Turn
to diplomacy, not war
Regarding Ryan Ritchie’s column “War May
be the Only Answer.” It’s hard to know exactly
how to respond to your sprawling, disorganized
apologia for war. So, I’ll stick to the
facts
Point One: “I won’t be put in the position
of potentially losing my life over this...war,
but that’s not my job, now is it?”
Ryan, are you a male? Are you over 18 years
old? This administration has stolen the
people’s right to choose its president.
It has revoked the Congress’s Constitutional
duty to be the single body to declare war,
and handed it to the aforementioned illegitimate,
ex-alcoholic, fresh-from-financial scandal,
enemy-of-critical-thinking George Junior.
Do you imagine that a draft will exclude
you, just because you go to a public university?
I wouldn’t bet on it. It may just be your
job to be killed for your country.
Point Two: “People complain about U.S. policy,
but [they will] be bitching louder than
ever when our government doesn’t get involved
and a madman like Hussein takes out a huge
portion of the world.”
Yes, that’s right. People complain. Because
they still think they live in a democracy.
Wouldn’t you just like them to shut up,
Ryan?
As anybody can discover, by searching the
CIA’s own Web-site, Hussein was a U.S. government
employee. He was “hired” by the CIA in the
1980’s to help us fight the Soviet Union.
Our government placed Sadaam in power in
an area of the world that was, and primarily
is, an unconfederated scattering of tribes,
stretched between a few large cities, in
the area neighboring Iran and Afghanistan.
Our government funded and armed Hussein
and gave him chemical weapons, and absolution
for using them on thousands in his own country.
Good times, huh Ryan? Are you still with
the “we”?
Point Three: “Is that what naysayers want-someone
to start a nuclear war? Because that’s what
they’re going to do if these people aren’t
stopped.”
Wow Ryan, such hysteria. Let’s calm ourselves
and look at the current and historical record.
That “someone to start a nuclear war” would
be us, Ryan. When we exploded two nuclear
bombs on the already-defeated Japanese people
— not government, people —we started the
worldwide race to get the most nuclear firecrackers.
No other country before or since has used
nuclear weapons on a military or civilian
population. Well, unless you count us. That’s
right, it’s “we” again. But this time, it’s
a nuclear weapon kills thousands slowly.
It’s called a depleted uranium bomb or shell,
and it is a radioactive biohazard that the
U.S. Army littered across Iraq during the
Gulf war. These shells are responsible for
thousands of gruesome deaths.
We easily win the ‘who has the most’ game.
“Our” arsenal hovers somewhere above 6,000,
and is nearly 7,000 by some estimates, while
our deadly enemy Iraq has...(drum roll)...
Zero.
Yes, Zero. Well, that’s what the CIA says.
In fact, CIA chief, George Tenet got into
a lot of trouble with president junior two
weeks ago when he published his report detailing
Iraq’s lack of nukes.
The consensus among our European, African,
South American, Russian, Asian, and North
American allies, after strong deliberation,
is that the best course of action is to
continue a U.N.-sponsored, coalition-supported,
ongoing series of weapons inspections. We
will be part of that coalition, and we’ll
get to show our guns. But we may get by
without having to use them.
Point Four: “Why not nip this in the bud
before WWIII arises?”
Ryan, if we “nip this bud,” we will only
be at the beginning of WW III. According
to the CIA report, Hussein is unlikely to
use biological weapons unless provoked.
But, faced with imminent destruction, he
is likely to destroy as much as he can.
If you want to know how to create terrorists,
just plant an American flag in the sand
above the piles of bloody and burning carcasses.
It’s an image sure to drive impoverished,
shell-shocked survivors into a spiral of
vengeful hate.
But better than all of this is the “Strategic
Energy Policy” report from the James Baker
group and the Council on Foreign Relations.
The report details Iraq’s importance as
a keystone in securing middle-eastern oil
for the “dependant” American population.
It reviews the importance of managing the
Iraqi problem through a variety of means,
including military. This report was published
in March of 2001, five months before September
11.
But if you’re at the top of the “we”, as
are Dick Cheney, whose company, Halliburton,
has made millions selling machine parts
to Hussein for post-Gulf War reconstruction,
or George Bush whose daddy has profited
from ties with the Carlyle Group (look it
up), a billion dollar investment organization
with deep ties into Saudi Arabia and the
bin Laden family, then the little people
might seem very far away, indeed.
And finally: In 1962, our government was
at war with itself over whether to attack
Cuba and the Soviet Union with nuclear missiles,
or negotiate a peace with Soviet leader
Nikita Khrushchev and Cuba’s Fidel Castro.
John Kennedy stood firm, a solitary man
at the center of warrior mob in the White
House — and cannily, courageously avoided
a nuclear holocaust. Because he was able
to think, and negotiate, and to use diplomacy.
You write, “Diplomacy is utopian but unrealistic.”
Ryan, besides being redundant, that’s profoundly,
and absolutely incorrect.
Diplomacy is all we ever have.
Liam Scheff is an education major at
Cal State Long Beach.
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