cannabisnews.com: No Glory in Unjust War on the Weak





No Glory in Unjust War on the Weak
Posted by FoM on October 14, 2001 at 23:03:03 PT
By Barbara Kingsolver
Source: Los Angeles Times
I cannot find the glory in this day. When I picked up the newspaper and saw "America Strikes Back!" blazed boastfully across it in letters I swear were 10 inches tall--shouldn't they reserve at least one type size for something like, say, nuclear war?--my heart sank. We've answered one terrorist act with another, raining death on the most war-scarred, terrified populace that ever crept to a doorway and looked out. The small plastic boxes of food we also dropped are a travesty. 
It is reported that these are untouched, of course--Afghanis have spent their lives learning terror of anything hurled at them from the sky. Meanwhile, the genuine food aid on which so many depended for survival has been halted by the war. We've killed whoever was too poor or crippled to flee, plus four humanitarian aid workers who coordinated the removal of land mines from the beleaguered Afghan soil. That office is now rubble, and so is my heart. I am going to have to keep pleading against this madness. I'll get scolded for it, I know. I've already been called every name in the Rush Limbaugh handbook: traitor, sinner, naive, liberal, peacenik, whiner. I'm told I am dangerous because I might get in the way of this holy project we've undertaken to keep dropping heavy objects from the sky until we've wiped out every last person who could potentially hate us. Some people are praying for my immortal soul, and some have offered to buy me a one-way ticket out of the country, to anywhere. I accept these gifts with a gratitude equal in measure to the spirit of generosity in which they were offered. People threaten vaguely, "She wouldn't feel this way if her child had died in the war!" (I feel this way precisely because I can imagine that horror.) More subtle adversaries simply say I am ridiculous, a dreamer who takes a child's view of the world, imagining it can be made better than it is. The more sophisticated approach, they suggest, is to accept that we are all on a jolly road trip down the maw of catastrophe, so shut up and drive.I fight that, I fight it as if I'm drowning. When I get to feeling I am an army of one standing out on the plain waving my ridiculous little flag of hope, I call up a friend or two. We remind ourselves in plain English that the last time we got to elect somebody, the majority of us, by a straight popular-vote count, did not ask for the guy who is currently telling us we will win this war and not be "misunderestimated." We aren't standing apart from the crowd, we are the crowd. There are millions of us, surely, who know how to look life in the eye, however awful things get, and still try to love it back.It is not naive to propose alternatives to war. We could be the kindest nation on Earth, inside and out. I look at the bigger picture and see that many nations with fewer resources than ours have found solutions to problems that seem to baffle us. I'd like an end to corporate welfare so we could put that money into ending homelessness, as many other nations have done before us. I would like a humane health-care system organized along the lines of Canada's. I'd like the efficient public-transit system of Paris in my city, thank you. I'd like us to consume energy at the modest level that Europeans do, and then go them one better. I'd like a government that subsidizes renewable energy sources instead of forcefully patrolling the globe to protect oil gluttony. Because, make no mistake, oil gluttony is what got us into this holy war, and it's a deep tar pit. I would like us to sign the Kyoto agreement today, and reduce our fossil-fuel emissions with legislation that will ease us into safer, less gluttonous, sensibly reorganized lives. If this were the face we showed the world, and the model we helped bring about elsewhere, I expect we could get along with a military budget the size of Iceland's.How can I take anything but a child's view of a war in which men are acting like children? What they're serving is not justice, it's simply vengeance. Adults bring about justice using the laws of common agreement. Uncivilized criminals are still held accountable through civilized institutions; we abolished stoning long ago. The World Court and the entire Muslim world stand ready to judge Osama bin Laden and his accessories. If we were to put a few billion dollars into food, health care and education instead of bombs, you can bet we'd win over enough friends to find out where he's hiding. And I'd like to point out, since no one else has, the Taliban is an alleged accessory, not the perpetrator--a legal point quickly cast aside in the rush to find a sovereign target to bomb. The word "intelligence" keeps cropping up, but I feel like I'm standing on a playground where the little boys are all screaming at each other, "He started it!" and throwing rocks that keep taking out another eye, another tooth. I keep looking around for somebody's mother to come on the scene saying, "Boys! Boys! Who started it cannot possibly be the issue here. People are getting hurt."I am somebody's mother, so I will say that now: The issue is, people are getting hurt. We need to take a moment's time out to review the monstrous waste of an endless cycle of retaliation. The biggest weapons don't win this one, guys. When there are people on Earth willing to give up their lives in hatred and use our own domestic airplanes as bombs, it's clear that we can't out-technologize them. You can't beat cancer by killing every cell in the body--or you could, I guess, but the point would be lost. This is a war of who can hate the most. There is no limit to that escalation. It will only end when we have the guts to say it really doesn't matter who started it, and begin to try and understand, then alter the forces that generate hatred.We have always been at war, though the citizens of the U.S. were mostly insulated from what that really felt like until Sept. 11. Then, suddenly, we began to say, "The world has changed. This is something new." If there really is something new under the sun in the way of war, some alternative to the way people have always died when heavy objects are dropped on them from above, then please, in the name of heaven, I would like to see it. I would like to see it, now. Note: Barbara Kingsolver is the author of, among other books, "The Poisonwood Bible" and "Prodigal Summer." This article will appear in a forthcoming collection of essays.Source: Los Angeles Times (CA)Author: Barbara KingsolverPublished: October 14, 2001Copyright: 2001 Los Angeles TimesContact: letters latimes.comWebsite: http://www.latimes.com/Related Articles:New War, Old Tacticshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread11091.shtmlHeeding the Lessons of the War Against Drugs http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread11070.shtml 
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Comment #14 posted by qqqq on October 15, 2001 at 18:50:55 PT
..EJ...
