DEPARTMENTS
ANTI-WAR
DEATH PENALTY
ELECTIONS
ENVIRONMENT
GLBT ISSUES
HEMP
INTERNATIONAL
NATIONAL
REVIEWS
|
Departments International Issues Empire and its Consequences At the human level, the immorality of murder is fundamental, and most people understand the insanity of armed hatred. Keeping these dark forces under wraps is essential to the existence of human society. So why is it, then, that at the abstract level of nationalism, those forces are honored, worshiped, saluted, extolled as glorious, and given command of an enormous budget? Why is it that their perpetuation via increasingly sophisticated technology is equated with national security and no one talks about the completely predictable negative consequences of basing security on murder and hatred? And why does it feel so naïve to be asking such questions? It’s as though the arrangement was settled four or five millennia ago. Killing is wrong, but we have to kill one another, you know, in self-defense, in order to survive. And hating people is wrong — mocking them, dehumanizing them — but some people ask for it. They do it to us, so we have no choice but to do it back. Hate, dehumanize, eliminate our enemies and . . . voila, we’re safe, at least for the time being. What don’t you get about that? Criticism of such policy is generally couched in terms that remove the alleged naïveté of the criticism, but I’m wondering if it isn’t time to stare directly at the fundamental wrongness of war. Let me put it as nakedly as I can: A policy of murder and hatred is, in itself, morally wrong as well as strategically untenable. Anything that flows from such a policy, even if it seems to be beneficial — such as regional dominance, access to oil, suppression of an enemy’s power or plain old revenge — is inherently unstable and doomed to disastrous failure. This may be the way empires act, but it’s bad policy. If it creates “collateral damage,” it’s bad policy. I put it this way because I’m haunted by the statistic that U.S. military veterans are committing suicide at the rate of 18 per day and that the term for the condition of many, maybe most, veterans and soldiers after their deployments in Afghanistan and Iraq is moral injury, as I wrote about last week. Their lives have been seriously damaged not just by physical and psychological injury but by something else as well — by having transgressed a fundamental spiritual threshold and severed the connection that unites us. We can’t dehumanize others without doing the same to ourselves, and waking up to the reality of such a state is sometimes unbearable. And it’s not just the deployment — the participation in an inhumane occupation and war — that dehumanizes. The military training that precedes deployment is where it starts. The training is not simply in the craft and technology of killing, but in the dehumanizing of self and other. The U.S. military, whatever else it is, is a cult of hatred with a virtually unlimited budget. This has been born out in the testimony of numerous vets over the years, testimony that could fill volumes, e.g.: “I joined the Army on my 18th birthday. When I joined I was told racism was gone from the military,” Mike Prysner said during the 2008 Winter Soldier hearings. “After 9/11, I (began hearing) towel head, camel jockey, sand nigger. These came from up the chain of command. The new word was hadji. A hadji is someone who takes a pilgrimage to Mecca. We took the best thing from Islam and made it the worst thing.” Prysner was part of a panel called “Racism and War: the Dehumanization of the Enemy.” Military recruits march to cadences that celebrate killing children in the marketplace and cry “kill” before they can eat a meal. They’re told they’re animals, stripped of “sentimental” feelings, trained to kill on command with cold efficiency. In that condition they serve U.S. foreign policy. The argument, of course, is that we have enemies out there who despise us and want what we have, and our only protection is a layer of ruthless, well-armed killers that patrol the perimeter and keep our communities and our children safe. The argument is that our foreign policy is ultimately humane, that it spreads democracy, that it targets only bad guys and protects decent people everywhere. But this argument breaks down when you look at what we do, from Dresden and Hiroshima to My Lai and Fallujah. It breaks down when you read about the rationale of our massive bombing of Baghdad at the start of the Iraq war, as spelled out by Harlan K. Ullman and James P. Wade in the 1996 Defense Department publication, “Shock and Awe: Achieving Rapid Dominance”: “The intent here is to impose a regime of Shock and Awe through delivery of instant, nearly incomprehensible levels of massive destruction directed at influencing society writ large, meaning its leadership and public, rather than targeting directly against military or strategic objectives. . . . “The employment of this capability against society and its