Duped by a dupe
The White House knows that nothing unites the people of America faster than an outside threat. Much like the Communist paranoia incited by McCarthy in the 1950s, the current administration has orchestrated a reality designed to keep our deepest collective fears alive by capitalizing on the events of 9-11. By giving the President carte blanche power to destroy a nation that was not a threat to us, Americans acted as reactionary puppets, undoing any semblance of moral ascendancy that we may have had in the eyes of the rest of the world.
According to the Pentagon, 80 percent of Iraq’s military capacity was destroyed in 1991. U.N. inspectors destroyed 90 percent of materials and equipment required to manufacture weapons of mass destruction during more than eight years of inspections. Iraq did NOT attack us. Solid EVIDENCE has NEVER been produced that would link the 9/11 attacks to Saddam’s regime.
The only “link” between 9/11 and Iraq was the seeds of propaganda planted in the American psyche by the Bush administration via the mere REPETITION of key phrases in the mass media. Historically, American justice is based on the notion that a person is innocent until proven guilty. This notion should apply to nations as well.
During the initial conflict in Iraq, news articles in the U.S. reported that American soldiers were caught off guard when Iraqi forces did not play by the rules of war. Conversely, imagine the horror of the Iraqis at being attacked with no clear justification! And if, as the administration suggested, the justification was that the Iraqi people needed to be “liberated” from a tyrannical leader, why aren’t we engaged in liberating North Korea from Kim Jong-Il ? Or Saudi Arabia from King Fahd and Prince Abdullah? Or even Cuba from Fidel Castro?
In the past, honor dictated that gentleman soldiers did not strike first. Today, without ever having known combat himself, President Bush has set a precedent for preemptive strikes that completely disregards the sanctity of human life, and other nations are following this example. It is the American government which is hell-bent on profiting from the development and deployment of weapons of mass destruction, and the subsequent slaughter and occupation of innocent nations!
I cannot conceive how any Christian can claim that this war and occupation is “just” when I read the words: “Love your enemies and do good to them.” He himself is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked. Be compassionate just as your Father is compassionate (Luke 6:36).
When is America going to stop coercing the rest of the world with the iron fist of death, and start lighting the way to a more soulful existence for all peoples on the planet?
Kathryn Preston
Carbondale