who the heck is Dorry?,,,I didnt see any posts from Dorry?
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Comment #13 posted by E_Johnson on October 15, 2001 at 18:42:31 PT
Dorry, completely wrong
True, the Afghans ought not beat their women. The conquerer Alexander married one of them, Roxanne, a much
better idea than either bombing or beating. But we, who are so filled with hatred and lacking in sense, should
 butt out. You are not understanding what the Taliban mean to women.This is not about common variety domestic violence, any more than Nazism was about common variety European anti-Semitism.If you think it is just about "beating women" then you're showing an amazing degree of ignorance about what is happening in that country.So they aven't done anything to trip YOUR alarms.I'm ready to smack the hell out of them and if I were young enough, Id be trying to get into the 10th Mountain Division right now myself.Yeah, the Taliban aren't after American women. And the Nazis weren't after American Jews either.So maybe we should have just butt out there too?The Afghan women want us there, we have been getting numerous and unambiguous messages to that effect for three years now. 
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Comment #12 posted by Lehder on October 15, 2001 at 12:43:41 PT
Afghan Women
Under Soviet rule, Afghan women would have had far better treatment than they do today. The U.S. ought to mind its own business, even apologize, as Browne advises, for a hundred years of violent interference.The U.S. oppresses many people too, including medical marijuana users and many others - I know EJ will agree with me that women are discriminated against economically - who receive extremely brutal and hateful treatment. Maybe we should be bombed for this? Sooner or later, I believe we will be bombed.I think it is only about 2% of the population that raises all the food we consume while much that is left over is exported or simply rots or is eaten by the homeless from dumpsters. If the other 98% lounged around and did nothing at all we would be better off than we are right now with so many violent ignoramuses making trouble for the entire world and pandering to and manipulating the basest instincts of Americans. We have the wealth to create a golden age first for ourselves and, by our example, for all the world. What would it take? Wise leadership? No, only a whole lot less leadership .The Gallup poll again - http://www.gallup-international.com/terrorismpoll_figures.htmshows that 30% of Americans oppose attacks on Afghanistan and 16% "don't know." How are these 46% represented? By the single vote of Barbara Lee against presidential authority to use force? Where are they represented on TV?True, the Afghans ought not beat their women. The conquerer Alexander married one of them, Roxanne, a much better idea than either bombing or beating. But we, who are so filled with hatred and lacking in sense, should butt out. 
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Comment #11 posted by New Mexican on October 15, 2001 at 11:36:39 PT
Thanks FOM, E.J.: lets talk!
