[Peace-discuss] our legacy

[Dlind49 at aol.com]

"What shall be our legacy?"
Printed on Wednesday, January 01, 2003 @ 00:02:31 EST
http://yt.org/article.php?sid=966
 
By Doreen Miller
YellowTimes.org Columnist (United States) 

(YellowTimes.org) – It seems like only yesterday when the world was 
caught up in mass hysteria and dire predictions of doom and gloom 
about the impending Y2K crisis that would plunge the world into utter 
chaos and darkness. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief when, at the 
stroke of midnight on January 1, 2000, planes did not plunge from the 
skies, computer systems continued to function, and the lights remained 
on. In short, life went on as usual. Little did people realize, 
however, that the year 2000 was to herald in a unprecedented age of 
terror and darkness. 

The road to hell began barely nine months into George Bush's 
presidency, when the American public suffered a major terrorist attack 
made possible allegedly by a simple failure of U.S. law enforcement 
and intelligence agencies to connect the dots. The dust had barely 
settled when select congressmen were graced with letters laced with 
weapon-grade anthrax whose origins mysteriously point to a U.S. 
source. Next, U.S. citizens had their Constitutionally guaranteed 
civil rights sharply curtailed by the passage of the USA PATRIOT Act. 
Their right to privacy was even further eroded by the just recently 
passed Homeland Security Act which sets up a Total Information 
Awareness operation that would make George Orwell blush.

Color-coded warnings signifying levels of terrorist threat are 
announced in the media on a regular basis -- always jacked up a notch 
or two in time for the holidays to further intimidate an already 
fearful and paranoid public. The economy is being rocked by one 
corporate scandal after another; the numbers of those without jobs, 
health insurance or a place to call home continue to climb; and the 
few remaining safeguards protecting the environment are quickly being 
dismantled. Terrorism and other acts of violence are escalating around 
the globe. The world's most powerful leader, drunk with a belief in 
his own invincibility, belligerently threatens pre-emptive war and 
nuclear retaliation on any country suspected of trying to undermine 
U.S. interests and superiority. Indeed, the world has been plunged 
into an age of darkness far surpassing its worst Y2K nightmares. 

Most Americans see themselves as innocent victims in a world gone mad 
and believe, quite naively, that their government holds the moral high 
ground in its efforts to establish a Pax Americana worldwide. The 
facts, however, reveal the United States to be not only a part of the 
cycle of violence, but the largest exporter of death and destruction 
this world has ever known. 

Richard Grimmet of the Congressional Research Committee reported that 
in fiscal year 2001, of the $26.4 billion in registered sales of 
international military weapons, the United States exported $12.2 
billion, or roughly 46 percent of the total. This represents 2.5 times 
more than the amount sold by the second (UK) and third (Russia) 
largest exporters, 9.7 times greater than the level exported by 
France, and 19 times more than that of China. 

The Center for International Policy estimates that about 80 percent of 
U.S. arms exports go to non-democratic regimes notorious for gross 
human rights abuses against not only their own citizenry but people of 
other countries as well. In 1999, of the forty-two conflicts in the 
world, thirty-nine of them made use of U.S. military equipment or 
technology, a whopping 92 percent rate of indirect U.S. participation 
in, but direct support of, war and violence. The U.S. also trains 
foreign military in the art of murder and torture in more than 70 
countries and has troops currently stationed in nearly three out of 
every four countries in the world. 

Sadly, the lives of 3,000 civilians from the U. S. and many other 
countries were lost in the September 11 attack, but where is the 
American outrage at the millions of deaths that the U.S. has caused, 
directly or covertly, in the twentieth century alone? Over 3,000 
innocent Afghanis were killed in blind retaliation for terrorist 
attacks with which these oppressed people had nothing to do. Add 
hundreds of thousands of preventable deaths of mostly elderly, infants 
and young children in Iraq due to over ten years of extreme economic 
sanctions, demanded by the U.S., that prevent Iraq from importing 
essential medicines and disinfecting agents because of their potential 
for dual usage. Don't forget the 500,000 deaths in wars supported by 
the U.S. in Guatemala, El Salvador, Chile, Argentina, Haiti, Panama, 
and other Latin American countries over the past half century, or the 
hundreds of thousands more in Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos. 

The United States is just as guilty as any other nation in targeting 
civilian population centers -- cities such as Dresden, Hamburg, and 
Tokyo were mercilessly firebombed during World War II; atomic bombs 
were dropped in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, all resulting in hundreds of 
thousands of civilian deaths. 

