[Peace-discuss] Submission to WILL, and letter to Tribune

[David Green]

Submitted to WILL on behalf of AWARE:     

    As local men and women in our military continue
to sacrifice for our government’s “war on terrorism,”
it is vital to place the events of 9/11 and our
subsequent wars in historical context. But this past
March 15th, NPR’s Morning Edition aired a commentary
by Ruben Navarette titled “Enough with Vietnam.”
Navarette claimed that reflecting on our experience in
Vietnam is irrelevant to preventing a future attack on
our soil.

     Indeed, he expressed no interest in any of the
historical context relevant to an understanding of
terrorism as a response—however immoral--to U.S.
foreign policy. This imperial history broadly includes
U.S. relations with both Latin America and Asia, but
at the very least must consider U.S. policies in the
Middle East since World War II that have consistently
viewed the people of that region as pawns in the
service of American interests. These interests
translate into control over the region’s oil
resources. Uncensored and unflattering historical
perspectives are vital for an understanding of the
continuities of U.S. foreign policy, and the
consistently aggressive actions by leaders of both
parties that—until 9/11—had not resulted in an attack
within our borders.

     George Bush and John Kerry share this historical
myopia. Bush has repeated the deceptions and
illegality of the Vietnam War in Iraq. Meanwhile Kerry
writes in A Call to Service  “it’s time to recognize
(Vietnam) as an exception, not a ruling example, of
the U.S. military engagements of the twentieth
century.” But I would assert that the key to
understanding Vietnam is as the most egregious example
of the rule that the U.S. is willing to use force
against any country whose popular aspirations threaten
the interests and profits of U.S.-centered global
corporate capitalism. Since World War II, this rule
has been applied with bloody results in Iran,
Guatemala, the Congo, Indonesia, Chile, Angola,
Nicaragua, and elsewhere.

     We all want to avoid the pain of another event
like 9/11. But to do so we must critically examine the
continuities of our history—including Iraq—and then
fundamentally change coercive U.S. foreign policies.
It is my view, on behalf of the Anti-war Anti-racism
Effort, that continued denial of our problematic past
and present only makes future attacks more likely.


________________________

Letter to Chicago Tribune
Editor:

     Perspective (5/9) contains four articles that
address the issue of torture in Iraq. Doug Cassel and
Kevin Barry helpfully explore the institutional
environment and top-level responsibility. Peter
Brookes crassly argues that torture is just not
practical. And Ron Grossman comes perilously close to
rationalizing torture as a necessary aspect of
guerrilla warfare, and a "slippery slope" that our
soldiers unwittingly descend into the depravity we
have witnessed.

     But one word unmentioned in all of this is
"racism." Young Americans have grown up with crude
stereotypes of Muslims, Arabs, and Palestinians.
Grossman reinforces these biases by commenting on
Muslim attitudes toward nudity, sexuality,
homosexuality--as if our culture is free of taboos, as
if sexual humiliation can be used against members of a
"normal" culture. The problem is that because
Americans are taught to see Muslims as the
less-than-human "other," unspeakable acts can be
committed and then baldly photographed. Our soldiers
and their leaders need more than sensitivity training.
They need a moral compass that points to all human
beings.

David Green




	
		
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