Weblog
10/18/02 06:56 PM: Reader Responses
This is with regard to my recent post on Iraq. I have recieved some responses from regular readers, and I thought I would post them. I find it interesting to see the viewpoints of my readers.
One thing I want to clarify is—we should go after dictators, but unfortunately we can’t go after them all and figuring out where and if to start is the tough part. I’m not a hawkish war supporter—I was merely giving a way to justify an attack on Iraq (or more specifically, Saddam Hussein). However, in the light of developments in North Korea and other things, my opinions are fluid and I will have a post later regarding that. It’s parents weekend here at Georgetown and my folks flew in so that’s been taking up a lot of my time, hense why no recent posts. Anyway, here is the first reader response, from a long time WWU reader, and personal friend of mine, Jay Perez.
Hey Dave:
I got this in an email update from ZNet magazine. I never knew Woody Harrelson was such a political activist. He makes some excellent points against the war on Iraq. The “war on Iraq” is not something they are considering starting up again, it is something that has changed but never stopped since 1991.
I do not have the time or energy to write a response to your comments on Iraq on WWU, so please use Woody’s essay as the opposing viewpoint.
“I’m an American tired of American lies”
by Woody Harrelson
The man who drives me to and from work is named Woody too. A relief to
me, as it minimises the chance of my forgetting his name. I call him
Woodman and he calls me Wood. He has become my best friend here, even
though he’s upset that I have quit drinking beer. He’s smart, funny, and
there’s nothing he hasn’t seen in 33 years behind the wheel of his black
cab. He drove me for a while before I felt confident he liked me; he
doesn’t like people easily, especially if they have a rap for busting up
black cabs.
Woodman and I agree about a lot of things, but one thing we can never
agree about is Iraq. He thinks the only language Saddam understands is
brute force. I don’t believe we should be bombing cities in our quest
for one man. We’ve killed a million Iraqis since the start of the Gulf
war – mostly by blocking humanitarian aid. Let’s stop now. Thankfully,
most of the Brits I talk to about the war are closer to me than to
Woodman. Only your prime minister doesn’t seem to have noticed.
I have been here three months doing a play in the West End. I am having
the time of my life. I love England, the people, the parks, the theatre.
The play is great and the audiences have been a dream. Probably I should
just relax, be happy and talk about the weather, but this war is under
my skin – it affects my sleep.
I remember playing basketball with an Iraqi in the late 80s while Iran
and Iraq were at war. I didn’t know at the time that the US and Britain
were supplying weapons to both sides. I asked why they were always at
war with each other and he said something that stayed with me: “If it
were up to the people, there would be peace. It’s the governments that
create war.” And now my government is creating its second war in less
than a year. No; war requires two combatants, so I should say “its
second bombing campaign”.
I went to the White House when Harvey Weinstein was showing Clinton the
movie Welcome to Sarejevo, which I was in. I got a few moments alone
with Clinton. Saddam throwing out the weapons inspectors was all over
the news and I asked what he was going to do. His answer was very
revealing. He said: “Everybody is telling me to bomb him. All the
military are saying, ‘You gotta bomb him.’ But if even one innocent
person died, I couldn’t bear it.” And I looked in his eyes and I
believed him. Little did I know he was blocking humanitarian aid at the
time, allowing the deaths of thousands of innocent people.
I am a father, and no amount of propaganda can convince me that half a
million dead children is acceptable “collateral damage”. The fact is
that Saddam Hussein was our boy. The CIA helped him to power, as they
did the Shah of Iran and Noriega and Marcos and the Taliban and
countless other brutal tyrants. The fact is that George Bush Sr
continued to supply nerve gas and technology to Saddam even after he
used it on Iran and then the Kurds in Iraq. While the Amnesty
International report listing countless Saddam atrocities, including
gassing and torturing Kurds, was sitting on his desk, Bush Sr pushed
through a $2bn “agricultural” loan and Thatcher gave hundreds of
millions in export credit to Saddam. The elder Bush then had the
audacity to quote the Amnesty reports to garner support for his oil war.
