Sat May 18 2013

US military kept hostage to political abuse of power
by Charles Mercieca, Ph.D.
January 30, 2007

Charles Mercieca, Ph.D.
President, International Association of Educators for World Peace
Dedicated to United Nations Goals of Peace Education,
Environmental Protection, Human Rights & Disarmament
Professor Emeritus, Alabama A&M University

In spite of its manifold problems, the United States remains a good country to live in. The greatest asset of this nation lies in its people who came from all over the world. There is hardly a major culture and language which is not found in the USA. This explains why President John F. Kennedy referred to this country as a “conglomeration of nations.” With the exception of a tiny minority of Native Americans, all citizens are immigrants or their descendants. This explains why we have Irish or Italian or Korean Americans and so on.

Capitalistic System in Perspective

The American nation is built on a capitalistic system where the big corporations control the entire economy, including the US government. Big corporations finance the political campaigns of every elected public official who in turn tends to protect corporate interests first and foremost. Several books were written in the past to show that in the USA the “rich get richer and the poor get poorer.” If we were to understand this reality, it would be easier for us to comprehend how politics in the US government really function.

In 2002, President George W. Bush entered the Guinness Book of World Records for being the only head of state in the 6,000 years of recorded history of civilization to have surrounded himself by multi-millionaires. This same book enlisted the money made by some of these high ranking governmental officials just the previous year in 2001. Topping the list were Vice President Dick Cheney and Secretary of Defense Ronald Rumsfeld, each netting 60 million dollars!

It has been widely believed that such money did not come out from the midst of nowhere. It came from big corporations for a variety of reasons that could be explored. The weapons industry and the waging of wars have become a lucrative business. This means that there must be always found a justification for the manufacture of more weapons and the waging of more wars. Needless to say, carefully planned expressions have been devised that would hypnotize the American people and at least force them into silence.

Besides, a business strategy has been devised by big corporations that would be injected into the political arena of the US government with carefully devised phraseology. Such a business strategy would then justify, in front of the American people, the continued expenditure of countless billions of dollars not only in the manufacture of more devastating weapons but also into the eventual waging of never-ending wars. In view of this, we may begin to realize with crystal clarity why the US government has made it a point to solve all political problems through the military rather than through healthy diplomatic means.

American Culture of War

As a result of this culture of war mentality in the US government, we may realize why diplomacy in American politics is increasingly becoming weaker. In spite of this, there is still hope for the American people. In November 2006, the American people, realizing that they were fully led into a tragic and needless Iraqi war that was based on manipulation and deceit, they did not hesitate to oust the entire US Republican government overnight and have it replaced by Democrats. Had the election for the US President taken place at the same time, the US Republican President would have been replaced by a Democrat as well.

It is appropriate and justifiable here to expose the techniques that US big corporations use to bring the American people under their full control. This is easily done through US government officials whose primary job has become obviously the protection of corporate interests. The American people are told that the job of the US government is to protect the American people from the enemy. To this end they need to have the most sophisticated weapons conceivable and a strong military that is capable of using such weapons in a devastating way. US government officials speak of “defending US interests.” These are in essence the interests not of the American people but merely of big corporations, which are protected even at the expense of American lives.

Also, US government officials often allude to “national defense and security.” Again, this does not refer to the protection of the American people but merely to the safeguard of corporate business enterprises. An analysis of the Iraqi war brings this well into perspective. Instead of finding a diplomatic way to resolve the mess in Iraq, the US President decided to continue to use more military in this Iraqi quagmire. Rather than concentrating on creating a strong group of Iraqi diplomats to deal with the situation, the American government established instead a new Iraqi military force that is equipped with American weapons. This same Iraqi military trained by the USA may some day turn against Americans and massacre brutally most of them!

Some legitimate questions that the American people need to raise here are these: Why was the US military asked by the US government to invade the country of Iraq illegally and immorally? The reason given was that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction and that Iraq was building atomic bombs, none of which was proven to be true. If that was the case, why is it the US president keeps on saying with pride that he succeeded to remove Saddam Hussein, when this was not stated as a purpose in the original plan? The American people were told that Saddam Hussein was a tyrant who massacred brutally 146 innocent Iraqis quite a few years ago.

