Delicious
Digg
StumbleUpon
Newsvine
Facebook
Google
Yahoo
TechnoratiStigmatizing War
The moral center of humanity slowly asserts itself. Only the most powerful are too afraid to join.
You may have missed the news: At the end of May, 111 nations, including, at the last minute, Great Britain, showing the world the power of an unleashed conscience, agreed to an international ban on cluster bombs, surely one of the cruelest and, given the nature of war today, most unnecessary weapons in modern arsenals.
Among those not endorsing the treaty and MIA at the conference in Dublin where it was debated were Russia, China, Israel and, to the surprise of no one, the United States of George Bush, that increasingly isolated moral rump state of which so many are so ashamed. Indeed, the treaty is widely seen as a "diplomatic defeat" for the U.S., so identified is the Bush administration with the sanctity of its WMD.
The official U.S. stance on cluster bombs is that they have "demonstrated military utility," which trumps "the humanitarian concerns of those in Dublin," which the U.S. nonetheless shares with such passion that, as Defense Secretary Robert Gates explained in a recent policy memo, "by 2018 the military will no longer use cluster weapons with a failure rate greater than 1 percent. In the interim period the U.S. will deplete its existing stockpiles of cluster munitions with a greater than 1 percent dud rate by exporting them to foreign governments that agree not to use them starting in 2018."
Certainly there is a hellish ingenuity to the cluster bomb, which was designed for use on an open field of battle. A "mother canister," as it is called, opens in mid-air and releases hundreds of grenade-size bombs that "spew deadly shrapnel over very large swathes of land" when they hit the ground, as explained recently in the Salt Lake Tribune by former munitions researcher Dick Devlin.
And Canadian journalist Gwynne Dyer adds: "If they exploded high enough to let the bomblets scatter properly, a few well-placed cluster bombs or shells could destroy dozens of soft-skinned military vehicles and blunt the attack of an entire mechanized infantry battalion. A few hundred could stop an army corps."
Of course, we don't use cluster bombs to disable massing infantries. We haven't fought that kind of war in over 50 years. We use them now in counterinsurgency warfare, against primarily civilian populations, in such places as Kosovo (U.S.), Afghanistan (U.S., Russia), Lebanon (Israel) and, of course, Iraq (U.S.). We use them, in other words, to shred innocent bystanders.
Oh, and there's one other feature to these weapons: Up to 20 percent of the bomblets fail to explode on impact. The fight moves on, but the duds stay on the ground until someone -- often a child -- disturbs them. Then they go off. It might be years later, well after the war is over. But then, wars are never over -- and each unexploded bomblet that litters the planet is a metaphor waiting patiently to make this point.
This last property of cluster bombs is the one that has made them a focal point of humanitarian outrage, out of proportion (it almost seems) to the number of deaths that belated detonations have actually caused over the years -- worldwide, in the thousands -- relative to the total number of people, civilians and otherwise, who are chewed up physically, emotionally and spiritually in the grinding fury and stupidity of humanity's wars.
The Dublin accord creates a new international convention, to be formally signed in December, that prohibits the use, production, stockpiling and transfer of cluster bombs. While the big geopolitical players, the major devotees and users of this hideous weapon, are not a part of it, they will be affected by it.
For instance, Dyer, echoing other observers on the power of moral persuasion, writes: "Cluster bombs are now stigmatized as immoral and (for most countries) illegal weapons. . . . What the treaty really does is to shift assumptions so that international public opinion will see a country that uses cluster bombs as being in the wrong."
Great, I say, but let's expand the context. Banning or stigmatizing the use of cluster bombs will, at best, minimize one specific form of cruelty practiced in warfare. This may be an important step toward a saner, safer world. But too limited a focus could, at worst, bestow a faux-blessing on hellish wars fought with "legal" weapons only.
Governments can always find ways around specific moral strictures. The world banned poison gas after World War I, but World War II gave us the saturation bombing of cities and, ultimately, nuclear weapons.
Cluster bombs are morally preposterous because their long-term consequences reveal the folly of the short-term strategic ends for which they were employed. The principle that makes them wrong also stigmatizes war itself. Let us not stop demanding moral sanity till we get to the heart of our folly.