values, called ‘counter-value’ . . . (consists of) massively destructive strikes directly at the public will of the adversary to resist.” This is the morality of empire, the morality of domination. We didn’t invent it; we just carry on the tradition, which goes back through colonialism and slavery to the Inquisition (“kill them all, let God sort them out”) to Rome (“they create a wasteland and call it peace”) and beyond, to the dawn of civilization. I think the consequences have finally caught up with us. ----------------------------- Robert Koehler is an award-winning, Chicago-based journalist and nationally syndicated writer. His new book, Courage Grows Strong atthe Wound (Xenos Press) is now available. Contact him at koehlercw@gmail.com, visit his website at commonwonders.com or listen to him at Voices of Peace radio. © 2012 TRIBUNE MEDIA SERVICES, INC. -------------------------------- http://commonwonders.com/world/empire-and-its-consequences/ |
|
Recent International Issues Articles Ten of my favorite things about 2012 Universal Declaration of Human Responsibilities Pile of Skulls Internal Security Act clamped on Bangkok to stifle coup demand Brand Names and Mass Graves Internal Security Act clamped on Bangkok to stifle coup demand Panetta expects Taliban won't turn Petraeus's adultery into propaganda Obama following his grandfather to Burma Two Members of Pussy Riot Sent to Russian Penal Colonies New demands for an immediate coup in Thailand China mourns Sihanouk's death & continues advancing in Cambodia Empire and its Consequences 13 Murders on the Mekong River International Peace Day from Kabul, Afghanistan The Innocence of U.S. Foreign Policy Funding teachers doesn't get embassies attacked Love, Hate and Indifference: singer/songwriter/activist David Rovics The Hidden Agenda of Green Party VP Candidate Cheri Honkala A Black, Green and White Talk with Shamako Noble of Hip Hop Congress New American judge may help bring five more Khmer Rouge to trial Julian Assange, International Intrigue and What’s Going On With Ecuador Yes We Camp Beyond Money Love is the key ingredient for successful social movements, not religion, per se. 1,500 fake "Bomb Detectors" fail to stop explosions in Thailand SPECIAL REPORT -- EXPOSING U.S. AGENTS OF LOW-INTENSITY WARFARE IN AFRICA: The Neocons vs. the ‘Arab Spring’: Back on the Warpath Iran and everything else Beyond the two-state solution Thailand's robots can save your life or kill you, but not yet love you War and Climate Change Flesh-eating fish are feeding on tourists' feet Veterans For Peace supports U.N. committee in questioning U.S. recruitment, killing of children Seeking a Visa for Dr. Wee Teck Young NASA's atmosphere probe is grounded by Thailand's squabbling For Love or Money Julian Assange's Artful Dodge Turkish court indicts Senior Israeli Military Officials in murders on Gaza flotilla: On the Second Anniversary of the Gaza Freedom Flotilla Aung San Suu Kyi leaves Burma after 24 years No one hears the poor Millions of Illegal Methamphetamines Made From Medicine in Thailand's Hospitals FBI seizes server from progressive internet service provider Thaksin wants to avoid assassination and prison in Thailand Via campesina and allies call for global solidarity in fight against land grabs Proud to wear a forbidden burqa in France A message of peace and friendship from Iran Aung San Suu Kyi stoops to conquer Burma Universal Declaration of Human Responsibilities Why Israel attacked Gaza: Bibi stirring trouble Columbus Activists Look South to help build Global Justice Movement Alcohol & politics: A volatile mix in Thailand Activists Call for Kroger's Support of Migrant Farm Worker Rights Large coalition asks for Obama's Nobel Peace Prize to be rescinded Iranians allegedly posted "Baked Clay" signs to attack Bangkok Alleged Iranian bombers cavorted with Thai women in beach resort Cold war in warm waters: US-China's dangerous contest for Asia-Pacific Three alleged Iranian bomb-makers arrested after bungling the plot Happy savages Food Sovereignty Activist Calls for Alliances between Progressives and ' Radicals ' Alleged Iranian bomb-maker blows off his own leg Obama's Super-Bowl Fumble on Iran A Banquet Feasts on Yingluck's Troubles in Thailand Thai government promotes Red Shirt leader & pro-Mugabe supporter Terror suspect says ammonia in his "Cool Packs" not for bombs Alleged terrorist reveals stockpile of bomb-making chemicals in Bangkok Church of the Dude, inspired by The Big Lebowski, sets up in Thailand A tale of 2 countries Aljazeera coverage: The revolution will be televised, and also manipulated Read International Issues Articles by Year: |
FREE PRESS EMAIL UPDATE
Donate to the Free Press Election Protection Fund to help us investigate and monitor election fraud in this year's election.
FOLLOW US ON
twitter
facebook
SEARCH THE FREEPRESS
1021 E. Broad St. Columbus, OH 43205 | 614.253.2571 | truth@freepress.org
All content © 1970-2012 The Columbus Free Press
Disclaimer