Blase Bonpane
Just
as a battered spouse who enables her partner to continue his abusive ways, so
we, the people of Americas continue to enable the United States to be an
incurable serial killer. The victims of the holocaust of the Third Reich have
rightfully taken the position, "Never Again". Why cannot we, restrain
the hand of our bloodthirsty and fascistic foreign policy?
Little
is said after each holocaust perpetrated by the United States. Oh, yes, Vietnam
was a tragic mistake, our government killed three million people, mostly
civilians. And El Salvador, yes, that was a tragic mistake, the United States
was in command and control of the Salvadoran Military and its adjunct death
squads. Our government denied its role in every atrocity from raped and killed
religious women to massacres of entire villages. Exposes of our direct role in
such massacres filter out to the established press some twenty years later (El
Mozote) and many respond with, "My, my, isn’t it awful?"
And
the Iran/Contra Scandal was a tragic mistake, sometimes called a
"caper". This caper of hiring any unemployed rapists and murders as
mercenaries (President Reagan thought they were our Founding Fathers) took
40,000 Nicaraguan lives. A slap on the wrist to a few obedient functionaries and
it was all over. A tragic mistake.
Can’t
you just hear the abusive spouse saying that every one of his beatings was a
tragic mistake on his part. Can’t you just hear the enabling wife say she is
sure he will never do that again? We, the enablers, continued to tolerate the
serial killing. In Guatemala it began in 1954 and continued well into the
1990’s. Our Embassy knew about all the torture, all the summary execution, all
the ethnic cleansing. Some 200,000 people were eliminated in Guatemala as part
of our on-going global holocaust. And suddenly, on a recent visit, our President
decides to apologize to Guatemala. This certainly was a unique act for a U.S.
President. In the spirit of Manifest Destiny, apologies are few or never.
Honduras,
of course, was the base for so many of our aggressive acts into the rest of
Central America. The Central Americans called Honduras, The Aircraft Carrier
because it was a permanent base for tens of thousands of U.S. troops ready for
action in all directions. Our officials were completely aware of the murderous
Battalions of Hondurans troops including the so-called "Cobras" or
special forces. Our government not only knew about these atrocities but eagerly
paid the bill with money that should have gone for educational and medical needs
in the United States.
The
Social Security Trust Fund was dumped into the U.S. treasury as if it were part
of the general fund from U.S. tax payers. It is not. Social Security is a bank
account into which our citizens pay and from which they expect a return. This
co-mingling of funds simply gives our citizens the impression that military
spending is a smaller portion of the actual budget. When Social Security is
maintained as a separate fund, as it should be, citizens can see the actual
military budget representing about half of the budget of the United States.
William
Blum’s book, "Killing Hope", documents an endless series of
pre-meditated violent acts by our country designed to stop creativity or
autonomy by other countries. Need we mention our role in the overthrow of the
government of Chile in 1973? The military figure who lead that crime, Augosto
Pinochet Ugarte was considered our friend. The fact that he was a genuine and
bona fide Nazi was not considered to be a problem by Henry Kissinger.
And
such was our friendship, perhaps it should be called fiendship with a litany of
tyrants, one worse that the next; Somoza, Papa Doc, Baby Doc, Stroessner, Videla,
Banzer, Trujillo, and it continues with our love for the terrorist state
developed by Fujimori in Peru. But vital national interests are involved here.
And what might those be? Corporate profits, multiple military bases, repayment
of debts incurred by the wealthy and repaid on the backs of the poor of Peru.
Perhaps
we forgot to mention the Christmas attack on Panama in 1989. The barrios of San
Miguelito and El Chorillo were leveled in an attempt to kidnap Manuel Noriega.
Hundreds of Panamanians were killed so we could capture their leader, who had
been previously paid as a CIA asset but who now refused to cooperate in the
overthrow of the Nicaraguan government. This must have also been a tragic
mistake and surely our government would never do anything like this again.
