...and the mass graves mean...what?
At 12:25 PM 6/20/03 -0500, you wrote:
> > Published on Thursday, May 29, 2003 by the National Catholic Reporter
> > Is There Anything Left That Matters?
> > by Joan Chittister, OSB
> >
> > This is what I don't understand: All of a sudden nothing seems to
> > matter. First, they said they wanted Bin Laden "dead or alive." But they
> > didn't get him. So now they tell us that it doesn't matter. Our mission
> > is greater than one man. Then they said they wanted Saddam Hussein,
> > "dead or alive." He's apparently alive but we haven't got him yet,
> > either. However, President Bush told reporters recently, "It doesn't
> > matter. Our mission is greater than one man." Finally, they told us that
> > we were invading Iraq to destroy their weapons of mass destruction. Now
> > they say those weapons probably don't exist. Maybe never existed.
> > Apparently that doesn't matter either.
> >
> > Except that it does matter. I know we're not supposed to say that. I
> > know it's called "unpatriotic." But it's also called honesty. And
> > dishonesty matters. It matters that the infrastructure of a foreign
> > nation that couldn't defend itself against us has been destroyed on the
> > grounds that it was a military threat to the world. It matters that it
> > was destroyed by us under a new doctrine of "pre-emptive war" when
> > there was apparently nothing worth pre-empting.
> >
> > It surely matters to the families here whose sons went to war to make
> > the world safe from weapons of mass destruction and will never come
> > home. It matters to families in the United States whose life support
> > programs were ended, whose medical insurance ran out, whose food stamps
> > were cut off, whose day care programs were eliminated so we could spend
> > the money on sending an army to do what did not need to be done.
> >
> > It matters to the Iraqi girl whose face was burned by a lamp that
> > toppled over as a result of a U.S. bombing run. It matters to Ali, the
> > Iraqi boy who lost his family - and both his arms - in a U.S. air
> > attack. It matters to the people in Baghdad whose water supply is now
> > fetid, whose electricity is gone, whose streets are unsafe, whose 158
> > government ministries' buildings and all their records have been
> > destroyed, whose cultural heritage and social system has been looted
> > and whose cities teem with anti-American protests. It matters that the
> > people we say we "liberated" do not feel liberated in the midst of the
> > lawlessness, destruction and wholesale social suffering that so-called
> > liberation created.
> >
> > It matters to the United Nations whose integrity was impugned, whose
> > authority was denied, whose inspection teams are even now still being
> > overlooked in the process of technical evaluation and disarmament. It
> > matters to the reputation of the United States in the eyes of the world,
> > both now and for decades to come, perhaps.
> >
> > And surely it matters to the integrity of this nation whether or not
> > its intelligence gathering agencies have any real intelligence or not
> > before we launch a military armada on its say-so. And it should matter
> > whether or not our government is either incompetent and didn't know what
> > they were doing or were dishonest and refused to say. The unspoken truth
> > is that either as a people we were misled, or we were lied to, about the
> > real reason for this war. Either we made a huge - and unforgivable -
> > mistake, an arrogant or ignorant mistake, or we are swaggering around
> > the world like a blind giant, flailing in all directions while the rest
> > of the world watches in horror or in ridicule.
> >
> > If Bill Clinton's definition of "is" matters, surely this matters. If
> > a president's sex life matters, surely a president's use of global force
> > against some of the weakest people in the world matters. If a
> > president's word in a court of law about a private indiscretion matters,
> > surely a president's word to the community of nations and the security
> > of millions of people matters. And if not, why not? If not, surely
> > there is something as wrong with us as citizens, as thinkers, as
> > Christians as there must be with some facet of the government. If wars
> > that the public says are wrong yesterday - as over 70% of U.S. citizens
> > did before the attack on Iraq - suddenly become "right" the minute the
> > first bombs drop, what kind of national morality is that?
> >
> > Of what are we really capable as a nation if the considered judgment
> > of politicians and people around the world means nothing to us as a
> > people. What is the depth of the American soul if we can allow
> > destruction to be done in our name and the name of "liberation" and
> > never even demand an accounting of its costs, both personal and public,
> > when it is over?
> >
> > We like to take comfort in the notion that people make a distinction
> > between our government and ourselves. We like to say that the people of
> > the world love Americans, they simply mistrust our government. But
> > excoriating a distant and anonymous "government" for wreaking rubble on
> > a nation in pretense of good requires very little of either character or
> > intelligence. What may count most, however, is that we may well be the
> > ones Proverbs warns when it reminds us: "Kings take pleasure in honest
> > lips; they value the one who speaks the truth." The point is clear: If
> > the people
> > speak and the king doesn't listen, there is something wrong with the
> > king. If the king acts precipitously and the people say nothing,
> > something is wrong with the people. It may be time for us to realize
> > that in a country that prides itself on being democratic, we are our
> > government. And the rest of the world is figuring that out very quickly.
> >
> > From where I stand, that matters.
> >
> > A Benedictine Sister of Erie, Sister Joan is a best-selling author and
> > well-known international lecturer. She is founder and executive director
> > of Benetvision: A Resource and Research Center for Contemporary
> > Spirituality, and past president of the Conference of American
> > Benedictine Prioresses and the Leadership Conference of Women Religious.
> > Sister Joan has been recognized by universities and national
> > organizations for her work for justice, peace and equality for women
> > in the Church and society. She is an active member of the International
> > Peace Council.
> >
> >
> > (Leave it to a Catholic voice to speak truth. Pete Martineau)
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
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> > http://lists.OpenSoftwareServices.com/mailman/listinfo/madpeace-discuss
> >
>
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