Robert Koehler, an award-winning, Chicago-based journalist, is an editor at Tribune Media Services and nationally syndicated writer. You can respond to this column at bkoehler@tribune.com or visit his Web site at commonwonders.com.
© 2008 Tribune Media Services, Inc.
36 Comments so far
Show AllThomas More 07-20 at 9:54 am is once again incorrect when he talks about "anti-military types with no experience of war..." If only I, unlike people like Bush and Cheney and Bill O'Reilly and Rush Limbaugh, had dreamed of what I had gone through when I was in that place called Vietnam while wearing a military uniform. Thankfully, those in the GI movement had the courage and tenacity and bravery that John McCain did not have by saying NO to illegal orders and speaking out against that unjust and idiotic conflict in Southeast Asia.
Anti-military types with no experience of war really need to get past a very tired Marxist line of thinking.
Thomas More at 07-18 at 11:16 am says that "Just remember none of those pilots planned those missions." It should also be remembered that those pilots, like other military personnel back then, also possessed brains which could and should have told them that killing innocent civilians and engaging in an illegal act of aggression against a country which never threatened anyone in these United States was forbidden by the Geneva Convention and sections 809, 890 and 891 of the UCMJ. It should also be remembered that that alleged "war hero" John McCain also appeared in a 60 Minutes interview in 1997 in which he stated that "I am a war criminal; I bombed innocent women and children."
That, of course, begs the question why McCain was never tried in an international tribunal for war crimes. Thomas More should also remember that German officials could not hide behind the excuse that they were only following orders following World War II, as many of them were hanged at Nuremberg for their offenses.
Koehler's article about cluster bombs opens with the hopeful - some might say, sappy, observation: "The moral center of humanity slowly asserts itself."
The wordy pessimist in me, says in response to Koehler:
..history shows humans are hopelessly, DNA hard wired for mutual war
..humans en masse have never demonstrated a transcendent moral center and never will
..it's only a few special individuals who have had, or can ever have, personal images and impulses toward a human-collective moral center
..and all of these special individuals' efforts have never, ever, really, changed this fallen world in any enduring way
..all that collective humanity is doing now, by decrying cluster bombs, is selecting-out one kind of weapon, to enable sanctimonious decrial of it, in order to pay lip service to a mere IMAGE of conscience, so we can then, somehow, still morally justify the manufacture and potential use of other, just as bad if not far worse, weapons, like nukes..... etc., etc.
The optimist in me is a little less wordy:
..whenever self-other conscience tries to speak in us - or through us - we should passionatley honor and feed it
..Historically, all the pain and violence humans have caused for each other has come from avoiding this dynamic of Do Unto Others, and all the sustainable progress and pleasure we have created among ourselves has come from acknowledging it.
Most people sense these fundamental truths.
After a long study of most wars since the 19th century, I believe that (1) all wars could be avoided when men act rationally and morally and (2) men will never act rationally or morally.
Ignorance is the only evil and knowledge is the only good. Nationalism and its components is probably the biggest cause of war in the last 100 years. Superiority, arrogance, pride, power, military-might make ignorant leaders elected by ignorant voters do a lot of stupid things -- including making and using cluster bombs.
Siouxrose July 18th, 2008 1:40 pm
Thanks so much. Very kind of you to comment. Pretty close to pegging me I think too. Now if I could just strangle my two fish into one..........
The numbers just mean I'm a mess then,going in all directions at once, which fits my fish!
I'll look up Cassandra's Tale @ Xlibris.com, thanks for the hint.
Pax
Is there no end to the ways in which to desicrate a human being? Bush and his gang are symbolic of the cold and uncaring minds that have power in our present day America and sadism and murder are the rule of the day. Makes one wonder just what went wrong? Didn't we grieve over the sadism of Nazi Germany? Or the sadism of Japan? We are now no better and for those who believe that the world is getting better, forget it.
Man, I am full of typoes and spelling errers today.
A while ago I sent an email to Hillary, Obama and Nader asking them to come out in favor of this ban.
