Promoting Peace and Prosperity instead of War and Austerity
Military Madness, Bombs for Peace and House Parties for War
You are no doubt aware of our leaders’ threats to go to war with Syria and/or Iran and/or Pakistan and/or whoever else gets in the way of the spread of our brand of corporate Democracy. President Obama recently stated that he would call for military action to prevent Iran from securing a nuclear weapon. At the same time, he warned Israel to refrain from "loose talk of war" and allow “crippling sanctions" to work. Apparently we are the only ones allowed to engage in loose talk of war. Meanwhile SOS Clinton has been talking loosely about war with Syria. After having won the wars against Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya, the question now is which country should we attack next? There are so many to choose from.
In the past 10 years, while looking for those ever illusive weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and elsewhere, we have already killed more than one million people, 80% of them innocent women and children. We have also wasted, I mean invested, more than $4 trillion destroying the infrastructure of other countries. This is money that could have been spent rebuilding the economy here in America. But perhaps these weapons of mass destruction never were in Iraq. Maybe they were in Syria or Iran! Could it be that we have been attacking the wrong counties?
At the end of March, Hillary Clinton met with the Saudi King Abdullah Shake Got Lottsa Oil, who is so well liked in his own country that he just bought $60 billion in US bombs, missiles, helicopters and fighter jets… which I am sure are only intended to keep his people happy. We do not know for sure what was discussed at this meeting. But ten minutes after the meeting, Clinton advocated for providing more cash and weapons for the rebels in Syria. United Nations ramble rouser, Kofi Annan, protested that this new US policy of intervention in Syria would be “disastrous.” But what does he know? Besides whether we go to war with Syria is really none of his business. The UN should stop meddling and interfering in the right of nations to make their own decisions.
What else can we as a nation do?
We have tried diplomacy. We have negotiated with the Syrian government and the Iranian government for weeks. They refuse to agree to all of our demands. Apparently, they stubbornly do not want to yield power to the rebels. We have tried sanctions against Syria and Iran, depriving them of food and medical supplies. This did not work either. As with our sanctions against Iraq, all that has happened is that thousands of children have starved to death due to a lack of food. Clearly starving children by the thousands is not an effective long term foreign policy. So what other options do we have besides bombing them into submission? If the choice is between starving their children or bombing them, isn’t better to just go ahead and bomb them and get it over with?
There are some who claim we should mind our own business. These shortsighted peace lovers fail to see that what happens in Syria and Iran is our business. At the very least, it is the business of US corporations like Exxon. Our Supreme Court has stated that corporations are people. Corporations also currently run our government. Therefore harming Exxon is harming a real United States person and harming the US government.
Our mission is not merely to have gerrymandering and corporations buying elections in America, but to export our form of corporate powered Democracy all over the world. Look at how well Democracy is floundering, I mean flourishing in Iraq, Libya and Syria. These are all shining examples of what can happen when the American people are duped into spend a few trillion dollars on bombs and missiles. There is a rumor that Syria (or maybe Iran) might have weapons of mass destruction. If they do not yet have them now, it is only a matter of time until they get them or figure out how to make them. We really need to attack them before they attack us. So in attacking them, we are really merely defending ourselves. Kind of like what happened with Travon Martin - only on a global scale.
It is up to the Syria government and Iranian government to stop attacking their own people. If they do not stop these attacks, then we will be forced to attack their people for them. Only when everyone in the world has been bombed into submission, will the entire world finally be safe for Goldman Sachs financial exploitation, I mean safe for American style Democracy.
The Danger of Not Attacking Other Countries
We should also look at what happens if we do not intervene. If we do not bring in our style of Democracy, there is a danger the people themselves will vote in a less desirable group of leaders. For example, in the early 1950’s, the Iranian people elected a Prime Minister named Mosaddegh. Besides the fact that his name was impossible to spell, this Prime Minister was not willing to cave into, huh, I mean negotiate fairly with US and British Oil corporations trying to help his people. This rebel actually tried to nationalize the Iranian Oil Industry! For more on this crime against the American people/corporations, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1953_Iranian_coup_d'%C3%A9tat and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohammad_Mosaddegh
We had to spend millions of tax payer dollars getting rid of that guy and replacing him with the Shah of Iran (who then imprisoned or executed thousands).
“On 4 April 1953, Allen Dulles approved US $1 million to be used "in any way that would bring about the fall of Mosaddegh… The CIA gave (Shah supporter and former Nazi) Zahedi about $100,000 before the coup and an additional $5 million the day after the coup to help consolidate support for the coup. “
Mohammad Mosaddegh under House Arrest 1965
Blowback
Sadly, the Shah did not last and now the Iranians have once again elected someone whose name we cannot spell and who is unwilling to negotiate in good faith with us. Some have even claimed that the 1953 CIA Coup in Iran led to the anti-American bitterness which led to Khomeini taking power and the Iran Hostage Crisis which led to Reagan’s election – and even to the 2001 911 attack.
But who could have known in 1953 that we were backing the wrong horse? In a way, we are repeating history. Hopefully, the next time we put in a puppet dictator, we will have a better result. It is time we started learning from our past mistakes by picking more popular puppet dictators.
There are also some who say that it would be cheaper just to invest in solar power rather than to continue all of these trillion dollars wars over oil. But would it really be cheaper to build solar panels instead of bombs in our country? Isn’t that kind of like turning swords into plowshares? If we started feeding people all over the world instead of starving them, think of what that would do to our reputation as a world leader. No one would be afraid of us anymore. They might even stop hating us.
Besides if we invested in solar panels, people might realize that we do not need to waste, I mean invest trillions of dollars on nuclear power plants - and there goes the entire nuclear industry. It would be like the Domino Effect that was used to justify the Vietnam War. All decisions have consequences and we should think carefully before we go down the path of solar towards sustainable and self-reliant energy. A much safer course would be to allow the Chinese and Germans to develop the technology for us. We could then buy the solar panels from them and that would help balance the trade deficit.
War is too important to be left merely to politicians and duplomats. They have neither the time, the training, nor the inclination, for strategic thought. It is up to those of us who see the benefits of war to step forward and advocate for war as an instrument of corporate/national policy.
If you believe we should go to war against Syria, Iran, Pakistan or any other country, then I urge you to start organizing House Parties in your community. Invite your neighbors and encourage them to also speak out for war. Start an email list. Set up a Facebook page or build a website. Write a letter to the Editor of your community newspaper and tell them you think our nation needs to spend more on war and less on books for school children. There is a lot that each of us can do to take our country in a better direction.
But we also have to recognize that there are those who do not understand the importance of expanding the wars in the Middle East. For example, in the following video, Congressman Dennis Kucinich says he opposes sanctions against Iran and urges diplomacy, saying that real diplomacy is not an exchange of ultimatums… it is a process.
Fewer than 10% of the American people believe our Congress and our country are going in the right direction. The vast majority of Americans believe we should end all of the wars right now. If those who understand the importance of war do a better job of speaking up, perhaps the ratings for Congress will go back up and perhaps we can continue expanding the wars that have worked so well for us in the past.
Regards,
David Spring M. Ed.
Director, Coalition for Peace Now
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. "> This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.