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As the U.S. proceeds down a warpath that could drastically change the relationships between nations of the world for the foreseeable future, one is reminded of the observation of Lord Acton: "Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely."
Despite the overwhelming opposition of most people and governments of the world to war on Iraq, and despite serious questions about the morality, legality, and political implications of such a war, the U.S. seems determined to carry out a military action that is unprecedented in the history of civilized nations.
Senator Robert Byrd (Dem., WV) recently warned the Senate that the war against Iraq, if it materializes, "represents a turning point in U.S. foreign policy and possibly a turning point in the recent history of the world." He was referring to the new doctrine of preemption, which the Bush Administration is using to justify an attack on Iraq#the idea that the U.S. (or any other nation) can legitimately attack a nation that is not imminently threatening but may be threatening in the future.
This is a radical change from the old doctrine of self-defense and would set a very dangerous precedent. It is also illegal under international law. Article 51 of the UN Charter, to which the U.S. is a signatory, is very clear in that it allows for the use of force only if a country is attacked. No country has the right, under international law, to attack another country because they think it might have weapons of mass destruction or they think it might attack them sometime in the future.
Iraq has not attacked the U.S.; it is not even threatening to attack the U.S. In fact, it is the U.S. that has, for the past twelve months, been threatening to attack Iraq. It is the U.S. that launched 1,300 cruise missles and bombs on Baghdad in one day of warfare. It is the United States whose battle plan includes the use of fire bombs, 2,000-pound daisy cutters, high-tech microwave weapons, and other heinous new weapons.
Harlan Ullman, of the Center for Strategic & International Studies (CSIS), views this battle plan as "rather like the nuclear weapons at Hiroshima#not taking days or weeks but minutes." (CSIS proclaims Ullman "the principal author of the doctrine of 'shock and awe'.") And the Pentagon promised that there will be no safe place in Baghdad, a city of several million people, more than half of them children under the age of fifteen.
Few people would question the fact that war is the most horrible of human experiences. However, as the administration, with all its sophisticated weaponry, launches another war with Iraq, one hears little of the effect of this war on the people of that country.
This is a war which will likely result in the deaths of tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of Iraqi civilians. This war will heap even more suffering upon a population already devastated by the Persian Gulf War and more than twelve years of the most pervasive economic sanctions ever placed upon a country. A new report by the Center for Economic and Social Rights indicates that this new war will trigger the collapse of Iraq's already weakened public health and food distribution system, leading to a humanitarian crisis that far exceeds the capacity of the United Nations and relief agencies. One of their documents estimates that "in the event of a crisis, 30 percent of children under five would be at risk of death from malnutrition."
The UN document "Likely Humanitarian Scenarios" estimates half a million casualties and 3.03 million Iraqis facing famine, including "2.3 million severely and moderately malnourished children under five and one million lactating and pregnant women." This report also estimates that there could be 900,000 Iraqi refugees as a result of a full-scale U.S. strike. The $30 million of emergency aid thus far pledged to handle the humanitarian consequences amounts to roughly $1 per Iraqi.
And can we even begin to imagine the psychological trauma of the people of Iraq? For more than twelve years they have endured the sanctions and the loss of more than a half a million children; for more than twelve months they have lived under the constant threat of war, a war that will destroy what little hope they have left and will shatter any dreams that they might have for themselves and their children.
This war is not about the human rights of the Iraqi people or democratization, as the administration would have us believe. It is about domination and control over access to oil, and it will come at a very high price for the Iraqi people, their neighbors, and people here at home. Arab leaders and others warn that it could result in the destabilization of Iraq and the whole of the Middle East, intensifying existing conflicts in the region. It will require a long-term military occupation, which will surely plant the seeds for deep-seated resentment for years to come and likely result in an increase in terrorist attacks both in the U.S. and abroad. It will put at risk thousands of young American men and women serving in the U.S. military, and it is eroding support for education and health care systems and other desperately needed social programs here at home. It is antagonizing friends and allies around the world and will result in the loss of much of the moral authority the United States once claimed.
Iraq is not the only one under attack. In its efforts to promote this war, the U.S. has also been waging an ongoing battle against the United Nations, showing extraordinary disdain for the institution itself, for international law, and for multilateral accountability. It has used bribes, coercion and strong-arm tactics to bring other members of the UN around to its point of view, and to undermine the very principles upon which the UN was founded. The administration would have us believe that if the UN does not support U.S. military aggression in Iraq, the UN will lose its relevancy and, according to George W. Bush, "fade into history as an ineffectual, irrelevant debating society." Just the opposite is true. It is imperative that the U.N. not allow itself to be bullied by the United States into supporting an attack on another country, in violation of its own Charter. If the organization that was set up to end the scourge of war, supports an aggressive war, where will nations and the people of the world turn for peace?
And where do they turn for hope? Our hope lies in the people, the hundreds of thousands of people around the world who continue to fill the streets, particularly in the capitals whose support is most crucial to White House and Pentagon plans: Turkey, the Philippines, Pakistan, Egypt. And, yes, in the streets of the United States.
The New York Times recently stated that there are once again two superpowers in the world: the United States and global public opinion. The New York Times is right. There is something happening around the world that cannot be stopped. It represents the hopes and dreams of large numbers of people for a better world with justice as its driving force. It will continue to grow despite the repressive actions of government leaders and the use of heinous weapons. And in the end, this second superpower, global political opinion, will persevere. It will persevere because it represents the best in humankind.
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