Does this country have the moral authority to lead the world?
by Stephen Gowans
It claims to be conducting a war on terrorism against a network
(al-Qaeda)
it helped create to fight proxy wars on its behalf (in Afghanistan and
the
Balkans.)
It says it must bring anthrax terrorists to justice, but has the
world's
largest stockpile of smallpox, anthrax, and other biological weapons.
It
continues to experiment with new weaponized pathogens. It refuses to
agree
to measures to strengthen a biological weapons treaty. And there's
evidence it has used biological weapons (in the Korean War.)
It has called some its past adversaries empires, bent on world
domination
(the Soviet Union), but it has 200,000 soldiers permanently stationed
in
dozens of countries around the globe. Its global military presence
expands
every year, encircling one of the few countries left to challenge its
hegemony -- Russia.
In one country alone (South Korea), which it has occupied for over five
decades, it has 45,000 soldiers.
The country's wars are always said to be fought for some high moral
purpose: to stop ethnic cleansing, to prevent tyranny, to uphold
international law, to defeat communist expansion, to root out
terrorism,
but somehow, while this is being done, the country always seems, as
John
Flynn once put it, to capture its enemies' markets while blundering
into
their oil wells.
It's always strapped for cash when it comes to social spending, health
care and Social Security, but can find billions at the drop of a hat
for a
new weapons program.
Its colossal military is more than two and half times larger than the
militaries of the next nine largest potential adversaries combined
(Russia, China, Iran, North Korea, Iraq, Libya, Syria, Sudan, Cuba.)
Its military spending, combined with that of its allies (NATO, Japan,
South Korea, Australia, Saudi Arabia), is five times greater than that
of
the next nine largest potential adversaries together. Yet, it says,
it's
always under threat.
In the last five decades, it has attacked no less than two dozen
countries. In the last four years, it has bombed four countries
(Afghanistan, Sudan, Yugoslavia, Iraq) one of them in two separate
campaigns (Afghanistan), and one almost daily (Iraq.)
Even though the raison d'tre of the major military alliance it leads
(NATO) has vanished, the alliance is more robust than ever, and is
expanding.
It refuses to sign a treaty banning land mines.
It refuses to sign the Kyoto Accords, limiting greenhouse gasses.
It uses cluster bombs -- bombs consisting of dozens of tiny land
mine-like
bomblets -- which continue to kill, usually children, well after a war
is
finished.
It has 30,000 tons of chemical weapons.
It has the world's largest stockpile of nuclear weapons. It refuses to
sign the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty.
It refuses to renounce the first strike use of nuclear weapons. It
won't
commit to refraining from using nuclear weapons against non-nuclear
weapon
states.
It is the only country to ever use nuclear weapons.
It says it doesn't target civilians, but, in maintaining the world's
largest arsenal of weapons of mass destruction, is prepared to kill
civilians in countless numbers.
In one major campaign lasting over ten years (Vietnam War), it carpet
bombed three countries (North Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos), killing at
least
three million civilians. A decade earlier, it carpet bombed North Korea
so
thoroughly it ran out of targets to bomb.
It issues ultimata to other countries (Yugoslavia, Afghanistan), and
when
the ultimata are rejected, it says the other side refused to negotiate.
When the other side begs to negotiate, it's bombed.
It promotes the deception that a country can be bombed around the clock
with only a few civilian casualties. It announces in advance of a
bombing
campaign that some civilian deaths are inevitable, and then, when they
occur, say they were accidental and unintended.
It bombs civilian infrastructure -- water treatment facilities, power
plants, dams, flood control systems, irrigation, water storage, pumping
stations, sewage facilities, bridges, transportation facilities,
petrochemical plants, fertilizer factories, auto-plants, as well as
hospitals, schools, old folks homes, Red Cross buildings, and
residential
neighborhoods. After reducing its enemies to rubble, it imposes
sanctions
to hinder the rebuilding of all that was destroyed (Yugoslavia, Iraq),
until a puppet regime is installed (Yugoslavia.)
It enforces one sanctions regime (Iraq) that is estimated to have
contributed to the deaths of 1.5 million civilians. One of the
country's
leaders (Madeleine Albright) said the deaths are "worth it."
If it doesn't like another country's economic policies, it tars the
leadership as tyrants and brutes, declares the country a dictatorship,
and
raises concern about human rights violations (Yugoslavia, Belarus) and
railroads the leaders into jail (Yugoslavia) or arranges to have them
overthrown in a coup (Iran, Chile, Guatemala, Yugoslavia.)
Authoritarian
countries whose leaders are tyrants and brutes and who routinely
trample
human rights are called friends and allies if they have the right
economic
policies (Iran, Chile, Guatemala, Philippines, El Salvador, Haiti.)
Their
leaders don't go to jail (Pinochet.)
It routinely intervenes in the elections of other countries, funding
political parties, NGO's and media, but prohibits other countries from
intervening in its own elections.
It commits war crimes unrestrainedly, free from censure and
prosecution,
because it controls the international body that establishes war crimes
tribunals. It refuses to sign a treaty to establish a international
criminal court that could prosecute war crimes free from its
interference.
Its media is described as practicing "suck-up" journalism, afraid to be
too critical of the country's leadership, for fear of being frozen out
and
refused access to "news makers." The media regards itself as duty-bound
by
patriotism to assist in the production and dissemination of propaganda
in
times of war, a now permanent condition.
The majority of its population consists of honest, humane,
peace-loving
people, who are poles apart from the barbarous, sociopaths who run the
country. They are kept in a fog as to what's being done in their name.
If
they knew, they wouldn't stand for it for a moment. This, the
leadership
knows, and so spends liberally on public relations to keep the
population
pliable and in the dark.
It has the largest prison population per capita in the world.
In one of its largest states (California), it spends more on prisons
than
education.
The infant mortality rate in its capital is higher than that of a third
world country it has blockaded economically for four decades (Cuba),
and
whose politics it doesn't like.
Criticism of the country's foreign policy is dealt with by assigning
dismissive labels to the critics (anti-American, communists), threats
of
legal sanction (charges of sedition), or threats of deportation (to
Cuba.)
The criticisms themselves are never addressed.
The country forces the poor and wretched of the world to adopt austere
economic policies that it, itself, would never adopt, for fear of
economic
ruin. The polices have the effect of intensifying the misery of the
world's poor, while increasing the wealth of the country's business
elite.
The country claims to have a free press, but only the wealthiest can
own
the press. Not surprisingly, the press reflects the interests of the
wealthy. It's said that anyone can become leader of the country, but
only
those who can ingratiate themselves with the wealthiest citizens can
raise
the funds and backing to occupy the country's highest offices. The
president, the cabinet, and most elected representatives, have either
been
bought by, or are members of, the country's economic elite.
The country's foreign policies have caused illimitable suffering
throughout much of the world for decades. This has led to it being
reviled over the greater part of the globe. Its leader (George W. Bush)
can only reply, "I don't know why. We're doing such a good job."
Mr. Steve Gowans is a writer and political activist who lives in
Ottawa,
Canada.
America's list of terrorism
http://www.geocities.com/WestHollywood/Park/6443/American/list.html
American War Crimes
http://www.geocities.com/WestHollywood/Park/6443/American/
