We
should not go to war. We have no reason to do so. War cannot be a justifiable
means to achieving justice. It will not make us more secure - it will
do the opposite. It will not help the Iraqi people - it will further
impoverish them, and prolong their recovery by destroying their infrastructure
and limited capital that is still in crumbles after the Gulf War. We
will lose the respect and partnership of allies and Arabs, of the citizens
of our world. We will, and in fact already have, bankrupt our Federal
treasury, and send our debt and deficit deeper into a hole with no
known way of pulling back from. We imperil our future and the future
of our children and grandchildren with decisions today whose impacts
and horrors live far past our life times. We cannot go to war, because
a war toll includes women and children and men and families, numbering
in the tens of thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands when lasting
damage cleaves even more lives from the suffering and wounded and neglected.
I
teach at Slippery Rock University. Some of my students are reservists.
One of my students last week was called to active duty. I received
a letter from the Defense Department, asking my full cooperation in
releasing the student from my courses. He is an ordinary student, a
yes-sir, no-sir soldier in training, with basic interest in academic
work. In one of my classes he's in, Challenges to a Sustainable Future,
I hit hard on issues of security, justice and environmental responsibility.
The war and our vulnerable dependence on oil come up often. Its an
elective course and he didn't have to take it, but did for his reasons,
and as with his other courses, he stuck with it, asked questions and
did his assignments. Maybe his worldview is opened up, maybe he is
asking new questions about our responsibility as global citizens and
the U.S. role in world affairs.
He
came to me to personally inform me about his new active status, that
he'd be leaving the university and withdrawing from courses. I did
not know what to say to him. Do you say "good luck"? "Happy
Travels"? We know what we're supposed to say: "Give 'em Hell" or
even more ineptly, "and Give 'Saddam a piece of my mind".
We're supposed to rally behind our men and women who are overseas fighting
'our fight'. But its not our fight, its an unjust war, and oil and
hegemonic greed are not admirable reasons for war. No reasons are just.
So after a affecting silence, I said only, "come home safely and
be mindful of others."
Cynically,
the Bush Administration knows, at least if history is a barometer,
Americans will, despite the world clamor and mounting opposition to
war, despite the illegalities of pre-emption and the consequences of
our actions on others and ourselves, Americans will rally behind the
troops and support the war machine without question like cattle driven
to slaughter. This has to be a false assumption.
We
have to remain vigilant even if we go to war. We have to act responsibly
and learn to live within limits and our account for the consequences
of our lifestyles on the well-being of our neighbors. George Bush Sr.
at the UN Conference on Sustainable Development in Rio De Janeiro,
in 1991, when asked why the U.S. would not sign several global treaties
on Climate Change and Biodiversity and others, responded that "the
American Lifestyle is non-negotiable." If our priviledged lifestyles
are not negotiable, who's are? We represent 5% of the world's population
and consume between 25 and 40% of the world's resources. George Bush's
suggestion of patriotism after 9/11 was to buy, buy, buy. We have confused
Capitalism with Democracy and values with prices.
War
is not an answer. Iraq's rich oil fields are vast but still finite.
Our gluttonous lifestyles cannot be supported by imports and oil. We
need to look within. Then President Jimmy Carter, said of Kudzu, an
invasive vine that covers farm fields and forests in our country, "that
it represents a greater national security threat from our southeast
Asian neighbors than communism itself." Most of our problems are
our own to figure out. There is great work to be done right here, right
now. Homeland security begins at home, in our homes. It requires looking
within, asking hard questions, being mindful, and taking responsibility
for our actions. Our government is irresponsible, illegal and not representative
of the people of the U.S. They represent the corporate few and our
security is further at risk by decisions of war.
We
should not go to war. But if we do, we cannot fall silent. Anti-Americanism
around the world is at the highest it has ever been in our 225 years
as a nation. We are not safer today; code orange is both a myth, a
looming reality. Our voice is necessary, to be heard above the war
calls and to stand vigilant and mindful of others if war happens. Thank
you all for being here, together we let the world know, and the people
of Iraq know, that we do not support war, that we are hopeful for a
more just and representative world, and a more humble standing of the
U.S., and committed to peace now and forever.