The DISH
Unbossed and unbought news and information you can use
Vol.
8 Issue 11…Dedicated to the Dialogue
on Race…March 18, 2005
Woman And War
By Ella Wheeler Wilcox (1850-1919)
We women teach our little sons how wrong
And how ignoble blows are; school and church
Support our precepts and inoculate
The growing minds with thoughts of love and peace.
‘Let dogs delight to bark and bite, ’ we say;
But human beings with immortal souls
Must rise above the methods of the brute
And walk with reason and with self-control.
And then – dear God! you men, you wise, strong men,
Our self-announced superiors in brain,
Our peers in judgement, you go forth to war!
You leap at one another, mutilate
And starve and kill your fellow men, and ask
The world’s applause for such heroic deeds.
You boast and strut; and if no song is sung,
No laudatory epic writ in blood,
Telling how many widows you have made,
Why then, penforce, you say our bards are dead
And inspiration sleeps to wake no more.
And we, the women, we whose lives you are –
What can we do but sit in silent homes
And wait and suffer? Not for us the blare
Of trumpets and the bugle’s call to arms –
For us no waving banners, no supreme,
Triumphant hour of conquest. Ours the slow
Dread torture of uncertainty, each day
The bootless battle with the same despair.
And when at best your victories reach our ears,
There reaches with them to our pitying hearts
The thought of countless homes made desolate
And other women weeping for their dead.
O men, wise men, superior beings, say,
Is there no substitute for war in this
Great age and ere? If you answer ‘No’
Then let us rear our children to be wolves
And teach them from the cradle how to kill.
Why should we women waste our time and work
In talking peace, when men
declare for war?
About Me:
According to Dr. John Palo's "Little Sayings of the Great Ella Wheeler
Wilcox," this writer "did with her pen what Leonardo da Vinci did
with his brush. She had a mastery of expressing with words the play of light
and hope and creativity upon dreariness and hopelessness and
destructiveness." For more about this artist's work, log on to www.crcsite.org/Wilcox.htm.
Bring ‘Em Home!
Their cadence call
says it all: "Vets for Peace are here to say; Bring our brothers/sisters
home today; War will mean that soldiers die; War will mean that mothers cry; If
they tell you that you must go; There is something you should know; They wave
the flag when you attack; When you come home; They turn their back; Bush says
"BRING E'M ON.” But, he's not
standin' near the bombs; With soldiers' lives he sure acts brave; But he's not
standin' near their graves.
March
19, 2005 marks the second anniversary of the beginning of war in Iraq. Since
then, more than 1500 US soldiers have died in combat. Estimates of civilian
Iraqi deaths number more than 100,000. An untold number have been wounded and
maimed.
Calling for an end
to this illegal and immoral conflict, demonstrations are planned for Saturday
in cities worldwide. Poets for Peace joins Vets for Peace, Military Families
Speak Out and the global community in demanding, "Bring 'em home!"
For more, log on to www.veteransforpeace.org
or www.stopwar.org.uk)
Dr. Helen Caldicott (1938
-)
"Your tax
dollars should be used for you and your children-and not to build bombs to blow
up the Earth."
Helen Mary Broinowski was born in Melbourne, Australia on August 7, 1938. The
eldest of three children born to a factory manager and interior designer, she
decided at an early age that she wanted to help people. One of only a few women
accepted into the Medical School at the University of Adelaide in 1956, Helen
received her medical degree in 1961. She married William Caldicott, a fellow
doctor and activist that shared her passion for helping people.
In 1966, the
Caldicotts moved to the United States, where Helen became an instructor in
pediatrics at Harvard Medical School. Specializing in cystic fibrosis - a
life-threatening disease of the lungs and digestive system, she also worked on
the staff of the Children's Hospital Medical Center in Boston, Massachusetts.
In the 1980s, she resigned to work full time on the prevention of nuclear war.
In 1971, Caldicott
joined with others in forcing France to end its nuclear atmospheric testing
over the Pacific Atoll of Mururoa. Four years later, she helped Australian
unions educate members about the health dangers posed by producing nuclear
fuel, particularly uranium mining. She founded the Cystic Fibrosis Clinic at
the Adelaide Children's Hospital (1975).
In 1978, she
co-founded the Physicians Social Responsibility (PSR), an organization of
23,000 doctors committed to educating others about the dangers of nuclear
power, weapons and war. Dr. Caldicott also helped to start similar groups
worldwide. The PSR umbrella group - International Physicians for the Prevention
of Nuclear War- won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1985. In 1980, Dr. Caldicott
founded the Women's Action for Nuclear Disarmament (WAND), a leading member of
the Union of Concerned Scientists.
Dr. Caldicott
returned to her native Australia in 1987 to run for Federal Parliament as an
independent candidate. She lost in the general election by 600 votes.
