The flawed "PACE" argument
As the Spanish prime minister Jose Maria Aznar is being whisked along the streets of Rome today on his way to meet the Pope in the Vatican, he'll surely remark on the profusion of "PACE" flags hanging from the city's balconies. The rainbow-coloured banners are everywhere and they certainly make a memorable impression. However, like the peace movement they symbolise, the flags are more about convenience than principle because they represent an argument that's flawed and, deep down, dishonest.
The dishonesty of the anti-war movement's language stems from its refusal to address the brutality of the Iraqi regime. How many speakers at the mass anti-war rallies in Rome, Berlin, London, Sydney and New York condemned Baghdad for its use of chemical weapons, its invasions of Iran and Kuwait, its torture and murder of opponents? How many "concerned" protestors demanded an end to the suffering of the Iraqi people at the hands of a tyranny that is a threat to its neighbours and world peace?
The current peace movement cannot claim to be principled until its adherents acknowledge the awfulness of Saddam's regime and accepts that the threat of force is necessary to compel this particular despot to disarm. Such an honest peace movement could actually help to prevent war, but most of the "PACE" leaders are content to provide flags of convenience for the usual anti-America crowd. After all, it's easier to indulge knee-jerk reflexes than to debate the complexities of global security; it's simpler to wave a flag than to confront the hard fact that talk does not impress those who have nothing but contempt for "PACE".
Diarist of the day: Denton Welch, 27 February 1948"In Gide's Journal I have just read again how he does not wish to write its pages slowly as he would the pages of a novel. He wants to train himself to rapid writing in it. It is just what I have always felt about this journal of mine. Don't ponder, don?t grope -- just plunge something down, and perhaps more clearness and quickness will come with practice."
Comments
The problem is these 'goons with guns' who were armed by both the US and the Russians during the cold war are committing genocide against their own people all over the world. The US does not have the resources to take responsibility for all of them. The fact is that the Bush family, NAZI collaborators during WWII, has been involved in the 80's in the gun running and drug smuggling around the world while George Sr. was head of the CIA and contracted with an airline owned by Jeb Bush, committed fraud prior to the election in Florida, disenfranchising almost 100,000 black voters illegally, approved the sale of arms to IRAQ in the first place. Dubya Jr. is a spoiled frat boy more suitable as an announcer at the World Wrestling Federation than leading a coalition of the free world in an effort to reduce violence around the world. No accident that this particular war promises to increase the flow of oil and reduce the price of gasoline to forestall the day the economics of alternative energy make sense. The real price is American Democracy. Several Republicans, including Dennis Hastert, have an ownership interest in a vote counting technology which will be sold to the government. Catch? It isn't auditable! The Bushees are the incarnation of the AntiChrist. Hitler was just a trial run!
Posted by: Robert E Fuller | July 8, 2003 6:41 PM