For Immediate Release
Contact: James Gomez, Jr.
Director for International Affairs
(202) 547-3235

A GREAT NATION DOES NOT BULLY
Rev. Jesse L. Jackson calls on U.S. to stop twisting African arms
March 13, 2003

On the one hand, there is the world’s superpower, which can afford to blow up a 21,000-pound “massive” bomb, just for its psychological effects.  How much did that one bomb cost?  How many more are there?  And what if we had spent that money earlier, on fighting AIDS in Cameroon? On building schools in Guinea? On destroying leftover land mines in Angola?

On the other hand, we have the small nations of Africa, suddenly important to the Bush Administration because they have something valuable—three potential Security Council votes for war on Iraq.

Angola, Guinea, and Cameroon are the target of big carrots and big sticks from the U.S.  These three countries are poor, beset by AIDS, in need of investment and development and trade.  Angola needs help removing the huge number of land mines still active. All three clearly need the assistance that the United States and the international funding organizations that the U.S. dominates—and yet all three have so far refused to cave in to the intense pressure.

As the former Special U.N. Ambassador to Africa, I understand the vast needs that these nations have, and I know the intense pressure they are under right now. I applaud Angola, Cameroon, and Guinea for their commitment to principle, for their dedication to peace, for their determination to protect the future power of the U.N.

And to my own nation, I ask the obvious question:  Aren’t we embarrassed? The superpower of the world, trying to bribe and coerce and bully the small nations of the world into violating the U.N.Charter, a charter that the U.S. helped to craft?

If this happened in the schoolyard, the bullying student would be disciplined.  If it happened on the basketball court, the bullying player would be suspended or fined.  If it happened in the court room, the bullying lawyer would be held in contempt of court.

Instead, the United States of America, the shining city on the hill, every day is showing its contempt for the court of world opinion, as the Bush Administration blatantly tries to buy and bully enough votes to justify a war that it has already decided it must have.  Despite massive opposition throughout the world.  Despite the damage it would do to international institutions and our alliances. Despite the strong resistance and deep doubts here in the U.S.

My way or the highway is not a foreign policy.

-30-

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