| ||||||||||||||
|
Local News & Opinion
Ref. : Local Newsbriefs Travel
Letters
Ref. : Letters to the editor Open Letters:
03.05 Open Letter to Congressman Bart Stupak Health & Environment
Video National Health Care Systems In Other Countries 03.20 The Death of American Populism 03.18 Pressure Drop: Brave Sir Dennis Ran Away 03.12 Slick Barry and the $100-Billion Medicaid/Medicare Fraud Claim 03.09 Kill Bill: Death to Obamacare! 03.09 Obama’s Rhetoric May Be “Fiery,” But His Health Care Reform Is Still Lukewarm Media Watching
03.17 CNN Scrapes Bottom of Right-Wing Barrel With Erickson Hire 03.16 WPost Blames Obama First, on Israel 03.16 Letter to the New York Times' Editor: Stovepiping To Persia 03.12 Cud and Complicity: Burying the Alternatives to Empire's Dominion 03.11 NYT and the ACORN Hoax 03.05 Sorry, Rove, Bush Did Lie About Iraq 03.03 It's Snow News 03.03 The Woeful Washington Post Ref. : The Daily Howler Legal Matters
02.26 America's Supremes: Court Over Constitution US Politics, Policy & Culture
03.11 Power Rangers: Policing the System With the "Fightin' Progressives" 03.09 Thinking About Countings 03.07 Unnatural Acts: Breaking the Fever of Militarism 02.25 Future Shock: A Better World Beyond the Imperium High Crimes?
03.19 Israel's Troubling Tilt Toward Apartheid 03.18 The Lawfare Project's Anti-Democratic Agenda 03.16 America's Secret Prisons 03.13 Palestinian Dispossession in East Jerusalem 03.12 Israeli Settlement Expansions Continue 03.11 Brutalizing Palestinian Children 03.08 The Russell Tribunal on Palestine: Barcelona Session 03.05 Targeting Israeli Apartheid 03.01 America's Permanent War Agenda 02.25 Global Sweatshop Wage Slavery Economics & Business Non/Mis/Malfeasance
03.19 The Growing Movement For Publicly-Owned Banks 03.19 America's "Houdini Recovery" under IMF-Type Austerity 03.14 The Crisis in America's Telecommunications Network 03.09 The Business of Water: Privatizing An Essential Resource 03.05 Is the Recovery Real? 03.04 IMF-Style Austerity Measures come to America: What “Fiscal Responsibility” Means To You 03.04 Barry C. Lynn's "Cornered: The New Monopoly Capitalism and Economics of Destruction" 03.01 Thinking About Fees International
03.15 Peace Process Hypocrisy: Stillborn from Inception 03.03 Muslim Disunity 03.02 Funding Israeli Militarism, Belligerence and Occupation 02.26 Iran Captures a 'Good' Terrorist We are a non-profit Internet-only newspaper publication founded in 1973. Your donation is essential to our survival.
|
OPINION:It's Not WarBut if one views American life more broadly, one sees a dramatic disconnect with Bush's words and assertions of power. America doesn't feel like it's under siege. "Everything" hasn't changed since 9/11.
Last weekend I watched my daughter Emily perform in a play about women who replaced men in factory jobs during World War II. The theme of "American Rosies" is that the war was such a dominant fact of life that these women were determined to participate. Going to work making military equipment was their best opportunity. The characters spoke of the disruption of normal life, typified by separation from their husbands and the rationing of food, gasoline, and other consumer goods. The war was topic No. 1, and everything else took a back seat.This got me wondering why things are so different today. We are said to be not just in a war, but At War. President Bush tells us that in the "war on terror" our very civilization is at stake. "The war on terror is more than a military conflict— it is the decisive ideological struggle of the 21st century. And we're only in its opening stages," Bush said in his September 7 speech in Atlanta. The president has tried hard to sell this theme since 9/11. Consistent with this, he calls himself a "war president" and has claimed extraordinary powers, such as the power to declare anyone an "unlawful enemy combatant," hold such a person indefinitely, torture him, and suspend habeas corpus for noncitizens. Judging by all this, one might certainly think that for the foreseeable future American society is in a fight for its life. But if one views American life more broadly, one sees a dramatic disconnect with Bush's words and assertions of power. America doesn't feel like it's under siege. "Everything" hasn't changed since 9/11. When he's not stoking the war rhetoric, Bush -- inconsistently -- is telling us to go about our normal lives. And that is quite easy to do. We are issued no ration tickets. There is no military draft. And no special wartime restrictions hamper our movement or other activities. For now at least, we can speak our minds even in dissent. So are we At War or not? The answer is no, certainly not in the way Bush means it. Other commentators have noticed the disconnect, but most of them have gone on to urge Bush to demand sacrifices from the American people, such as higher taxes. Some even call for a draft, which would end all pretense that we live in a free society. The apocalyptic War is a fiction. What danger exists grows out of resentment against years of U.S. intervention in the Middle East, not a desire to destroy American society.
In contrast, I think the disconnect demonstrates that the apocalyptic War is a fiction. What danger exists grows out of resentment against years of U.S. intervention in the Middle East, not a desire to destroy American society. A noninterventionist foreign policy could reduce that danger. But the rulers won't abandon interventionism. Too many political and economic interests are at stake.Bush must know that what he says about the conflict is not true. There is no other way to explain why he has not asked for "sacrifices." He realizes that if he imposes sacrifices, the fragile support for his "war on terror" will evaporate. He once enjoyed support for his war in Iraq, but that vanished as mounting casualties and increasing violence produced a sense of quagmire. What we call terrorism is not war, but criminal action. It becomes war only if we make it so.
America is not under siege. There is no threat to its integrity as a society. No barbarians stand at the gates ready to overrun and subjugate us. What we call terrorism is not war, but criminal action. It becomes war only if we make it so. But war exacts a terrible cost on the country that prosecutes it. If you need proof, see the Military Commissions Act of 2006.
Sheldon Richman is senior fellow at The Future of Freedom Foundation (fff.org) and editor of The Freeman magazine.
Copyright © 2006 The Baltimore Chronicle. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Baltimore Chronicle content is expressly prohibited without their prior written consent. This story was published on October 10, 2006. |
| ||||||||||||