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CounterPunch
January
25, 2003
Iraq War as
Football Game
Fourth Down
and Inches
by RON JACOBS
The Super Bowl Sunday papers are full of news
about the big NFL matchup/capitalist spectacle. Baseball being
my sport, I dont really care who wins the game and will probably
watch very little of it. The other headlines concern a contest
which is definitely not as equally matched as the Super Bowl,
but for which much more is at stake. That is the impending war
on Iraq. Mr. Powell, that great diplomat, is quoted as saying
the US will go it alone, with or without its twelve (or is it
ten) allies. The time for diplomacy, say White House officials,
is up. Now, I don't know what dictionary the Bushes (Daddy and
son) use, but Marriam-Websters defines diplomacy as : 1 : the
art and practice of conducting negotiations between nations 2
: skill in handling affairs without arousing hostility : TACT.
From my view as a peace-loving citizen
of the world, I haven't seen many aspects of either definition
one or two applied in the belligerent threats emanating from
inside the Beltway. If making threats and deadlines (that are
just plain impractical) is diplomacy, then why bother? Why not
just go straight to war whenever a country wants something from
another? That's what big mean kids do to other kids on the playground.
There have been no negotiations, artful or otherwise, between
the US and Iraq. Negotiations can only occur when both parties
are willing to negotiate and the US is on record as stating that
there is nothing to negotiate. As for handling affairs without
arousing hostility, well, I rest my case.
So, on Tuesday the world will hear Dubya
tell a series of lies and half-truths which will be his reasons
to kill people in Iraq. He will insist that this exercise in
mass murder is an honorable endeavor and important to the freedom
of the world. Many Americans will believe him, especially the
ones in Congress. After all, they are willing to grasp at anything
that would justify their timid and half-baked vote for war in
September 2001 and October 2002. It's not like there is any evidence
that justifies killing thousands of Iraqis. Indeed, a senior
administration official in the Sunday Boston Globe said that
the documents that the White House claims to have (but can not
show anyone) "do not include irrefutable evidence that Hussein
has stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction."
What this means is that the US government
is sending men and women over to Iraq to launch a murderous attack
on the people of that country because it does not have evidence
that it is doing anything wrong. I tell you, I wouldnt want these
men and women sitting on my jury. Even if the US did have evidence
that Iraq was in violation of UN resolutions, the way to enforce
agreement is by insisting that it destroy the offending weapons
and programs, not by killing Iraqi citizens.
Of course, all this assumes that the
US or the UN as it currently exists has any right at all to pass
and enforce resolutions as blatantly unbalanced as those against
Iraq. It is not the only country with weapons of mass destruction
in the Middle East. Indeed, the United States military probably
has more of these types of weapons in the region than any other
country and they aren't keeping them there for self defense.
In fact, the only reason they are there is to attack Iraq, Afghanistan
and any other country the warmakers in Washington feel it might
be necessary to destroy. Israel, too, has several weapons of
this nature. Like the US, they do not have to answer to the UN
either.
To get back to the football game, if
the rules of the game were applied between the goalposts the
same way they are currently applied in world affairs, and if
the Raiders were the US (rather appropriate) and the Buccaneers
were Iraq, then the referees would never call a penalty against
the Raiders and make up penalties against the Buccaneers. In
addition, the coin toss would be rigged in the Raiders favor,
they would always get the ball in Buccaneer territory, and they
would start the game with seven points already on the board.
Hope you enjoyed the game. Go Team!
Ron Jacobs
lives in Burlington, VT. He can be reached at: rjacobs@zoo.uvm.edu
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