What Next?
by Mary Shepard, WAMM
If, as some of us believe, there is a hidden agenda to the whole "war on terrorism," it may be a tactic to scare us into submission to any whim of an administration that feels itself beyond the law and beyond the reaches of public opinion. If so, the tactic may soon wear thin.
Every day we are alerted to a new possibility of a terrorist act. Again and again dire warnings have proven to be false alarms. The suspicious-looking bearded man turns out to be the new mail carrier or a professor of philosophy from a prestigious university. We are told by "reliable sources" that a rogues' gallery of suspects is trying to do us in, but the peril never materializes.
Threats of terrorism have hatched a whole new industry and have served as a useful cover for the nefarious deeds of our own government. The Administration must want to maintain the cover, since its agenda is best accomplished if citizens are fearful. While awaiting terrorists from abroad to strike, one can see that the best way to create conditions for terrorism is, of course, to threaten impoverished and weak nations and their people with the might of the U.S. military arsenal. Keep the world guessing about where this force will be applied next and have a list of potential victims that is so long that surely one faction or another will try a pre-emptive strike at our vulnerable population centers or our nuclear facilities.
If the rest of the world is kept in suspense, so are we. George W. Bush has told us many times that he will "keep all options open" in his determination to wage this endless war he has declared without consulting us. No one misses the point. He is rattling our nuclear arsenal. He boasts that the U.S. does not need the help of our allies if they do not want to go along. His deputy secretary of defense, Paul Wolfowitz, in a speech to the European Community, said European weaponry was so unsophisticated and their military arsenals so small, they could not be very helpful anyhow. To become major players in the "war against terrorism" they would have to spend more on their military, presumably by purchasing U.S.-manufactured weapons.
Neither Europeans nor U.S. citizens are entitled to know when and where and why the coming assault on a sovereign nation will happen. "It is urgent", Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld said after the September 11 atrocities, "that all Americans be quiet, stop asking questions, accept the orders of authorities, and let us get on with the important work of defending liberty, so that America can continue to be a beacon of freedom to all the world."
The Nation, a Pakistani news source, tells us that the top U.S. Marine general for Central Asia and the Persian Gulf is moving his headquarters to Bahrain from Hawaii, joining his Army, Navy, and Air Force counterparts. They have been uprooted from peacetime postings in the U.S. to set up battle stations in the region that spans from the Red Sea to the Indian Ocean. A war somewhere in the Middle East seems to be in store.
Iraq seems to be a current target of choice. For more than a decade, the U.S. and British have bombed this nation on a nearly daily basis, but the bombing has not dislodged Saddam Hussein, who Bush says "must go." On the other hand Somalia might be the next victim, particularly because there is international pressure to forego a war on Iraq. But while we are wondering about the next target, we should not forget the nations already under attack by the U.S. government. The U.S. funds and supplies Ariel Sharon of Israel with weapons used to kill Palestinians. The U.S. is involved in Colombia's civil war. The military is bogged down in the quagmire of Afghanistan. And whether or not bombs are raining down on Baghdad, the economic sanctions on Iraq are doing quite enough damage.
Meanwhile, Secretary of State Colin Powell has assumed the role for which he is famous: appearing as a moderating voice. He understands Bush's bombast is not sitting well with our allies. He says only that Bush is committed to a "regime change" in Iraq but is "considering the use of anti-Saddam opposition forces, military activity and other kinds of activity" (Pioneer Press, February 13, 2002).
Ambiguous and soothing rhetoric cannot calm the fears of our European allies, and they are increasingly critical of their leaders for being our lap dogs. Thomas Friedman of the New York Times, perhaps facetiously, said that Europeans believe that the real "Axis of Evil" isn't Iran, Iraq, and North Korea, but Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, Vice President Dick Cheney, and National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice (Star Tribune, February 14, 2002).
The leaders of our European and other NATO allies are struggling to reassure their constituencies, who are alarmed by Bush's bombast, boasting, and bombings. Canadian Foreign Minister Bill Graham, in an attempt to apologize for Bush's behavior, could only say, "Everybody recognizes in international politics you have to have a process where, before you invade a sovereign country, there has to be a reason for it, or we are going to lead into international chaos." International laws don't apply.
The Muslim and Arab nations are also fearing a revolt within their own states. Their regimes, which up to now have offered us their airspace and, in some cases, hosted our bases, are being pressed by their people to remove the American presence from their land. Since it is the U.S. military who has kept these leaders in power, the leaders are faced with a need to calm their people without offending their patron.
General Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan cannot get his sophisticated secret service apparatus to find and arrest those who kidnapped and murdered Daniel Pearl, a Wall Street Journal reporter. One wonders what threat keeps Musharraf at bay. Likewise, the Saudis have refused to extradite the men indicted for bombing the Khobar Towers in 1996, killing nineteen U.S. soldiers. Now the Saudis seem to be doing little to support the U.S. government's roundup of presumed terrorists.
While campaigning for the presidency, Bush promised he was going to withdraw from Middle East conflicts and turn their solutions over to Europe. Six months after his inauguration he is proposing a go-it-alone war with no geographical limitations. Can we be blamed for wondering "what next?"
If passed, new legislation introduced in Congress will give the President the authority to send U.S. forces to back any U.S personnel who might be arraigned before the proposed and about-to-be-ratified International War Crimes Tribunal. There are more than 1,000 U.S. bases and military installations around the world, in such diverse places as Equador, Egypt, El Salvador, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, and Diego Garcia (a small island in the Indian Ocean from which all inhabitants were removed for the sake of the U.S. base).
In Korea the U.S. is so hated that the U.S. flag is burned at most demonstrations. Many Americans might be astonished to know that there are more than 100 U.S. military installations there. The U.S. has four new bases in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan. We have bases from the Baltic to the Balkans. The Philippines is no threat to the U.S., but we are pouring U.S. Marines into that beleaguered country nonetheless. In all these places, the U.S. is inviting terrorism and leaving the citizens of other nations with little recourse but desperate action.
Why haven't our leaders learned from the Israel/Palestine conflict that terrorism cannot be fought with terrorism? Why didn't our nation learn from the Iran/Contragate events that we can never have peace without justice?
WAMM Action!
The Bush Administration has been moving to make Iraq the next target. Join with other activists to say no to war.
Vigil for Peace
Wednesday, March 13, 2002
5:00-6:00 p.m.
Lake Street/Marshall Avenue Bridge over the Mississippi River between Minneapolis and St. Paul
Parking is available in the Word of Life Church parking lot one block east of the bridge at the southeast corner of Otis and Marshall. Additional parking is available on the street.
Meet at the east end of the bridge, where some signs will be provided for bannering.
The vigil will be followed by a potluck meal and program.
This event is part of an ongoing, weekly vigil for peace that has been taking place on Wednesdays on the Lake Street/Marshall Avenue Bridge for nearly three years. You are welcome to participate every Wednesday at 5:00 p.m. On Wednesday, March 13, we are especially seeking your participation to make a public statement about the expansion of this war.
Sponsored by the Twin Cities Campaign to Lift the Sanctions, Anti-War Committee, Coalition Against the War, Veterans for Peace, Women Against Military Madness, and many others. FFI: 612-827-5364.