Nader replied immediately, saying he's already done so and will continue to do so.
I don't think I ever got a reply from the other two; if I did, it was so wishy-washy as to be totally forgettable.
THOMAS MORE: I was thinking about the end of this age, the AGE of Pisces, fish opposing fish in this manner: One fish defines those that would like to go back, the authoritarians who crave rules and worship some supposed bygone era when things were better. (That era of course excluded LOTS of people from the proverbial table.) The other fish defines those who truly believe that we, mankind, can transcend itself, and aspire to what the courageous souls gather to work towards: Another World Is Possible.
It would seem to me that BEING a Pisces represents the embodiment of that internal dichotomy. Many of the questions you pose in this forum are really the projection of those you're asking yourself. How much do YOU believe in the old foundations, how much do YOU dare step away to envision other.
No bill, friend, but if you care to purchase my new book, an intro to the Zodiac as higher peace model, living logos of the 12-fold plan for this world and the archetypes it is peopled by and through. It's: Cassandra's Tale; Invitation to the Circle, available at: Xlibris.com
Your name beginning with the T is a 2 vibration, meaning it seeks engagement from, sometimes the approval of others. The H is a power letter, many queens--ElizabetH or CatHerine have this letter--and it moves towards $. The conservative letter here is the M which like the D (prominent in Daniel David's numerology) is a 4, which must have foundation or structure. Thus it tends to box off alternatives.
I once wrote something analyzing the basic message of first names and I think it is rather revealing. You begin on the T/2 but end on the S/1. This says you're striving to break out of the mold, the need to be validated (or respected) by others, to BE your own person. The number 1 is sovereign.
Interesting, although not applicable to you personally, is what I find around the letter K. It's the 11th digit, and likned to Aquarius, the rebel sign. Kevorkian in a prime example, unfortunately so is the KKK although that org rebels against humanity and decency. Kucinich has the letter, as does Kathy Kelly, and I look for it when someone makes a statement. The name Kevin has the K and the V which is 22. That name is truly given to radical reinvention.
There's always more (LOL) to the story, but we've had such copious rain lately, if I sit any longer I'll need to buy new jeans! Time to bike!
The old souls, many of them hippies (then or now), saw through this early on. It was always clear to me there would always be someone who had more, a better house/boat/car, etc and thus rather than DO the race, it was wiser to simply enjoy what one has.
Don't you think that even if you are in the race this is a good truth to know?
I found your remarks on numerology about number to letters meanings very interesting. How about JTM...what do you get there. You can send a bill. I'm a Pisces like Recycle 1.
One more... it's my belief that Charles Dickens spoke to this exact condition in his classic, "A Christmas Carol." The old man counts every penny, his heart closed to any act of genuine, spontaneous generosity. But when he gets to view his life from the perspective of the oversoul, a journey we mystics believe each individual takes after death, he sees the folly of his ways. Given that proverbial second chance, when he realizes he has in fact NOT (yet) died, he makes it his mission to be a better person and that comes down to sharing what he has, being of service to those around him.
DICKENS gave this allegory to human beings as an adept who truly understood, and hoped by passing on this story he'd awaken souls here in bodies to NOT make the mistake of Scrooge. It should be required reading, perhaps instead of the prayer, at the onset of congress convening!
The old souls, many of them hippies (then or now), saw through this early on. It was always clear to me there would always be someone who had more, a better house/boat/car, etc and thus rather than DO the race, it was wiser to simply enjoy what one has.
When the focus is on the individual, spiritual adepts recognize the real hunger is for a sense of purpose, a sense of connection to the numinous; and that empty vacuum can NEVER be filled by the transitory THINGS of this world. Perhaps that realization must HIT the collective American psyche soon. I believe the climate change is going to function as the grand motivational device. It will facilitate in many, a quickly catapulted trip to "the next level."
