Blasphemy
20th September 2002, 02:08
By Niv Gordon
I am against the war. i'm against the war wether if it's the perpetual war on terrorism, or the war on iraq. i am against the empire which controls almost 40% of the world's resources, using military ground, sea and air forces stationed in almost 800 bases around the world. i'm against the fraud which is the american foreign policy, which is said to be guided by the values of liberty, justice and democracy, when it is really guided by the greed of the american corporations.
the Bush administration is determined to overthrow Saddam and takeover the iraqi oil resources, in an attack which will take a high death toll. the democratic party marches behind the president without a single word of protest. it's about time when common citizens speak up against bush and his crazy imperialist ambitions.
my argument is simple: the administrations declares on a 'war on terror' - pure propeganda, keeping in mind the administration's affection towards the pakistani dictator - but it really undermined the democratic structure of the US. in other words, bush is using fear and agony to destroy the foundations of democracy.
here's a few facts: to fund his wars, bush is asking the congress for another 48 billion dollars for the military budget which is 335 billion dollars. now, the military budget of the united states equals to 23 times the budget of cuba, iran, iraq, north korea, syria and libya added together. all these countries have been declared by america as potential enemies. meanwhile, only 9 percent of the budget goes to education and social services and 6 percent to healthcare. so, while 1 out of 7 children in the US lives in poverty,44 million people don't have health insurance and 85 percents of the schools need to be renovated - the cost of one B-2 bomber can be used to renovate over a thousand schools.
the intolerance towards the needs of the poor is accompanied by a large growth in the authorities of the administration. civil liberties have been severed with the passing of the "patriot" bill in congress. the procedures of proper trial have been suspended in many fields, like the right for a fast trial, the freedom from arbitrary search and restrictions on the time of imprisonement. the authorities of the administrations have been expanded through the authority to inverstigate electronic media, personal documents and hard drives on home computers.
the justify its foreign policy, the president is demonizing every so-called enemy to inflame the hatred of the public towards it. these nationalist tactics are making lives much harder for muslims and arabs in the US.
Bush, who sees the world in black and white, is attacking civil liberties and the lower class in his own country. he's doing it in the name of patriotism, sick and twisted patriotism. he shuts the mouth of everyone who dares to question his logic.
so, i am against the war not only because it will help bush justify terrible acts of violence that will only increase the hate towards america in the world, but because it destroys the democracy in bush's own country. one year after the horrific terrorist attack on new york and washington, the american democracy is under fire. but this time, the enemy is not osama bin laden, the enemy is from within.
the writer is a political science professor in Ben Gurion University, Beer Sheva, Israel.
I am against the war. i'm against the war wether if it's the perpetual war on terrorism, or the war on iraq. i am against the empire which controls almost 40% of the world's resources, using military ground, sea and air forces stationed in almost 800 bases around the world. i'm against the fraud which is the american foreign policy, which is said to be guided by the values of liberty, justice and democracy, when it is really guided by the greed of the american corporations.
the Bush administration is determined to overthrow Saddam and takeover the iraqi oil resources, in an attack which will take a high death toll. the democratic party marches behind the president without a single word of protest. it's about time when common citizens speak up against bush and his crazy imperialist ambitions.
my argument is simple: the administrations declares on a 'war on terror' - pure propeganda, keeping in mind the administration's affection towards the pakistani dictator - but it really undermined the democratic structure of the US. in other words, bush is using fear and agony to destroy the foundations of democracy.
here's a few facts: to fund his wars, bush is asking the congress for another 48 billion dollars for the military budget which is 335 billion dollars. now, the military budget of the united states equals to 23 times the budget of cuba, iran, iraq, north korea, syria and libya added together. all these countries have been declared by america as potential enemies. meanwhile, only 9 percent of the budget goes to education and social services and 6 percent to healthcare. so, while 1 out of 7 children in the US lives in poverty,44 million people don't have health insurance and 85 percents of the schools need to be renovated - the cost of one B-2 bomber can be used to renovate over a thousand schools.
the intolerance towards the needs of the poor is accompanied by a large growth in the authorities of the administration. civil liberties have been severed with the passing of the "patriot" bill in congress. the procedures of proper trial have been suspended in many fields, like the right for a fast trial, the freedom from arbitrary search and restrictions on the time of imprisonement. the authorities of the administrations have been expanded through the authority to inverstigate electronic media, personal documents and hard drives on home computers.
the justify its foreign policy, the president is demonizing every so-called enemy to inflame the hatred of the public towards it. these nationalist tactics are making lives much harder for muslims and arabs in the US.
Bush, who sees the world in black and white, is attacking civil liberties and the lower class in his own country. he's doing it in the name of patriotism, sick and twisted patriotism. he shuts the mouth of everyone who dares to question his logic.
so, i am against the war not only because it will help bush justify terrible acts of violence that will only increase the hate towards america in the world, but because it destroys the democracy in bush's own country. one year after the horrific terrorist attack on new york and washington, the american democracy is under fire. but this time, the enemy is not osama bin laden, the enemy is from within.
the writer is a political science professor in Ben Gurion University, Beer Sheva, Israel.