Historians will look back on this disgraceful day as a turning point in the history of the world. It marks the terrible transition, no matter how long in the making, from an America once admired for its worthy ideals to an America despised and feared for its military power.
This war is not a war of self-defense. It is a war of imperialism and a crime of aggression.
How did we come to this shameful pass?
Although many reasons could be given, I am convinced that the news media bear a heavy burden of responsibility.
It is no wonder that the British public opposes the war by an overwhelming majority. Why is it so different in America? It is because, by contrast to Great Britain, our corporately controlled news has been turned into little more than a weapon of mass deception.
By the way, if you want an alternative place to get the news, let me recommend two sources on the internet: commondreams.org and truthout.org, both of which rely heavily on news reports and commentary from outside the confines — and I do mean confines — of our borders.
According to a University of Massachusetts study, the more television people watch, the fewer facts they know; and the less people know in terms of basic facts, the more likely they are to back the Bush administration.
I ask:
Would the American people support this war if they knew, contrary to what President Bush has told them, that Iraq and al Qaeda are essentially enemies?
Would the American people support this war if they knew that Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction were originally provided by the United States?
Would they support this war if they knew that the Bush administration has grossly overstated Iraq’s military capabilities and the threat they pose to our nation?
Would the American people support this war if they knew that Colin Powell’s presentation to the United Nations was based, as the world now knows, on plagiarized documents, outdated information, doctored photos, and forged evidence?
Would they support this war if they knew that Vice President Cheney’s former employer Halliburton, which still pays him a pension of a million dollars a year, is all but certain to reap hundreds of millions of dollars in the conflict and its aftermath?
Would they support this war if they knew that in the last Gulf War the U.S. deliberately destroyed Iraq’s water supply — which is a war crime under international law?
Finally, would the American people support this war if they knew that one-half of the people in Iraq are under the age of 15, that 90% of the bombs dropped in the first Gulf War were dumb bombs used in carpet bombing, not smart bombs, that hundreds of thousands of casualties are expected this time around, and that according to the United Nations a humanitarian disaster threatens the 12 million children of Iraq?
“They come from above, from the air, and will kill us and destroy us. I can explain to you that we fear this every day and every night.” These are the words of Selma, a five-year-old child who lives in Iraq.
Start seeing the children of Iraq.
“The world does not oppose America; it opposes unbridled aggression” (Marc Ash).
Start seeing the children of Iraq.
“We are looking at murder plain and simple, murder on an unimaginable scale” (Ash).
Start seeing the children of Iraq.
There is no such thing as precision bombing.
Start seeing the children of Iraq.
And then get out and do everything you can to stop this murderous war and work for peace.
Posted March 20, 2003
George Hunsinger teaches at Princeton Seminary. Parts of this speech are indebted to ideas found at thedailybrew.com.
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