ESTEBANDIDO: Yesterday I had occasion to buy a gift and stopped into an upscale consignment shop. I began to speak with the owner about the US economy. Turns out she majored in economics, LIKED what Milton Friedman had to say; and told me the best best was always land. She proceeded to tell me how she and her spouse had bought land and how much $ they made. Their belief that you buy the worst house in a good neighborhood allowed them to make half a million on one "house flip." What intrigued me about her was there was no sense of ENOUGH. When I drove away I thought this is the problem in America. This woman didn't need to be in a shop all day, she obviously made ENOUGH $ to NOT have to work; but my sense was she was saving up for the next big win. She told me THIS was the time to buy, as so many were going under. She quoted that sage of greed, Donald Trump on that one.
I met with a client last weekend who celebrated buying properties at tax sales. I said I couldn't bear to do such a thing, take a home out from under someone who maybe owed a few thousand. She said, "If you don't, someone else will."
I guess it IS a disorder, akin to the one BIG MONEY mentions, that people HAVE all that they could possibly need, but keep on questing for more. And this actiion multiplied by millions IS a factor in Gaia's collapse. I'd love to see GRACE celebrated, the capacity to highly regard what has been given, instead of the rabid consumer ethic that like an addict, insatiably seeks after that nebulous quest for MORE.
Sadly, those who design and build these little atrocities truly believe that they are Good things, completely necessary to prevent "them" from getting "us".
I submit that the TeeVee is in part responsible for inflicting Siege Mentality on otherwise intelligent folks. I submit further that unless we can find a mass cure for these delusional mis-beliefs, we'll never have peace.
If we were under siege, it would be most sensible for an organism to adopt a new rationality to preserve it's existence. But these poor scientists and engineers have been duped, tricked, they have a disorder.
(where was he shot down, Ohio?),
Thats a HOOT!
No hit, I just asked for the records of the carrier sorties for that period last time McCain ran for President and thats what they said.
lisa3210peace July 18th, 2008 10:49 am
p.s; If I recall, Thomas More, your posts are invariably the most illuminated and well thought out on CD.
Now thats satire!!!! Thanks.
Bombing Hanoi was a waste of time, a stupid thing to do and invariably women and children were killed. Don't mistake my feelings about that. If I could restore any lives it would be the nearly million innocents that lost their lives in that mess. especially those slaughtered by the NVA and VC. I'm not sure which killed more of the innocents...us or them, not that it matters. It was terrible.
Just remember none of those pilots planned their missions.
Pax
p.s; If I recall, Thomas More, your posts are invariably the most illuminated and well thought out on CD.
So shucks, I take the hit, If you say so, I got that fact wrong.
He was bombing "infrastructure" in Hanoi. Napalm was the preferred vehicle of Mass-Murder.
If I got my ordinance wrong, I'm sorry. I know I got the fifty sorties, right,
the over Hanoi, right, (where was he shot down, Ohio?),
But thanks for the clarification, maybe you were loading the ordinance, what EXACT kind of bombs was he dropping on women and children?
Was it one's that vaporized them to red mist and bits of flesh instead of burning them?
Damn, he was a GOOD man. I'm sorry for my misconcecptions.
I hate to mention this, but none of the sorties flown by McCain and his group ever carried Napalm, so your information is wrong.
Clusterbombs are wicked. A man who sits at his desk and draws up such things should be tarred and feathered.
once upon a time, we were so few that just visiting other groups of humans was an ecstatic thrill, in more ways than one, baby. Thousands of years went by, and we got successful at what we do. Foods eventually became scarce at times, leading to War, so as to feed our children,( it seemed like as good idea at the time. )....
We have failed to play by the Goddess's rules: Take only your fair share, don't get greedy. We got greedy and have little time before the Law of Karma rectifies things. Enjoy every moment.
Cluster bombs are evil.
But it is BOMBING, BOMBS, 500 lbs of high explosives rained on civilians.
This is how HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF IRAQI CIVILIANS have just been successfully murdered.
Bombs. Like the Napalm McCain dropped on babies.
Question; Has Nader sold his Fidelity holdings yet? They are invested in Dow Chemicals (Napalm), not to mention Halliburton and Raytheon and General Dynamics.
In fact, RAYTHEON, is America's primary manufacturer of Cluster Bombs.