Winner of numerous
honors, prizes and awards for her work, including the Peace Medal Award,
Integrity Award (John-Roger Foundation), Peace Award (American Association of
University Women), SANE Award, Ghandi Peace Prize and dozens of honorary
degrees, Dr. Caldicott has written extensively on nuclear dangers. Her books
include Nuclear Madness (1979), Missile Envy (1984), which blames the arms race
on Western civilization's repressed sexual urges, and The New Nuclear Danger:
George Bush's Military Industrial Complex (2002). She has been the subject of
films, including Eight Minutes to Midnight, nominated for an Academy Award
(1982), and If You Love This Planet, academy award winner in 1983 for best
documentary.
Currently,
Caldicott divides her time between Australia and the US. She is president of
the Nuclear Policy Research Institute (www.nuclearpolicy.org) based in California.
(Sources: www.wic.org/bio/caldicot.htm and www.nonradiation.org/caldicott/bio.html)
AWOL/Recruitment Shortfall
Without a draft
and fighting wars on two fronts, the US military is stretched to its limit
and/or overextended. To stem any outflow from its ranks, the US Defense
Department instituted a "stop loss" policy, which prevents soldiers
that have completed their required years of service from leaving. This policy
has been especially onerous for soldiers that have served in the battlefields
of Afghanistan and Iraq. In response, some soldiers have refused to return to
combat. Many are away without official leave or AWOL and have become quite
vocal in their opposition to the war for oil.
Complicating this
situation, the military has failed to meet its recruitment goals. Quite
frankly, it has not been nearly as successful as in the past in getting the
sons and daughters of poor families to sign on the dotted line. The rich rarely
serve as the foot soldiers currently needed. Blacks and women in particular
have become far less likely to enlist. In the past, the US military relied on
blacks in numbers greater than their proportion of the US population to put
their lives on the line in the service of their country. This was true for
blacks during the draft and until recently with the all-volunteer army.
However, in this
conflict, which has become exceedingly unpopular, parents and prospective
recruits are weighing sign-up bonuses against the real possibility of death and
injury in the killing fields of Iraq, Afghanistan or future arenas to
"liberate" oil-rich nations that George W. Bush and his capitalist
cronies wish to dominate. Some observers believe continuation of the
recruitment shortfall and desertions guarantee the re-institution of the draft
sooner rather than later.
The Wind of War
By John Burl Smith
Margaret
Mitchell's classic saga Gone With the Wind chronicles the euphoria
that fueled the Civil War and its tragic aftermath. The irony, devastation and
futility of war are epically etched in readers' minds. Mitchell poignantly
captured the needless pain, suffering and death reaped from such misguided hostilities.
This riches-to-rags story is all about how lying leaders spouting hyperbolic
rhetoric, irrational exuberance and white superiority led the South to utter
ruin. Pursuing an ignis fatuus, Southerners mortgaged everything on efforts to
preserve the inhumanity of slavery.
Upstaging the
start of the war with a party, Mitchell treated the impact it had on poor
whites incidentally. Unprepared for war, and deluded about slavery and its
benefits, the wind of war blew like a gale across the South. Twisting poor
whites' belief in their superiority to blacks, the wind of war made it seem
dying to preserve slavery was worth the cost. Killed and maimed by the
thousands, poor whites bore the brunt of the war, physically and materially.
The pre-war demand for cotton and lots of children were all that enabled poor
whites to maintain a subsistence existence. Winning the war would not have
improved their standard of living.
Poetic justice,
all shared the devastation and misery during and after the war. Plantations, farms,
jobs, cotton and slaves gone, returning rebels came home without limbs and
livelihoods. Unable to care for families because many needed care themselves,
the South had no help for rebel veterans, maimed or whole. Having fought the
Civil War on credit and the promise of future cotton revenue, Southerners were
forced to "root hog or die." Scarlett O'Hara's muted question, after
seeing her beloved Tara ravished by war and remembering how it looked before
the wind began to blow, summarized the South's mind-set. "What happened to
it all?" It was Gone with the Wind of war.
Today's returning
veterans from what is now a civil war in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as
prospective Social Security and Medicare recipients, are asking the same
question as Scarlett. Where has it all gone? When the wind of war began blowing
after 9-11-01, irrational exuberance, hyperbolic rhetoric and personal
ambitions held center stage. This Shakespearian-style tragedy opened amidst an
orchestration of lies about weapons of mass destruction (WMD). Patriotic theme
music whitewashed those lies to open the second act against a backdrop of
rockets' red glares. The third act began with the melodic hum of printing
presses, as Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan cranked out dollars by the billions.
No one wanted to keep count or time because the music of war sounded so sweet
in the free box seats filled with cheering corporate patrons.
Today, as after
the Civil War, that sucking sound everyone hears is the money to pay for
fighting wars on credit being sucked out of Social Security, Medicare,
education, veterans benefits and our children's future. Like Southern leaders
before the Civil War, George W. Bush infused US citizens with a feeling of
superiority in order to convince them that the US should run the world the
neo-con way. Totally unconcerned about the national debt, Bush now seems
prepared to fight still more wars on credit.
Gone With The
Wind is a love story, not just about
Scarlett and Rhett Butler. It is about the love affair some people have with
war and the pain and misery they heap upon others in order to enjoy the orgasm
of killing. More importantly, their love is so strong that they continue
sending other people's children to die in the killing fields long after the
cause is lost.