Remember all of the attacks mentioned here are actions of the strong against the
weak. There is no question of a fair fight, whatever that might be. 250 million
enablers are lulled into thinking that the serial killing might now stop. The
mass media which is the loudspeaker for corporate capital creates a shabby
rationale for why these massacres were…necessary. Remember Grenada? The slogan
of that stupid attack was, "We got their just in time!" Isn’t that
impressive? Sounds like a John Wayne Western. Grenada has a smaller population
than Santa Monica, California. But some Cubans were working on their airport.
And the abuser was at it again.
And
that brings up the Cuban reality. Nine presidents have done their best to choke,
kill, demonize attack and discredit Cuba Apparently they don’t want it known
that Cuba has guaranteed health care for all and we don’t. They have rewarded
people arriving from Cuba with instant legality while they have slammed Haitian
refugees into Federal lock-ups.
Why
do we put up with the abuse of our brothers and sisters all over the world? Why
do we allow our intelligence to be insulted on a daily basis by a corporate
censored media? I suppose it is because this is our Daddy, this is our
Fatherland. But mature offspring must not tolerate Daddy’s abuse. It is time for
us to confront the abuser. The nation is in the final stage of its psychotic
militarism. A CIA without any credibility is pointing in all directions saying
to nations large and small, "You might have a nuclear bomb!" Billions
go into programs to catch the bombs from other nations in mid-air. Terrorist
bombs, however, would most likely delivered by truck. And after searching for
enemies throughout the world and behaving as a serial killer, should we be
surprised by such attacks?
We
have been attacking a burned out ash called Iraq for some nine years. This is
the country we supported in one of the most serious conflicts of the 20th
Century, the Iran/Iraq War. We have recently destroyed Serbia under the banner
of Humanitarian Bombing. Even the liberals were enablers.
We
need to completely change our way of thinking. The children can help us,
especially the children of Colombia. It was a privilege to meet these Nobel
Prize Nominees. They spearheaded a Children’s Vote for Peace in Colombia. 2.7
million Colombians between the ages of 7 and 18 turned out to affirm the
Children’s Mandate for Peace and Rights. This magnificent vote took place in
October of 1997. It was a cooperative effort between UNICEF, a host of civic and
religious non-governmental organizations and most importantly, the children of
Colombia. When both the rebels and military agreed to honor the safety of the
children, the national referendum became a reality. The children were nominated
for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1998 but they did not win. The children have
continued their campaign of "constructors of peace" by directing their
attention to street violence, gang wars and creating youth, parent and police
dialogues. CNN has produced a documentary film about the Colombian Children,
"Soldiers of Peace". The premiere showing was in Culver City,
California as part of A Season for Non-Violence, Peace Jam in Los Angeles. The
documentary will air internationally this Fall.
Flying
in the face of the hopes and desires of the Colombians are various spokespeople
for the military/industrial/prison and gun complex in the United States. Here
are words of General Charles Wilhlem to the U.S. Congress:
I’m
convinced that the Government must strengthen its negotiating position, and I
believe that increased leverage at the negotiating table can only be gained on
Colombia’s battlefields.
It
is truly disgusting for a foreign militarist to propose a ground war in a nation
where both adults and children are begging for peaceful negotiations.
While
in Colombia I found the United Nations ready and willing to act as mediator in
such negotiations. Our country used the philosophy of General Wilhelm in Central
America and hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians were massacred. It was
only the United nations that successfully moderated peace talks in Nicaragua, El
Salvador and Guatemala. We simply cannot continue to function intelligently
outside of history.
Generals
take note, at the beginning of the 20th century 15% of the casualties of war
were civilians. At the end of the twentieth century 90% of the casualties of war
are civilians. It would be good for General Wilhelm to know that battlefields
went out with the Civil War. The twentieth century has been a century of
holocausts.
Now
is the time to urge President Clinton and President Pastrana to invite the
United Nations to serve as mediator for peace in that tortured nation.