A decade later, Shrub follows the same line: “We have no quarrel with
the Iraqi people.” I’m sure half a million Iraqi parents are scratching
their heads over that. I’m an American tired of lies. And with our
government, it’s mostly lies.
The history taught in our schools is scandalous. We grew up believing
that Columbus actually discovered America. We still celebrate Columbus
Day. Columbus was after one thing only – gold. As the natives were
showering him with gifts and kindness, he wrote in his diary, “They do
not bear arms … They have no iron … With 50 men we could subjugate
them all and make them do whatever we want.” Columbus is the perfect
symbol of US foreign policy to this day.
This is a racist and imperialist war. The warmongers who stole the White
House (you call them “hawks”, but I would never disparage such a fine
bird) have hijacked a nation’s grief and turned it into a perpetual war
on any non-white country they choose to describe as terrorist.
To the men in Washington, the world is just a giant Monopoly board.
Oddly enough, Americans generally know how the government works. The
politicians do everything they can for the people – the people who put
them in power. The giant industries that are polluting our planet as
well as violating human rights worldwide are the ones nearest and
dearest to the hearts of American politicians.
But in wartime people lose their senses. There are flags and yellow
ribbons and posters and every media outlet is beating the war drum and
even sensible people can hear nothing else. In the US, God forbid you
should suggest the war is unjust or that dropping cluster bombs from
30,000ft on a city is a cowardly act. When TV satirist Bill Maher made
some dissenting remarks about the bombing of Afghanistan, Disney pulled
the plug on him. In a country that lauds its freedom of speech, a word
of dissent can cost you your job.
I read in a paper here about a woman who held out the part of her taxes
that would go to the war effort. Something like 17%. I like that idea,
though in the US it would have to be more like 50%. If you consider
money as a form of energy, then we see half our taxes and half the US
government’s energy focused on war and weapons of mass destruction. Over
the past 30 years, this amounts to more than ten trillion dollars.
Imagine that money going to preserving rainforest or contributing to a
sustainable economy (as opposed to the dinosaur tit we are currently in
the process of sucking dry).
I give in to Woodman, and we stop for a few beers. He asks me what I’d
do in Bush’s shoes. Easy: I’d honour Kyoto. Join the world court. I’d
stop subsidising earth rapers like Monsanto, Dupont and Exxon. I’d shut
down the nuclear power plants. So I already have $200bn saved from
corporate welfare. I’d save another $100bn by stopping the war on
non-corporate drugs. And I’d cut the defence budget in half so they’d
have to get by on a measly $200bn a year. I’ve already saved half a
trillion bucks by saying no to polluters and warmongers.
Then I’d give $300bn back to the taxpayers. I’d take the rest and pay
the people teaching our children what they deserve. I’d put $100bn into
alternative fuels and renewable energy. I’d revive the Chemurgy
movement, which made the farmer the root of the economy, and make paper
and fuel from wheat straw, rice straw and hemp. Not only would I attend,
I’d sponsor the next Earth Summit. And, of course, I’d give myself a fat
raise.
Woodman drops me at home and I ask if he likes my ideas. He offers a
reluctant “yes”. As he pulls away he yells out, “But I’d never vote for
a man who can’t handle a few pints at the end of the day!”
Woody Harrelson appears in On an Average Day at the Comedy Theatre,
Panton Street, London SW1 until November 3. Box office: 020-7369 1731.
J. Perez
jay@depaulnet.net
This second response is from another reader, who has commented on my pieces in the past as well.
>>While my political philosophies might not always match that of the
>>Republican party—I still have to believe that even Bush would not
>>send troops to fight (and die) for something entirely overblown or
>>fabricated.
You’re an idealist. :)
—Best regards,
Oleg
