COLUMN: Short-sightedness grips America; too many people give in to Bush
Amazing, simply amazing how rampant and contagious the “Pro-war Myopia” disease is around here. I must admit it’s an interesting disease, because Pro-war Myopia is the only disease I know that’s self-inflicted.
I would hypothesize that it derives from fear. Sufferers fear that the facts don’t support their belief system: How could our current leaders be violating international law and human rights, alienating America via hypocrisy and damaging this great country?
The sufferers of Pro-war Myopia demonstrate the symptoms: If an American is so bold as to notice facts one through nine (listed below) and finds his government’s behavior reeks of ulterior motives, then he is invariably placed into the category of left-wing, liberal-extremist, Clinton supporters, who couldn’t or wouldn’t fight for their freedoms.
Facts:
1. 14 of their leader’s top-25 campaign contributors are associated with oil industry (Center for Public Integrity).
2. Iraqi oil production to reserves ratio is 526 to 1, the world’s largest by far (Robert Fisk, The Independent, a British newspaper).
3. Reopening the Mosul-Haifa oil pipeline from Iraq to Israel will benefit their economy greatly (pipeline shut down 1948; avoids expensive Russian oil).
4. Plans for a second Iraqi-Jordanian oil pipeline to the Red Sea port of Aqaba (Jordon/Israeli border) was discussed in the 1980s, involving Donald Rumsfeld, then an adviser to President Reagan (SEEN / Institute for Policy Studies).
5. A land route for Iraqi oil direct to the Mediterranean Sea would lessen U.S. dependence on Gulf oil supplies.
6. Preliminary multimillion dollar contracts were scheduled to go, without open bidding, to those campaign contributors (New York Times).
7. Their leaders violate international law that America was fundamental in establishing.
8. U.S. Department of Commerce approves shipment of weapons grade botulin poison and chemicals used in manufacture of mustard gas to Iraq (Riegle Report: Dual Use Exports. Senate Committee on Banking).
9. Notice the hypocrisy of the weapons of mass destruction argument when America helped the tyrant use WMD in the 1980s in violation of the Geneva Accords (Bob Woodward, Washington Post).
If these facts don’t make you disgusted, what will?
I’ll bet if you do a regression analysis on this war, or what’s left of it and oil, you get a coefficient of determination practically equal to one. For all you non-statisticians, that is practically a perfect relationship.
It doesn’t take an Einstein to recognize the ease with which a Pro-war Myopia sufferer can dismiss the sound arguments of pro-common sense, pro-human rights, anti-corruption, and anti-this war folks if they label them left-wing Clintonites.
Well sorry, I never voted for Bill Clinton, I will never vote for Hillary Clinton, and personally, I think Bill should have been kicked out of office and sent to jail for the perjury he committed.
Maybe Pro-war Myopia sufferers should realize the world is not black and white, because some pro-human rights people are not “doves,” new-age hippies, liberals or Clinton lovers. No, some pro-common sense, anti-corruption people are moderate to conservative, ex-combat engineers from the American Army like myself.
A Mr. Jake Adkins stated, “The problem with people like Mr. Russo is they don’t think their freedoms should come at a price.” Well my grandfather, son of immigrants from Sicily, served this country in the Army, my father served this country in the Army, and I served this country in the Army.
I could be wrong, but I doubt very much those who have written to The Statesman, criticizing pro-human rights, anti-corruption people like myself, have served in the military. In either case, don’t ever question my backbone to fight for my freedoms, because if I didn’t have any conviction, I surely wouldn’t be writing these highly unpopular facts and opinions in The Statesman.
The world is not black and white, folks. The world is not divided up into good guys and bad guys where America wears the white hat every time, and everyone opposing it is in black. And those in the audience who think the world is bi-polar, well I’ll be dropping an A-bomb on their perception shortly.
I would now like to discuss leadership and terrorism. I was taught that a true leader leads by example. Who would disagree? In his letter to The Statesman editor, Mr. Brian Smith believes George W. Bush is a man with “guts.” Well, how much “guts” does it take to dodge the Vietnam War? How much “guts” does it take to go AWOL (absent without leave) from the Air Force Reserves for six months while dodging the Vietnam War?
So, when Mr. Bush had his opportunity to help give freedom to the Vietnamese and demonstrate his “guts” he BAILED. You might not think that’s a big deal, but I do. By the way, the Vietnamese still need our “freedom,” so when are we going back to Vietnam?
I think it repulsive Mr. Bush finds it so easy to send people like you and I to “lay it on the line,” bleed and die, or worse, in Iraq when he has ZERO evidence that Iraq has done anything to America.
And, where are the weapons of mass destruction? I was told Saddam had WMD en masse.
I get the impression people around here think this war is some sort of video game. If you have never been in the military, you probably don’t have a clue as to what our weapons will do to a human being.
They will take your eyes, they will rip your limbs, they will hideously burn you, they will make you a paraplegic, and they will insidiously reside in your liver, lungs, bones, and reproductive system to unmercifully deform your children. Thousands of U.S. Gulf War veterans and their children are suffering from the latter.
Dr. Doug Rokke, former head of the Pentagon’s Depleted Uranium Project, states, “The wartime decision that you could just shoot solid rods of uranium 238 (DU) anywhere without providing medical care for all exposed persons and without cleaning it up is a crime against God and the citizens of the world.”
America dropped more than 300 tons of DU weapons during the Gulf War alone.
So, if you are going to apply these weapons to another human being, a human being just like you, just like your mother, just like your spouse and kids, you better have crystal-clear justification, and if you think Mr. Bush has that justification, I would like to know what color the sky is in your world?
Pre-emptive war? Dwight D. Eisenhower, great leader of the Allied Forces during WW II and 34th president of the United States thought the idea INSANE.
Bi-polar world believers are in for a rude awakening when they realize Ronald Reagan supported terrorism. Don’t think so? I have two words for you: Iran-Contra.
It seems Mr. Reagan got caught secretly selling weapons to an “axis of evil” member (Iran), took the cash and funded, counter to the express wishes of Congress, a terrorist group trying to undermine an elected government in Nicaragua. So, it seems American governments have supported “terrorists.” And we come full circle, “One man’s terrorist is another man’s patriot/freedom fighter.”
In any case, I’m certain these facts and this issue don’t fit into the black and white belief system of Pro-war Myopia sufferers. I’ll lay odds not a single person writes to The Statesman defending America’s support of “terrorists” and foreign governments committing state-supported terrorism, e.g., Chile and Pinochet (National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 8).
Fortunately, I have a cure for Pro-war Myopia: Balance your Fox television news and Rush Limbaugh radio with a variety of both national and international newspapers and magazines, and then investigate the statements found therein. Unfortunately, I doubt that transpires en masse.
So, if my fight against corruption and hypocrisy and for human decency and a stronger American democracy somehow bo
thers you, I really couldn’t care less, because this war is all about oil and other ulterior motives, which gives me the moral high ground, and as you can surmise from the tone of this column I will defend it to the hilt of the sword.
Vito Russo is a graduate student in civil engineering. Comments may be sent to vmrusso@cc.usu.edu.