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Charles Mercieca, Ph.D.
President, International Association of Educators for World Peace
Dedicated to United Nations Goals of Peace Education,
Environmental Protection, Human Rights & Disarmament
Professor Emeritus, Alabama A&M University
The general elections which took place in the latter part of 2006 in the United States were quite providential. The American people made it clear that the time for the Bush war agenda to go down the drain has arrived. The Republican foreign belligerent policies have caused the destruction of the infrastructure of several cities and the brutal massacre of tens of thousands of innocent people in both Afghanistan and Iraq.
Creation of the Triune God of Evil
Besides, the Bush war mentality gave the weapons industry the opportunity to manufacture a tremendous amount of deadly weapons that were furnished to numerous countries. This way the waging of continuous struggles and wars would become the new characteristic of the 21st century. Instead of using the human and natural resources for a positive and constructive intent, George W. Bush used them primarily for negative and destructive purposes.
He surrounded himself mostly by warmongers headed by his deputy Dick Cheney and defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld. These three together functioned like a triune god of evil. They shared in common quite a few conspicuous negative qualities. For example, they would listen to no one if what presented happens to be not in line with their way of thinking. They firmly believed that the world would respect the United States if they ruled form a position of strength. This led to the development of the cowboy diplomacy.
While they would dialogue with those who are viewed as allies, they would hesitate to talk with any of those who are viewed as enemies. They turned the institution of the military into a tool that they could use at leisure to get by brutal force what they could not get by diplomatic means. Besides, they firmly believed that what they wanted was always the “right” thing for the United States, even if the vast majority of Americans were to become vociferous and demonstrate against their dangerous political agenda.
The invasion of Iraq was considered in the world at large as a grave political mistake from the outset. It violated the rules of the Geneva Convention since it has been proven that Iraq constituted no threat to the United States. The reasons given to justify the invasion of Iraq by this trio of evil were proven to be all false. There were no weapons of mass destruction and the problems Iraq faced were all internal. Ironically, most of these problems stemmed from the many years of embargo the United States put against Iraq, which affected the lives of more than one million Iraqis.
Efforts to Prevent the Iraqi War
Pope John Paul II warned the US President three times not to invade Iraq. This saintly religious leader stressed that such an invasion would instigate more terrorism that would move the entire region into an unbearable quagmire. Today the whole world is witnessing this prophetic prediction being fulfilled. Besides, the much revered Nelson Mandela of South Africa came even stronger stating that at this stage of history the United States has emerged to become the most dangerous country on earth. This South African diplomat proved also to be prophetic when the US President developed the policy of pre-emptive strikes.
This policy means that the USA reserves the right to attack any country without warning if it judges that it would be in its best interest. What does the US President mean by United States? Does he mean the American people or does he mean, within the context, the U.S. big corporations which nowadays control everything one can imagine including the US government? This pre-emptive strike policy has rendered all peace agreements that were ever made in history between governments thoroughly null and void.
Needless to say, the alternative we now face in the world is chaos everywhere, thus creating a situation where the right hand never knows what the left hand is doing! Under the guise of national defense and security, the American people have been deprived considerably from most of their traditional freedoms. Such freedoms would include freedom of demonstrations and speech. On more than one occasion, good men and women, that included clergymen and nuns, were arrested for demonstrating peacefully against the Iraqi war.
The US Secretary of Education appointed by President Bush, for example, referred to the National Education Association as a terrorist organization. The members of this organization are teachers and professors at all level of education. It has been viewed as dangerous simply because it advocated the promotion of peace and the elimination of war. Moreover, the American people lost their freedom of movement, of traveling anywhere in the world where they wish.
Americans are prohibited to visit Cuba, Iraq, and Iran in addition to others. Earlier in 2006 a small group of Baptist preachers from Alabama visited their Baptist counterparts in Cuba to pray together as brothers and sisters, as children of the same God the Father. As soon as they returned to the USA, they were fined $54,000 dollars for visiting Cuba. This is the new American freedom that developed under the said trio of evil mentioned earlier.
Universal Negative Feelings
What is being stated here reveals the exposition of a tangible reality that needs to be brought fully into the open for everyone to see and to comprehend. This way an opportunity would be created to have the situation reversed as to enable all Americans regain back their traditional freedoms. In the August 2006 Newsletter of London Diplomatic Academy, which is well written and quite impressive, one American member of this institution wrote an open letter to Dick Cheney, the US Vice President. Since it was brief we may have it printed here.