Where do I begin? E.J.s' comments:Ick sorry I had a bad reaction to this article.response: I had a bad reaction to your reaction.She's making it sound like the Taliban are those big eyed waif children in those awful paintings.response: No, she's saying killing is wrong. Period! There is no defense of the Taliban in her article. See Mediawhoresonline.com for journalistic guidelinesGiven the way the Taliban treat the Afghan people, I have to wonder if the rate at which innocent people are being killed will go up or down during the bombing. When the Talibs are hiding from bombs, they can't be out on patrol beating women to death for showing their ankles in public or teaching girls to read.response: Who paved the way for the Taliban to come to power? The U.S. and William Caseys' CIA. By the way, isn't the US doing the same thing in OUR name, killing helpless, starving civilians who've suffered under the Taliban and a 3 year drought, oh, that doesn't matter. Sounds like compassionate conservatism to me. Are we better for it, please explain why if you think so. The Taliban has alot in common with the bush league, as in religious extremism posing as government.I'll get scolded for it, I know. I've already been called every name in the Rush Limbaugh handbook: traitor, sinner, naive, liberal, peacenik, whiner. response: True, E.J. seems to be doing just that!I don't like this manipulative technique she uses here of painting everyone who might criticize her as a fan of Rush Limbaugh. She's leaving out the possibility that someone from the left might also find her naive. How convenient.response: 
What side of the left are you on, the 'right side', see: Christopher Hitchens, Clinton crotch watcher! Here's how the left feels about Americas' new war:http://www.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=74326&group=webcast, Also in Italy, 250,000 people protested the war as well, MOSTLY leftist groups.There is a better article in the LA Times this weekend about the moral catastrophe on the left in this country. That was pretty interesting. please post, I'd be interested in seeing what you enjoy. Truly. And by the way, you don't think the right is making a moral catastrophe on the right? C'mon, this will lead to a replay of Nixon, Viet Nam, Watergate, Impeachment. The Us as a world leader spouting democracy, while making sure despots and thugs rise to power with our support and at taxpayers expense, will be exposed to all, including you if you have any doubts, read your history and 
read this:Ick sorry I had a bad reaction to this article.
She's making it sound like the Taliban are those big eyed waif children in those awful paintings.Given the way the Taliban treat the Afghan people, I have to wonder if the rate at which innocent people are being killed will go up or down during the bombing. When the Talibs are hiding from bombs, they can't be out on patrol beating women to death for showing their ankles in public or teaching girls to read.Response:
Theres noone I know of defending the Taliban, and certainly not the author of this article. It bears repeating that the US is the reason the Taliban were able to take power. We currently have an illegitamate pResident and you don't seem too 
upset about that or the fact that hundreds have died already out of revenge and largely civilian casualities. I'm sure you disagree, but you're not looking very hard to find the truth so here's more reading material. http://www.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=74323&group=webcastNow we have even more blood on our hands, is that going to lead to peace, I don't see how, please explain!
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Comment #10 posted by Robbie on October 15, 2001 at 08:40:53 PT
Speaking of negative reactions...
From E Johnson:She's making it sound like the Taliban are those big eyed waif children in those awful paintings.I believe that that's you twisting her ideology into a tacit endorsement of the Taliban and everything they believe in. Should I side with Ms. Kingslover for stating what she believes in, or you for attacking her ideology with libelous attributions and baseless linking?I'll get scolded for it, I know. I've already been called every name in the Rush Limbaugh handbook: traitor, sinner, naive, liberal, peacenik, whiner.I don't like this manipulative technique she uses here of painting everyone who might criticize her as a fan of Rush Limbaugh.Ummm....did she hit the nail on the head? Seriously, E, you sound wounded.She's leaving out the possibility that someone from the left might also find her naive. How convenient.So, you're saying you're on the left? Or are you trying to create sympathy by claiming that her statements could be construed as disallowing criticism from both sides?There is a better article in the LA Times this weekend about the moral catastrophe on the left in this country.Umm, so you're part of a moral catastrophe? Or not? I can't glean a position from you sometimes. Ms. Kingslover believes that morality doesn't flow from the barrel of a gun or the percussion of a bomb, and for that, you paint her with the broadstroke of "stupid." I think I'd rather be amongst the catastrophe than the hypocrisy.What is this woman on? She can't be smoking weed, because I am smoking weed and it doesn't make me this stupid.Further proof of weed's bi-partisan effects. Tell your conservative buddies that before they arrest you, won't you?Thank you for this article FoM...nice to hear some rational voices in the ever-more hysterical din.
News you need to see
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Comment #9 posted by Toker00 on October 15, 2001 at 06:25:18 PT
She made her case quite well.
I think E Johnson missed wvery single point this author was trying to make. This woman put into words many things we all are thinking. Compassion, understanding and peace are her message. Stop the stupidity of war, and end the greed of unchecked capitalism is what I get out of it.I'm not trying to start a pissing contest with you EJ, but you took many of her points out of context. This is the first article I have read of hers, so I have nothing to compare it with. But you obviously had a pre-determined opinion of her. If you read what was said, and not try to kill the messenger, you might get more out of this article.Peace. Realize, then Legalize.
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Comment #8 posted by lookinside on October 15, 2001 at 04:55:49 PT:
she makes her case...
i was hoping that bush would be more circumspect in his revenge on the perpetrators of sept 11...it's obvious that this is another media event, designed to cover up his real agenda(oil,drug war,escalation in columbia and god knows what else)...expect the worst and be certain that the reality is worse yet...