Sell your Raytheon Stock Ralph Nader. Or keep it, you are such a low-life.
Nice work with Fox News attacking Democrats though.
BIGGY: I think you raise an interesting question. It's the prelude to the soldier's rationale in Geneva, "I was only following orders," or in US case, "I had to make a living." Today the MIC reaches into so many other occupational zones, that many (Nick Turse did a splendid piece pointing this out in detail) are under employ to THE monster.
Your comment recalls one play by Arthur Miller... was it "All My Sons"? I forget. The premise is that a father waits every day for word of his son missing in action in war. The father sold, as it turns out, a faulty instrumentation fitted onto military aircraft; and at the conclusion of the play, he learns his OWN son went down in one of those.
Miller depicted through his gifted literary imagination how the law of karma works. It is not always that facile or transparent; but it IS always at work. THAT alone might change quite a few peoples' behavior, if they understood the nature of this universal law. The "confession booth" does not annul action or get anyone a free pass. Selling indulgences is still happening, just adapted to the modern world.
Every military action, especially occupation, that happens shows the stupidity of war. The waste of resources devoted to make the world worse through war are clear to more people every day. Even now the major reason that the Iraq occupation is unpopular is that it isn't working to enough people's benefit. The fact that it is morally wrong and violates the Geneva Conventions is not a problem to most Americans. Mass insanity.
Unfortunately, I think the moral collapse that has occurred in this country allowing the right wing nuts to destroy the few protections for citizens of America and citizens of the earth in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights will last much longer and cause more damage than the horrible Iraq occupation. The evil have been emboldened, the masses frightened and insanity increased.
There is no justification for using cluster bombs. America is wrong not to join with the other nations on this. Period.
Another star for Dick Vader and Georgie the puppet.
I believe that a better strategy to accomplish this article's title (Stigmatizing war)is the testimony of those in the Winter Soldier hearings (you can view the testimony at: http://ivaw.org/wintersoldier ).
They are men and women, officers and enlisted, all combat theater veterans and to hear their testimony is to begin to understand the destructive effect that war has on its survivors as well as its fatalities.
After watching the testimony, read General Smedley Butler's book, "War is a Racket" to understand that this problem seriously predated Bushco Inc. Butler's book is at:
http://www.lexrex.com/enlightened/articles/warisaracket.htm
I once argued that bans such as this, and the Geneva Conventions which made rules for war, were themselves war enablers. By making such rules they in effect condone war as a viable means to decide national disagreements. My idea was no rules, no holds barred - poison gas, nukes, killing prisoners - make it all so hideous that humanity would see the folly of war and end it. Like Dr Gatling and others I was too starry-eyed. Nothing we ever do, short of globally warming ourselves out of existence, will end war. The US response - we'll sell our cluster bombs on the world market - is just another example of how capitalism and war are inextricably interconnected.
ACC July 17th, 2008 2:50 pm:
"Humanity, taken as a whole, likes to fight. It likes to fight itself. Humans relish hurting other humans."
Not true. Studies have shown that humans are naturally compassionate. We get taught to fear differences and taught to hate them and be intolerant of them. Watch a small child sometime. They will stare at someone that they find interesting, but not in loathing or repulsion, instead in wonder. Somewhere along the way, that gets lost. In our brains we have cells that activate when we see someone suffering by "mimicing" what is going on in the brain of the person suffering (how this is done was probably explained elsewhere) , thus our capacity for empathy. But a day to come when there will be no more war? I have to wonder as well. All war is wrong; killing is just plain wrong. If it weren't, or if we were naturally attuned to doing such things, then why does the military have to train recruits how to kill, and not merely the mechanics used at the time?
As for our own goveernment, spitting in the eye of the world on cluster bombs... The government still makes chemical weapons, researches biological weapons (there is a nightmare!) and not how to survive them or overcome them, but how to make them and use them. I'm sure that somewhere in the pentagon there is a file cabinet, locked and heavily guarded, that has contingency plans for the use of such monstrosities. Supposedly there are no more salted nuclear weapons (google that for another nightmare) but with this administration's sick and twisted sense of "responsibility" to it's corporate masters, I'm sure they have at least one of these lying around also.