Looking into a Hopeful Future
Above all, the American people could not withstand any longer the continuous deceit of their government relative to the continued American waging of struggles and wars. They fully realized that the invasion of Iraq was a grave mistake that took the lives of some 3,000 young Americans and over 600,000 innocent Iraqis consisting mostly of women, children, the elderly and the sick. Besides, tens of thousands, of both Americans and Iraqis have been maimed unnecessarily with legs and arms amputated while others have become disfigured for the rest of their lives.
The Democrats campaigned with an agenda that was quite a contrast from that of the Republicans. It basically boiled down to the Iraqi war. The American people, as well as the rest of the world, are expecting the Democrats to provide a strong leadership that would lead the entire nation and the rest of the world to a permanent peace, the sooner the better. To this end, the Democrats are expected to take immediately the following drastic steps:
1. Cutting down now additional funding to the Iraqi war by all means.
2. Starting to pull American troops out of Iraq without further delay.
3. Letting the United Nations take over to bring stability in Iraq.
4. Bringing all US troops out of Iraq within three months after the Democrats take control, that is, by the middle of April 2007 at the very latest.
5. Avoiding solving war issues of global magnitude by the waging of any war under no circumstance whatsoever.
On this last point, Pope Benedict XVI made it clear that war is no longer justified by all means. The waging of any war is immoral and should be viewed as a crime against humanity. In view of this, the time has arrived where the role of the military needs to be changed from one of waging war to one of promoting peace, from one of destruction to one of construction, from a curse to humanity to an asset to the entire human race. The Democrats in the USA can make such things happen and they are expected to become a fresh start for world peace.
President, International Association of Educators for World Peace
Dedicated to United Nations Goals of Peace Education,
Environmental Protection, Human Rights & Disarmament
Professor Emeritus, Alabama A&M University
The general elections which took place in the latter part of 2006 in the United States were quite providential. The American people made it clear that the time for the Bush war agenda to go down the drain has arrived. The Republican foreign belligerent policies have caused the destruction of the infrastructure of several cities and the brutal massacre of tens of thousands of innocent people in both Afghanistan and Iraq.
Creation of the Triune God of Evil
Besides, the Bush war mentality gave the weapons industry the opportunity to manufacture a tremendous amount of deadly weapons that were furnished to numerous countries. This way the waging of continuous struggles and wars would become the new characteristic of the 21st century. Instead of using the human and natural resources for a positive and constructive intent, George W. Bush used them primarily for negative and destructive purposes.
He surrounded himself mostly by warmongers headed by his deputy Dick Cheney and defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld. These three together functioned like a triune god of evil. They shared in common quite a few conspicuous negative qualities. For example, they would listen to no one if what presented happens to be not in line with their way of thinking. They firmly believed that the world would respect the United States if they ruled form a position of strength. This led to the development of the cowboy diplomacy.
While they would dialogue with those who are viewed as allies, they would hesitate to talk with any of those who are viewed as enemies. They turned the institution of the military into a tool that they could use at leisure to get by brutal force what they could not get by diplomatic means. Besides, they firmly believed that what they wanted was always the “right” thing for the United States, even if the vast majority of Americans were to become vociferous and demonstrate against their dangerous political agenda.
The invasion of Iraq was considered in the world at large as a grave political mistake from the outset. It violated the rules of the Geneva Convention since it has been proven that Iraq constituted no threat to the United States. The reasons given to justify the invasion of Iraq by this trio of evil were proven to be all false. There were no weapons of mass destruction and the problems Iraq faced were all internal. Ironically, most of these problems stemmed from the many years of embargo the United States put against Iraq, which affected the lives of more than one million Iraqis.
Efforts to Prevent the Iraqi War
Pope John Paul II warned the US President three times not to invade Iraq. This saintly religious leader stressed that such an invasion would instigate more terrorism that would move the entire region into an unbearable quagmire. Today the whole world is witnessing this prophetic prediction being fulfilled. Besides, the much revered Nelson Mandela of South Africa came even stronger stating that at this stage of history the United States has emerged to become the most dangerous country on earth. This South African diplomat proved also to be prophetic when the US President developed the policy of pre-emptive strikes.
This policy means that the USA reserves the right to attack any country without warning if it judges that it would be in its best interest. What does the US President mean by United States? Does he mean the American people or does he mean, within the context, the U.S. big corporations which nowadays control everything one can imagine including the US government? This pre-emptive strike policy has rendered all peace agreements that were ever made in history between governments thoroughly null and void.