Correcting Evil by Worse Evil

Assuming that this was true as evidenced from his condemnation to death, how come the US military was directed by the US government to destroy the infrastructure of so many cities in Iraq? This US directive has left over 650,000 innocent Iraqis dead, mostly were women, children, the elderly and the sick. The United Nations needs to conduct a referendum among the several millions of Iraqi people and let them tell us what they feel, since they are certainly capable of expressing their own feelings. Are they happier now with Saddam Hussein gone, along with their dear spouses, adorable children and close friends? Are they happier now with Saddam Hussein gone, along with the destruction of their houses and the loss of all of their belongings?

Other legitimate questions that need to be raised are these: Who are really the terrorists and the insurgents in Iraq? President George W. Bush said during his first term in office: “Anyone who is not with us is against us.” To this statement one editorial in a Filipino Newspaper in Manila, commented saying: “Mr. President, we may not be against you and against what the American people stand for, but we are definitely against your war policies of devastation and annihilation.” From studies of children in both Palestine and Iraq that were conducted by UNICEF a couple of years ago it was found out that the goal of most of such children in life was “to kill Americans.”

When asked why they wanted to do this, the reply was quick and unanimous: “Because the Americans killed our fathers, they killed our mothers, our brothers and our sisters. They killed and maimed our friends and relatives.” Besides, they added, “The Americans have destroyed our homes and all of our belongings.” Maybe many of those that fight Americans in Iraq are not necessarily terrorists and insurgents. Maybe they are good Iraqis who are protesting the continued presence of Americans in Iraq that reminds them of the suffering and brutal deaths of their beloved ones. If such is the case, then the exit of American troops from Iraq should take place without further delay.

With this picture in mind, it is legitimate for the American people to continue to demand that the further funding for the Iraqi war should stop immediately. Besides, the bringing home all of the US troops from Iraq is an absolute necessity. After all, it has now become obvious that the sending of the US troops in Iraq was a big and serious mistake to say the least. It was an awful and terrible abuse of power to say the most. In spite of being blessed with US military advisors who sincerely believed that what Iraq needed was a diplomatic solution and not a military one, the US government proceeded with the waging of a war that was branded as illegal and immoral from the outset.

Improper Usage of Military

Some of the best diplomats on earth had warned the US President more than once of the terrible mistake to pursue with the invasion of Iraq. Pope John Paul II warned that such an invasion would create animosity between Christians and Moslems and eventually might instigate terrorism to the point of becoming out of control. Nelson Mandela, who opposed the invasion of Iraq and viewed it also as a terrible mistake, said that same week the US invaded Iraq: “The United States has emerged to become the most dangerous country on earth.” Besides, the Dalai Lama, Bishop Tutu, and Oscar Arias in addition to many other world personalities, voiced their strong opposition to the war.

The US military cannot be really blamed for the disaster it has created in Iraq that is revealed in the destruction of the infrastructure of the nation and the eventual massacre of tens of thousands of innocent Iraqis. These young US soldiers were trained from day one they joined the US military to say always to their superiors: “Yes, Sir!.... Yes, Sir!..... Yes, Sir!” Well, they did not go to Iraq of their own choice. They went there because the US government decided to send them. This means that in this Iraqi War, the US military has proven itself to be a real hostage to the US government. In spite of this, some US military personnel did not hesitate to question the wisdom of waging an unprovoked war.

As it was shown earlier, Americans are good people. They are peaceful and they would go out of their way to help all other people in need. The wars waged by the US government do not reflect the philosophy of the American people. As we have seen, Americans have proved to have constitutional power over their government by replacing it entirely, if needed, at the time of elections. They will do it again in 2008 when the national elections are again due. All US government officials that still work for the interests of big corporations, in particular the weapons industry, are bound to be replaced by those who reveal true concern for the welfare of all people without exception. As a result, many problems will be solved and the world will be closer to peace than ever before.