Shock and Awe Destroy Order and Law
The New American Dream is a Nightmare
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On this issueThis Bulletin was planned prior to the Iraq War, and concluded in its final phase. The topics in this issue are most relevant in this context. One focus is on the double non-proliferation standards between Iraq and North Korea. A second focus are the results from the INESAP Conference on "International Arms Control, Transparency and Verification in a European-Russian Framework of Cooperative Security" which took place in Berlin January 24–26, 2003, around the time when the German-French-Russian axis was formed against the Iraq War. The meeting covered various issues of non-proliferation and disarmament of weapons of mass destruction, including delivery systems and missile defense. Additional topics are the current nuclear non-proliferation regime in the context of the NPT PrepCom meeting in Geneva in a few weeks and dangers deriving from the nuclear weapons complex. |
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The dream of George W. Bush became true: he conquered Iraq and smashed the regime of Saddam, concluding the work of his father. Like other emperors before him he did not care about the costs nor the casualties. As long as victory can be declared, the blood of the victims on the hands of the victors may be ignored and concealed with the oil from the soil of Iraq that is now under control. This was worth any price.
From history's view there is not so much new with this American War. Killing the Indians, nuking Japan, burning Vietnam, to name just a few: millions were murdered in the name of the American Dream. Of course, for the United States the last World War was not just a war but a truly just war, liberating one half of Europe. The other half fell in their hands when those in the East won the Cold War and tore down the Wall that served to protect them against the Big Mac. Now they enrich their health with the fruits of the wealth and split Europe once more.
Bush's message is simple: God likes US. God's Own People in God's Own Country is good by all values, true by all measures, fair by all standards. In preventive wars, they kill, bomb, destroy whenever they can, wherever they want, whomever they get. Only those who obey, and bow heads like a prey, will not be the targets of goodness.
Bombing a country that cannot defend is terror attack from the sky. Is mass murder noble because it just works? Whether thousands are killed or even much more, civilians and soldiers, doesn't count for the warriors. All that counts is the number of dollars in the pockets of those who earn profits—profits from arming Iraq, profits from destroying Iraq, profits from rebuilding Iraq, profits from rearming Iraq. Some are always the same in this cycle. They have no "sorry", no sorrow for those who are killed by the terror. Collateral damage kills without noble reasons and acknowledged intentions. Those who cause the disaster are pretending good acts but ignore bad effects, two sides of one coin.
Invading Iraq was seemingly easy, building peace and stability is likely more tough. After the war, those who survive dance on the graves of the dead. They applaud the winners because these now rule. While these lines are in writing, Iraq slides into disorder, violent chaos, and anarchy, as was to be expected. Everything's looted that's left from decades of sanctions and war, worsening the humanitarian disaster. Those who survived war, wounded, in hospitals, are attacked in their beds by the mob ruling the streets. Women are raped, children frightened by horror. The occupation regime is equipped well enough to destroy civil order, but lousy prepared to preserve it, as for them chaos is not a threat. It's enough to protect the oil wells, as their loss is really a threat.
Those who commit murder don't want the truth to become public. On US TV you won't get the real from reporters embedded in the arms of the army. Free press is a threat that has to be bombed. Winners take all, including the truth.
But why this disaster? To disarm Saddam of his weapons of mass destruction, as Bush and his buddies pretend? After months of inspections and weeks of warfighting the proof is still not there. Whatever the winners will finally find to mask their obvious reasons—no-one will care, because the proof of the truth cannot make war undone. Everyone knows: Iraq was attacked not as a threat but because it was none and weak enough to serve as a prey for the global predator. Strangely enough, inspectors proving the lack of the threat diminished the risks of invasion. After Iraq got rid of its weapons, promptly the punishment followed. This is the lesson proliferators draw: build nukes as soon as you can. For this reason, Pyongyang is to deter by all means the US, the only real global threat.
The message is clear: Law is for others, but not for US. Shoot the bad guy outside the law, kill all around him—this is bad fiction, not the script for a good Western movie. The world in the hands of a Stupid White Man, fighting wars for fictitious reasons, neither representing freedom nor peace nor democracy. Deregulation, globalization, privatization, violation of international law—that's all to ensure maximum freedom of corporate action. Iraq's people are now free to experience the same fate as people in other developing countries. They have but one role to play: as consumers in the globalized market, giving away all their resources. Those who can't pay the goods in Bush's pray may starve on the American Way.
Afghanistan and Iraq are just the beginning, many more targets are yet on the list. How many shall die in revenge for the hell of September 11? How many innocent will be murdered, to how many terrorists will this terror give rise? The chains of reaction leave pains of destruction, without any reason and end.
The lesson for the world, protesting the war, emerged as a global player: go your own way, do not depend on the US, ignore the hegemon wherever you can, build coalitions. Not might is right, but the right might limit the might without fight. Preventive diplomacy is the choice for Europe over preventive war, sustainable peace much better than ever sustained war. If Shock and Awe destroy Order and Law, the world should no longer buy the lie of the new American Dream. It's not a dream, but a nightmare.
Jürgen Scheffran, April 13, 2003
