any and all "terrorists" he considers enemies of the
United States.
He has also included as enemies in this war any
person, group or government
that "harbors" such terrorists.
As if that was not enough, he has furthermore announced that everyone
in the world
must choose either to support the United States in
this war against terrorists
or be considered hostile by his regime.
Noam Chomsky has noted that not even the Nazis went that far.
Bush, in his inability to negotiate and his lack of flexibility
and tolerance,
sees the world in black and white with no middle
ground.
Although Bush may have much military power under his command,
he is not God and cannot exclude a third alternative;
neither
is he competent nor authorized to be the judge and jury of terrorists.
The nature of his misguided foreign policy was clearly indicated
when he chose
as his chief diplomat General Colin Powell, who
is publicly known
for his doctrine that employs the "use
of overwhelming force."
As a peace-loving person, I do not support any terrorists.
That
means I do not support government terrorism either,
whether it
be by "rogue states" or a super-power that acts like
a rogue state.
Thus I cannot support Bush's war against everyone
in the world
who will not take his side for which he has even
used the misguided word "crusade."
Perhaps the closest
analogy to the campaign Bush is launching
is the Gulf of Tonkin
resolution that President Lyndon Johnson passed
through the U.
S. Congress in August 1964.
That misguided escalation led to a
horrible and useless war
that killed more than a million Vietnamese
and ended with American defeat in 1975.
Since the United States
has been bombing Iraq for
ten years,
has recently bombed a Sudan pharmaceutical factory,
Afghanistan camps originally set up by the CIA, and Yugoslavia's
infrastructure,
and provides the weapons by which Israel attacks
Palestinians,
this proclamation by Bush must also be considered
an escalation of on-going conflicts into a larger war.
Ironically this war also has been stimulated and justified by
demonizing an enemy
(Osama bin Laden), who in fact was previously
supported by the United States
CIA (Central Intelligence Agency)
in the American-financed wa
against the Soviet Union in Afghanistan.
This continues the pattern of atrocities, just as the U. S. CIA
supported Manuel Noriega
before going to war against him and Panama.
How many Americans recall or are aware that hundreds of innocent
Panamanians
were buried in mass graves in the war crimes perpetrated
by President George Herbert Walker Bush?
Bush Sr. also demonized
Iraq's Saddam Hussein after he had been supported
by United States
weaponry and aid in Iraq's war against Iran,
during which even
chemical weapons were used against the Kurd minority.
The United
States has a disastrous record of helping to create Frankenstein
monsters
and then later rousing the people to go to war against
them.
Bush's war against everyone in the world who does not agree with
him is doomed to defeat.
How long it will last and how many people
will be killed will depend on how long it takes
for the American
people to realize it is folly and act to change the policy of
their government.
The solution to terrorism is not military interventions
that are and cause more terror
but the peaceful resolution of
conflicts, protection of all human rights,
and compassionate concern
for the welfare of all.
In the dialect of history this misguided
war may even accelerate the world
toward its climactic struggle,
which will be between those who use violence
and those who courageously
stand up for nonviolent and judicial solutions to human conflicts.
Every person is free to decide to choose the peaceful alternative
that insists
on true justice under universal laws that are fair
for everyone,
not what is dictated by any one group, religion,
ideology, nation,
or alliance of nations through the use of military
power.
As individuals we can support those politicians who have the courage
not to go along with the current war fever.
We can refrain from
paying taxes to support this misguided war.
We can communicate
with others to encourage them to join the third option of peace
with justice that sooner or later will include all nations and
peoples in the world.
The current war psychosis that has pervaded
the mass media and U. S. society
will not be easy to heal and
may take a long time and more hard experiences
with foolish violence
before most people learn the needed lessons.
Those of us with
clear heads and open hearts to the pain of all,
not just to that
of our fellow citizens, have a great responsibility
to be beacon
lights of hope for a better world based on love and justice,
not
violence backed by the power of wealth.
We can pray for peace
with good will to all.
Let us also stand up and speak out for
the way of love.
This has been published in the book PEACE OR BUST.
For ordering information, please click here.