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Comment #7 posted by freedom fighter on October 15, 2001 at 02:01:33 PT
EJ.. Should I take you seriously?
Are we men or boys in the playground throwing rocks screaming he did it??sorry if I did'nt get whatcha saying.. ya did'nt mean't to say it was the taxpayers who propped the kids down somewhere strange who been kicking/killing women??Are yu a fan of Rush who by the way is deaf now?? While we bomb big rocks into little pebbles down there, just what are we solving? Your oil problem? Wish I'm smoking some wacky weed but sorry buddy!ff
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Comment #6 posted by dddd on October 15, 2001 at 00:48:34 PT
ddddoh!
avoid close scrutiny of anything I write from here on out ......ddddang
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Comment #5 posted by dddd on October 15, 2001 at 00:45:38 PT
oops
no proofreading has caused the "hang",,that shoulda been "dang" typo.....pardon me...dddd
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Comment #4 posted by dddd on October 15, 2001 at 00:43:21 PT
yea...I saw the 60 Minutes/Rice thing
...and quite frankly,,,,it made me GAG!.............and I wanna wander a bit off topic with the followeing;...I say;"now hang on a gall darned minute".....;.....now,,dont get me wrong,,I'm all for giving aid to the families of victims of the 9/11 tragedy,,and the firefighters families,,,no problem!,,give 'em a bunch of money...but this whole thing is startin' to smell quite fishy to me....I think if someone took the time to do the math,,,with whatever figures are availiable,,,,if you divided the amounts raised,and donated,,,by the number of "victims families",and their cousins,,,and grieving distant aunts and uncles,,,,,I do believe you will find a bunch of people who can afford to pay cash for a new Mercedes!.......I am afraid these noble and honorable efforts of people throughout the country,,are being sucked up by the slimeballs that are common to such "fund-raising" activities.......I mean,,when will they say;"OK,,that's enough,,all the people have been given a hundred grand each,and you can stop raising money now"........or,,,how bout;"well,,here's a complete account of all the money that has been donated to the "victims families",,and the "firefighters grieving nephews and neices"......I like all this generous fundraising,and flagwavin' donatin',,,,but where are these massive amounts of CASH,actually ending up????????..Who knows?...dddd
 
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Comment #3 posted by E_Johnson on October 15, 2001 at 00:12:38 PT
How can this be taken seriously?
How can I take anything but a child's view of a war in which men are acting like children?So do her children beat women in public for showing their ankles? Her children fly Stealth bombers? Her children can negotiate deals with Pakistan?And um is she accusing Condoleezza Rice of being a man, or a child, or a man-child?I saw Rice on 60 Minutes and I think she's dedicated herself to becoming the Taliban's worst nightmare. If we were to put a few billion dollars into food, health care and education instead of bombs, you can bet we'd win over enough friends to find out where he's hiding.So she's proposing that we support the Taliban financially, give them all the money they need to educate boys while girls are left illiterate, to treat men medically while women are left to suffer and die without health care, we'll give them money to ban television, to beat and intimidate anyone who tries to dance or sing, to whip with heavy chains men who can't grow adequate beards, to destroy all traces of any previous culture ever having existed in Afghanistan...and then very soon they'll just all love us so much that they will hand Bin Laden over?We built them a soccer stadium and they use it for public executions.What is this woman on? She can't be smoking weed, because I am smoking weed and it doesn't make me this stupid.
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Comment #2 posted by E_Johnson on October 14, 2001 at 23:44:23 PT
The one on the left was better
Ick sorry I had a bad reaction to this article.She's making it sound like the Taliban are those big eyed waif children in those awful paintings.Given the way the Taliban treat the Afghan people, I have to wonder if the rate at which innocent people are being killed will go up or down during the bombing. When the Talibs are hiding from bombs, they can't be out on patrol beating women to death for showing their ankles in public or teaching girls to read.I'll get scolded for it, I know. I've already been called every name in the Rush Limbaugh handbook: traitor, sinner, naive, liberal, peacenik, whiner.I don't like this manipulative technique she uses here of painting everyone who might criticize her as a fan of Rush Limbaugh. She's leaving out the possibility that someone from the left might also find her naive. How convenient.There is a better article in the LA Times this weekend about the moral catastrophe on the left in this country. That was pretty interesting.
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Comment #1 posted by FoM on October 14, 2001 at 23:14:45 PT
Why I Posted This Article
I wanted to say why I posted this article. It isn't about drug policy at all but we were talking about this very topic in a thread earlier and I thought it seemed like an article that some of us might like to read. Just a different perspective on the new war.
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