The world is once again about to witness the destruction of
human life in the name of “civilization.”
“Civilization” was the driving force and ruling
doctrine the Western nations used to expand their colonial
projects. They said they did it to civilize non-Western
“un-civilized” human beings in order to give them a
better life.
However, history has taught us otherwise ““ that the
rhetoric of “civilization” was the sheath used to cover
up and maintain the West’s hegemonic power. If you think this
dark and sad era of history is passed, think again.
This time the target is the men, women and children of Iraq. In
the State of the Union address President George W. Bush once again
assured us he will attack Iraq, regardless of U.S. citizens’
strong opposition to war.
Numerous protests highlight the disapproval the American public
has of such isolated action. But this does not matter to Bush.
He said the war must happen for the sake of the Iraqi
people.
President Bush is certain the war will liberate them and create
better living conditions for their children. However, this is
exactly what George Bush Sr., said 12 years ago, and the world
knows the lives of the Iraqi people now are no better off than they
were before the Persian Gulf War.
Many Iraqi children are dying of cancer every day in southern
Iraq as the result of the U.S. depletion of 320 tons of uranium
shells during the 1991 war. Former U.N. humanitarian coordinator,
Denis Halliday, has said the number of Iraqi deaths caused by the
U.S.-led U.N. sanction is close to 600,000.
Bush has charged Hussein with killing and torturing his own
people. Is there a difference in principle between human rights
violations perpetrated by Saddam Hussein and those committed by the
U.S. government and its allies?
Bush also said he wants to stabilize the Middle East, but
continues to supply arms to Israel, who is killing
Palestinians.
Turkey has killed more than 30,000 Kurds and continues to be a
staunch ally of the United States. Yet only Iraq is blamed for
being the greatest threat to democracy in the Middle East.
Waging a war against Iraq will not really free the Iraqi
population from dire poverty. The United Nations has reported that
a war on Iraq could injure more than 500,000 Iraqis and create
nearly a million refugees. These are the very same lives that Bush
is claiming to liberate.
When Bush waged the war “Operation Enduring Freedom”
as he proudly called it on Afghanistan, he promised the liberation
and equality for Afghan women. However, those women were among more
than 3,000 Afghan civilians killed in the name of the “war on
terror.” Now there are millions of Afghan refugees who hardly
have enough food and water to survive.
Americans should not tolerate this kind of hypocrisy. We should
not be blindly patriotic; we should be critically patriotic. Being
patriotic means respecting the constitutional values and rights the
nation affords us, not averting our eyes from unjust acts, even if
they are acts of our own government.
Americans must not accept the bloodshed of innocent Iraqi
civilians as inevitable “collateral damage” and
“necessary evil.” No more blood should be spilled in
the name of freedom.
Kim is a fifth-year political science student.