Needless to say, the alternative we now face in the world is chaos everywhere, thus creating a situation where the right hand never knows what the left hand is doing! Under the guise of national defense and security, the American people have been deprived considerably from most of their traditional freedoms. Such freedoms would include freedom of demonstrations and speech. On more than one occasion, good men and women, that included clergymen and nuns, were arrested for demonstrating peacefully against the Iraqi war.
The US Secretary of Education appointed by President Bush, for example, referred to the National Education Association as a terrorist organization. The members of this organization are teachers and professors at all level of education. It has been viewed as dangerous simply because it advocated the promotion of peace and the elimination of war. Moreover, the American people lost their freedom of movement, of traveling anywhere in the world where they wish.
Americans are prohibited to visit Cuba, Iraq, and Iran in addition to others. Earlier in 2006 a small group of Baptist preachers from Alabama visited their Baptist counterparts in Cuba to pray together as brothers and sisters, as children of the same God the Father. As soon as they returned to the USA, they were fined $54,000 dollars for visiting Cuba. This is the new American freedom that developed under the said trio of evil mentioned earlier.
Universal Negative Feelings
What is being stated here reveals the exposition of a tangible reality that needs to be brought fully into the open for everyone to see and to comprehend. This way an opportunity would be created to have the situation reversed as to enable all Americans regain back their traditional freedoms. In the August 2006 Newsletter of London Diplomatic Academy, which is well written and quite impressive, one American member of this institution wrote an open letter to Dick Cheney, the US Vice President. Since it was brief we may have it printed here.
-
Dear Vice President Cheney:
I cannot recall a time in my 69 years of life that I have felt that this country has been so incompetently served by its executive branch as now. This President is clueless and you are troubled. The illegal use of classification in both the telephone and internet surveillance matter as well as in matter of monitoring overseas banking transactions is most illustrative. What you have done in both cases is used classification to exceed any legitimate legal reach the White House has. That is in and of itself a violation of US law pertaining to the use of classification. Hence your scolding the New York Times for publishing the later matter is little more hypocritical buffoonery.
America has never been a perfect country but it has usually been able to gather and sustain a reasonable degree of international respect. At this moment in time we are no longer respected but instead we are feared because of the destruction we could unleash and despised for our arrogance and absolute lack of concern for any people save ourselves …… a people unwilling to serve, unwilling to share, and most importantly unable and unwilling to see ourselves honestly.
For as long as you and the President remain in office America cannot expect to regain its self-respect. One can only hope that G od will in some meaningful way intervene to halt your continuing erosion of the separation of powers and of the sacred civil rights which our forefathers bequeathed to us.
With disgust,
Dr. Ronald Ribble, Member, London diplomatic Academy
Paseo de la Castellana, 190 – 1 A, Madrid 28046, Spain
Looking into a Hopeful Future
Above all, the American people could not withstand any longer the continuous deceit of their government relative to the continued American waging of struggles and wars. They fully realized that the invasion of Iraq was a grave mistake that took the lives of some 3,000 young Americans and over 600,000 innocent Iraqis consisting mostly of women, children, the elderly and the sick. Besides, tens of thousands, of both Americans and Iraqis have been maimed unnecessarily with legs and arms amputated while others have become disfigured for the rest of their lives.
The Democrats campaigned with an agenda that was quite a contrast from that of the Republicans. It basically boiled down to the Iraqi war. The American people, as well as the rest of the world, are expecting the Democrats to provide a strong leadership that would lead the entire nation and the rest of the world to a permanent peace, the sooner the better. To this end, the Democrats are expected to take immediately the following drastic steps:
1. Cutting down now additional funding to the Iraqi war by all means.
2. Starting to pull American troops out of Iraq without further delay.
3. Letting the United Nations take over to bring stability in Iraq.
4. Bringing all US troops out of Iraq within three months after the Democrats take control, that is, by the middle of April 2007 at the very latest.
5. Avoiding solving war issues of global magnitude by the waging of any war under no circumstance whatsoever.
On this last point, Pope Benedict XVI made it clear that war is no longer justified by all means. The waging of any war is immoral and should be viewed as a crime against humanity. In view of this, the time has arrived where the role of the military needs to be changed from one of waging war to one of promoting peace, from one of destruction to one of construction, from a curse to humanity to an asset to the entire human race. The Democrats in the USA can make such things happen and they are expected to become a fresh start for world peace.