The interest on
the national debt from the US fighting wars on credit is sucking value out of
the dollar like a tornado. Devastated as a stunned Scarlett, US citizens are
like tornado victims, wondering how did it all just vanish? The answer of
course is, "It is Gone With the Wind" of war!
Disgruntled feels: Ignored! In recognition of their numerous sacrifices
and countless contributions to the betterment of humanity, March is Women's
History Month. Despite the crass denigration of black women by "bling-bling"
wannabe artists and declarations by uninformed men, such as Harvard University
president Lawrence Summers, that wish to diss women in general, we have made
significant contributions in all areas, including mathematics and science.
Women of every hue have been in the forefront of every movement that advanced
civilization. With love and compassion, women have raised their voices loudest
against armed aggression. Unfortunately, throughout human history, our leaders
have been primarily men loathe to follow the wise consul of women in this
regard. As we celebrate this month, let us recall that had men not ignored the
advice of women, the world would be a better place.
Disgruntled says:
US media are renowned for effectively creating public perception. When the Bush
administration wanted to convince the US public that Saddam Hussein's
nonexistent weapons of mass destruction posed an imminent threat to the US and
its allies, CNN, Fox News, etc. led the way in selling the planned invasion. If
the media are not peddling propaganda and advertisers' products, then the
airways and newspapers are filled with stories to shape public perception on
social issues. An excellent example is the recent wall-to-wall coverage of
Brian Nichols' murderous rampage in Atlanta, Georgia. Nichols, who is accused
of killing four people, is black. While everyone knows that fact, few people
know the name or color of the man that killed and injured twice as many people
at a church meeting in a suburban Milwaukee, Wisconsin hotel. It is no secret
that US media go the extra mile to demonize blacks.
Disgruntled wants to know: The US has more nuclear weapons and nuclear power
plants than any other nation. Consequently, with a shelf life of billions of
years, it has more nuclear waste than it can ever hope to safely store. Yet,
some US leaders and energy corporations want to build more nuclear power
plants. The country also possesses enough nuclear bombs to destroy planet Earth
and then some. Inanely, the US Congress is currently considering defense
spending measures that call for the research and development of more
sophisticated nuclear weapons known as bunker busters, which are made using
depleted uranium. Simultaneously, the US demands that other non-nuclear nations
eschew nuclear power, even for peaceful purposes, if they are signatories of
the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NNPT). As the US blatantly ignores NNPT
and international law in using nuclear weapons in Afghanistan and Iraq and
plans to develop and produce more devastating munitions, isn't it the height of
hubris and hypocrisy to expect other nations to honor agreements it openly
rejects?
Hood Notes
Depleted Uranium: A Misnomer
Depleted uranium
(DU) does not occur in nature; it is industrial waste. Known as weapons-grade
uranium, it is the product that remains after enriched uranium is separated
from natural uranium in producing fuel for nuclear reactors. DU is a heavy
metal and is used to strengthen the tips of shells, which can pierce armor and
incinerate tanks on impact.
This metal is
deceptively called "depleted uranium," which gives people the
mistaken impression that it is worthless and/or harmless. While depleted
uranium or uranium 238 may be a waste product, it has become valuable to
defense contractors and highly prized by the US military for the deadly weapons
it creates. Purchased for pennies from the US government, DU is used by defense
contractors to make "shock and awe" munitions. In turn, defense contractors
have made billions of dollars in profits by selling these weapons of mass
destruction to the US military.
Far from harmless,
DU is radioactive with a half-life of 4.5 billion years. It was impressively
deployed in removing Saddam Hussein from Kuwait during Desert Storm.
Unfortunately, US troops returned home with an odd assortment of illness
collectively known as Gulf War Syndrome (GWS). Evidence is mounting that GWS,
which includes hair loss, bleeding gums, memory loss, joint pain, incontinence
and disabling fatigue, birth defects in veterans' offspring and Gulf War
veterans' high death rate are linked to exposure to DU radiation.
Tragically, while
most of the 320 tons of DU encased projectiles were used in the deserts of Iraq
and Kuwait during Desert Storm, exposure to low-level radiation from DU has
taken its toll on Iraqi civilians. Birth defects and childhood cancers linked
to radiation exposure, especially leukemia and lymphoma, have increased
dramatically. In the current conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, the U.S.
military is again using DU. This time it is being used in urban centers,
including Baghdad and the decimated city of Fallujah.
Given its
destructive nature, DU is a weapon of mass destruction. The use of DU munitions
has been declared illegal by the United Nations, "because they continue to
act after the war ends; they unduly damage the environment and are
inhumane."
According to
several sources, the US military has tested depleted uranium at home, even
firing missiles into the Pacific Ocean. US workers in defense facilities and US
citizens living near contaminated sites across the country are unknowingly
exposed to high levels of radiation. Dr. Helen Caldicott and others have warned
of the global dangers inherit in producing nuclear energy and using nuclear
weapons. For more visit, www.nuclearpolicy.org and www.cadu.org.uk)
|| 2005
Issues || The DISH ||