What kind of sadist would assemble these child killers? Maybe they would find something better to do if a few of the 'duds' were mailed back to their children. Something better like caring for the maimed children.
Somewhere in US of A, a factory hand is stitching together a cluster bomb that is destined to blow up some poor child who picks it up thinking it is a toy. May be it could be a family bread winner irking out a living as a farm hand to support a family in some god-forsaken place like Angola, Mozambique, Lebanon, Cambodia, Vietnam,.... Perhaps a salary of $50+ overtime would wipe all the guilt. I wonder what goes through the mind of this factory work.
In case you're on the fence, head on over to YouTube, search on "cluster bombs" and enjoy the inhumane destruction... I mean, "military utility."
it's hard to respond when an article points out the tip of a humongous iceberg. one can't possibly limit oneself to the tip only, but in taking on the iceberg, you run the risk of blowing at the hurricane.
needless to say, by refusing to relinquish the use of this evil, the u.s. govt. spits on humanity. for all the good they "may" do, representatives of this nation take leave of their conscience and defile themselves, and the rest of us by extension, with neanderthal rationalizations for the continued deployment of the most retchingly sinister weapon systems imaginable. yet they stoop even lower by having no qualms about putting them to use amid civilian populations. but as i feared it would be, even that is too tepid a condemnation. words are sometimes inadequate to convey the feeling.
Why would anyone expect a different vote from a country that uses depleted uranium munitions and White Phosphorus ("Whiskey Pete")?
War is a form of human insanity. It is ostensibly fought for several reasons, but I think it can come down to just a couple: insatiable greed (for land, resources) or the psychic imbalance of the person whose decision it is to wage war. I think Hitler would fall into this latter category. Either way war is the expression of human madness. Whole masses of people, whole societies, go forth to kill and maim and attempt to "win" or "overcome" and "succeed" at the cost of another society. Societies attach great prestige to those who achieve this aim. Madness is exalted.
Modern warfare has allowed us to drop weapons from on high, without the need to see what we are doing to our "enemy." Whether we are dropping napalm -- jellied gasoline that sticks to the skin, cannot be removed or washed off, and burns right through the bones, lovely stuff -- or cluster bombs: all those cute little bomblets (sweet word, almost like toys) filled with razored shrapnel to slice and shred your flesh, blind you, sever your jugular -- regardless of what we are dropping, we don't have to see it, don't have to feel the slightest dismay (ever see a child covered in napalm? or what's left of a child after he or she picks up one of those fucking bomblets?).
War will never become obsolete. Those of us who hate it, oppose it -- in other words, those of us who are sane -- will never be more than a minority. True, a majority of Americans oppose the Iraq war right now, but not because they oppose war per se. They just don't like this war at this point in time. Humanity is mostly insane. Humanity, taken as a whole, likes to fight. It likes to fight itself. Humans relish hurting other humans. Those of us who hate this are in the minority. The sooner we realize it and accept that we are a minority, the sooner we will be able to put in place the necessary social structures to protect ourselves. Conscientious objector status. Peace activists to try and temper the fury of the conflict. Anti-weapons people to try and ban the cluster bombs. Sane, peaceful people may be in a minority but we have some strengths on our side. We are a large minority. We are more intelligent than the warmongers, on average. We are more capable of independent thought.
We need to face the reality that we will never ban war outright. But maybe we can dilute the fury. Maybe we can succeed in stopping the warmongers from dropping 2000 lb. bombs on wedding parties. If we can stop nuclear weapons from ever being used again, that would be a transcendent achievement. I'm not real sanguine about it right now, though. These days it's like everyone has a bomb under his front porch.
Sorry for the ranting and raving. Cluster bombs REALLY piss me off.
http://www.healingmagic.org/articles/Narcissism.pdf
War and greed must become obsolete ASAP.
All high tech weapons are "morally preposterous because their long-term consequences reveal the folly of ... short-term strategic ends." I am not sure to whom we are to address our "demand" for moral sanity, and I am fearful that the "heart of our folly" is a central facet of human nature.