Recently in Iraq, Yugoslavia, and Afghanistan the United States has 
resurrected and implemented a new kind of nuclear warfare through the 
use of weapons outfitted with a depleted uranium component. Upon 
impact, the uranium is released in micro-sized particles that travel 
great distances on the wind to contaminate air, food, soil, water, in 
short, anything it touches. Post Gulf war soil samples tested in 
Basrah register an 84 times greater than normal background radiation 
level from uranium elements, according to studies carried out by 
various international organizations. 

This new American-made legacy will be remembered for its long-term, 
continuous assault on innocent people and their environment. Studies 
conducted by John Hopkins University reveal a sevenfold increase in 
cancer, leukemia and birth defects in Iraq since the Gulf War. Full-
term babies there are born with grotesque malformations such as having 
no face; no eyes or nose; twisted, fused or missing limbs; huge heads 
with no brains; no digestive tract; heart defects; severe ulcerations 
of the skin, and other abnormalities. 

All this is made possible by each and every American who chooses to 
remain silent in the face of U.S. military atrocities against 
humanity. The United States is squandering both its status of most 
powerful nation and its potential to do some lasting good by 
continuing to serve the gods of greed, fear, hatred, war and violence. 
America should be leading the world by practicing what it preaches to 
other nations. The truly powerful lead by example, not by intimidation 
and brute force. 

Placing self-righteous justification and moral superiority aside, for 
all involved parties seem to claim them, we need to look at war for 
what it really is -- murder and maiming, pure and simple. Our 
unquestioned faith in the use of military threats, death and 
destruction to deter violence and settle disagreements is an 
inherently flawed philosophy that has brought the world to the brink 
of mutually assured destruction with the United States leading the 
way. 

The late Philip Berrigan had it right when he spoke about "the 
universal American fantasy that 'national security' can depend on 
weapons of mass destruction." These weapons we insist on amassing are 
instead the very cause of our mortal danger. His final words resonate 
as a warning to us all, "nuclear weapons are the scourge of the earth; 
to mine for them, manufacture them, deploy them, use them, is a curse 
against God, the human family, and the earth itself." 

In this unparalleled period of danger and darkness brought about by 
the ignorance of mad men in their lust for power, it's time for people 
to awaken and do their part to transform this insane, money-making, 
war- mongering mentality. Imagine what a different world this could be 
if everyone took personal responsibility and vowed no longer to be a 
part of the ongoing cycle of government sponsored terrorism. Imagine 
if the people who build (in part or whole) bombs, guns, assault 
weapons and other weapons of mass destruction were suddenly to have an 
attack of conscience and leave their jobs, refusing to manufacture the 
evil that gets exported around the globe. Imagine how different the 
world could be if the $839 billion dollars spent yearly on military 
expenditures worldwide (Arias Foundation figures for FY 2001) were 
instead used for constructive purposes to alleviate hunger and provide 
decent housing, education, health care and meaningful employment for 
all. 

I am convinced that reprioritizing the use of our vast resources from 
our current destructive bent towards constructive, life-affirming, 
humanitarian ends would be a much more successful deterrent to 
terrorism than our ineffective and inane faith in using "the violence 
to quell all violence." As the great Martin Luther King, Jr. 
believed, "An eye for an eye only ends up making us all blind." 

Life is a series of making choices. We can choose to take the easy 
path by closing our eyes and remaining part of the evil of war and 
violence, whether it be through our line of employment that may 
directly or indirectly contribute to government sanctioned destruction 
and murder, or through the complicity of simply keeping silent in the 
face of inhumane policies carried out by our government. Else, we can 
choose the more difficult and courageous route of speaking out and 
working towards eliminating war and weapons of mass destruction all 
over the world, beginning in our own country. If we do not walk the 
talk of peace and disarmament, then we are, in fact, no better than 
the terrorists we are purporting to defeat. 

The state and fate of our world and the legacy we leave for future 
generations all come down to the individual choices we make in our 
lives. As the adage from the Vietnam era significantly states, "Just 
imagine if they gave a war, and nobody came." 

[Doreen Miller lived, studied, worked and traveled abroad for several 
years, and is currently a Senior Lecturer and educator of 
international students. She dedicates part of her time to serving the 
elderly and Alzheimer patients. Mother, musician and poet, she pursues 
an avid interest in Buddhist and Eastern philosophy. She advocates 
human rights, social justice, fair trade, and environmental 
protection. Doreen lives in the United States.] 

Doreen Miller encourages your comments: dmiller at YellowTimes.org