Justice
Not War:
Real Solutions for a Safer World
On September 11, the deaths of thousands
of civilians in the United States created feelings of sadness,
anger, injustice and helplessness across our nation and the world.
The victims of this horrible attack must never be forgotten, and
those who are responsible for their deaths must be brought to
justice.
War, however, is not the best response
to the attacks on the Pentagon and the World Trade
Center. When political leaders turned the people's feelings of
anger, injustice and helplessness into a call for revenge and
retribution, the cycle of violence was accelerated rather than
stopped. The war on terrorism is not an effective way to make
the world, or America, safer.
For over 40 years Peace Action has
worked for an environment where all are free from violence and
war. See Peace Action's "Solutions
for a Safer World" to find out what concrete steps
we can take to make the world a more secure place.
Read more by selecting a section
below, or scroll down.
More
Questions than Answers
Afghanistan:
The First in Line
Who's
Next?
The
War at Home
More
Money for the Pentagon
More
Questions than Answers
The US is waging a war with no clear end in sight. When President
Bush announced the first US strikes against Afghanistan he stated,
"Today we focus on Afghanistan, but the battle is broader."
The President has suggested that the War on Terrorism may extend
to any nation that aids or supports terrorism. On September 20,
the President told Congress that, "Americans should not expect
one battle but a lengthy campaign, unlike any we have ever seen."
The ill-defined nature of this war
makes it impossible to claim either victory or defeat and leaves
us with more questions than answers. How long will it last? How
much will it cost? What countries will be involved? What do we
expect to accomplish?
Lacking a clear framework, the current
war threatens to become like the War on Drugs. It could last a
decade, cost billions of dollars, and accomplish nothing.
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Afghanistan:
The First in Line
In, what seems to be only the first stage of this war, thousands
of innocent Afghan civilians have been killed and many more are
likely to die due to the bombing campaign.
According to Professor Marc W. Herod,
who specializes in Third World economic and social development
at the University of New Hampshire, the
direct civilian casualties of US bombing in Afghanistan are
"climbing toward 4,000." Afghan civilian casualties
exceed those of the Pentagon and World Trade Center Attacks.
Before the current war, Afghanistan
was already one of the poorest and most war-ravaged countries
in the world. The US bombing has halted humanitarian aid efforts
in the country, worsening the pre-existing conditions of famine,
draught and displacement. Many farmers were unable to plant winter
crops due to the bombing campaign and the spring is likely to
be grim. James Jennings, President of Conscience International,
a humanitarian aid organization, estimates that a million Afghans
may die due to the halt in aid. In addition, the number of Afghan
refugees inside the country and in Pakistan has increased by hundreds
of thousands, making an already terrible situation desperate.
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Who's
Next?
All indications from President Bush and the senior members of
his administration are that the war on terrorism has only just
begun. The administration's statements indicate an unprecedented
global military action that may not end in our lifetimes and could
include as many as 60 countries. Congress has already attempted
to expand the current war to Iraq, the US has positioned over
700 troops in the Philippines, and the US Navy is currently patrolling
off the coast of Somalia.
The current war has already intensified
conflicts in the Middle East and is likely to result in more instability.
Currently, India is using the US model of responding to terrorism
- mobilizing tens of thousands of troops - with designs on eliminating
terrorist cells within Pakistan. In this way, the US war on terrorism
has brought a long-simmering conflict to a dangerous boil. Both
India and Pakistan possess nuclear weapons.
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The
War at Home
As a response to September 11, Congress and the President have
bestowed new powers upon intelligence and law enforcement agencies,
subsequently limiting our civil liberties. The USA PATRIOT Act
(signed into law by the President on October 26, 2001) spells
out many of these new powers including:
- Expanded ability of the government
to conduct secret searches of citizens' homes
- Large scale investigations of
American citizens for "intelligence purposes"
- FBI access to sensitive business
records without having to show evidence of a crime.
The Patriot Act unnecessarily discards
many of the checks and balances that previously gave courts the
opportunity to ensure that these powers don't violate civil rights.
The government has provided no evidence showing that pre-existing
civil rights protections impeded investigations that may have
prevented the attacks of September 11.
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More
Money for the Pentagon
The President's proposed increases for the 2003 budget represent
the largest expansion in military spending in this country in
20 years. The $48 billion dollar increase alone is more than any
other nation spends on its military. At a total close to $400
billion, the request pushes Pentagon spending to a height equal
to the highest Cold War levels - a time when our country was preparing
to fight the entire Soviet Army on the conventional and nuclear
battlefields. Today we face a very different situation: the September
11 attackers used box cutters to perpetrate their attacks, not
large scale armies with sophisticated weaponry.
The President's Pentagon increase
includes:
- Three new models of fighter jets
designed to counter a Soviet-style military force: The F-22,
F-18EF, and the Joint Strike Fighter.
- The Crusader, a 42-ton howitzer,
also designed to counter a Soviet-style military force.
- Billions more for a Reagan-esque
Star Wars missile system.
A recent editorial in England's The
Guardian puts the President's request in perspective: "The
UN reckons that Afghanistan needs $15 billion over the next decade
to rebuild; in other words, Mr. Bush could buy himself a stable
Afghanistan for less than a third of his defense budget [increase]."
The President's increase will have
a long term effect on the US budget. According to Glenn Kessler
in the Washington Post, "Over the next 10 years, the administration
projects that the budget will continue to eat into Social Security
and Medicare payroll tax revenue every year, even if the budget
overall returns to surplus. This means the goal of paying off
the nation's public debt - which a year ago appeared possible
in the next five years -has been indefinitely deferred. The failure
to reduce the debt as planned will force the government to pay
an additional $1 trillion in interest costs over the next decade."
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Take Action
The current war could threaten the lives of thousands of more
innocent civilians and greatly limit the freedom and civil rights
- the foundations of our democracy-of citizens here in the US.
The Pentagon increases that the President proposes will increase
America's long term debt and an enormous military increase will
not eradicate terrorism.
The only way we can stop this open-ended
and ill-defined war is to build a strong citizens movement that
calls for real solutions for a safer world. You can help build
this movement by taking action and becoming a member of Peace
Action.
