Remembering the Children

by Archie Mon Aug 07, 2006 14:36

20 folks gathering at the memorial in Merrion Square on the 61st. atomic bombing of Hiroshima. Folks came from CND, Pax Christi, Church of Ireland, Quakers, Unmanageables, Catholic Worker & Ploughshares.

Cards to anti-war prisoners were signed with messages of solidarity, A circle was formed and reflections on Hiroshima and the present state of nuclear warfare preperations were shared. The gathering closed with a minute's silence for the dead of Hiroshima, Nagasaki and all those killed in the preparations for nuclear war.

by MichaelY - iawm Mon Aug 07, 2006 14:55

Well done Unamanageables

As anti-war activists are preparing for another demonstration tomorrow, a horrific massacre took place in Houla village on Monday afternoon as a result of the intentional Israeli bombardment that resulted in more than 40 deaths of innocents," Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora told an emergency Arab foreign ministers meeting in Beirut an hour ago.

How many more must die ? How many more families must be forced to leave their homes and their land ? How many more refugees - and how many more empty words of regret from the Israeli side? When will the so-called 'international community' take a courageous step and tell Israel that the killing must stop?

Is this the foundation of Bush's and Rice's 'new Middle East'? And how long before when another senseless soldier of the Empire comes to this thread and tells us it's all Hezbollah's or the Palestinians fault? How long before this massacre becomes 'a tragedy' and 'a mistake'?

Hope as many activists turn up at 6 tomorrow Tuesday in front of the Israeli Embassy...march will go to the US Embassy....both are in Ballsbridge - close to Jury 's. Lets show our anger and tell them how we feel!

by hizbollah Mon Aug 07, 2006 15:09

Hizbollah guerrillas had earlier in the day attacked Israeli forces from the village, wounding five soldiers.

You left out a very important piece as per above, also that the people had (refused to leave) during the ceasefire. hmmzzz very **innocent** or hostages of the hizbollah, you decide

by MichaelY - iawm Mon Aug 07, 2006 15:19

And how long before when another senseless soldier of the Empire comes to this thread and tells us it's all Hezbollah's or the Palestinians fault?

It took less than 10 mins!

We are now told that when the invading Army, supposedly, tells you to leave your homes and become a refugee - you must obey! Otherwise your life is in danger! And if you stay put you're a sitting target of the forces of what Blair calls 'democracy. justice and understanding'.

by redjade Mon Aug 07, 2006 15:20

'also that the people had (refused to leave) during the ceasefire'

the people of southern Lebanon or the people of Northern Israel?

which refused to leave?

One of the two has bridges and other infrastructure available to them to leave - the other does not.

Are the reasons that there are still civilians in Norther Israel the same as why there are still civilians in southern Lebanon?

by iosaf Mon Aug 07, 2006 15:36

I saw a TV newsclip of a protest somewhere in the last week where people threw childrens' shoes at an Israeli (or it could better have been a US) embassy. quite something the usual police cordon and little shoes going overhead and piling up on the street behind.

by omg Mon Aug 07, 2006 15:39

We are now told that when the invading Army, supposedly, tells you to leave your homes and become a refugee - you must obey!

Well when its crawling with hizbollah soldiers, it would be wise to do so, wouldnt you agree? Houla is located in southern Lebanon, only a few kilometers from the Israeli border

05:40 Hezbollah statement: 4 Israeli soldiers killed, including officer, in clashes on outskirts of Houla

by Chris Murray - The Unmanageables Mon Aug 07, 2006 15:49

Mr Ahern,

After weeks of war in the Lebanon, the Irish government and you in you capacity as leader of that government have refused to condemn the war. You have rightly condemned civilian casualites
and sought political resolution through the offices of the U.N.

We believe that war is failure and your silence in relation to the U.S foreign policy
of "if you are not with us, you are against us" , through the ongoing re-fueling and
rendition flights at Shannon airport and the U.S green light for incursion and
beligerence has made us, as a society complicit in that foreign policy.

We condemn the was. We ask for immeadiate cease-fire on both sides, and we, today,
stand in solidarity with the jewish people, the people of Palestine and the people of
Lebanon who are victims of that failure.

signed, The Unmanageables (August 6th 2006)

*Anti-war, as we said earlier in the week, is anti-war, it is a refusal to take sides.
Agit-prop is symbolic action.
Other's can create their own, this was ours.

16 people did the Military parade with us. This is what we will continue to do.

by roffles Mon Aug 07, 2006 16:04

02:25 Hezbollah in fierce battles for past half hour with Israeli forces that tried to advance towards Houla

05:40 Hezbollah statement: 4 Israeli soldiers killed, including officer, in clashes on outskirts of Houla

Take ALL the news in correct order and a very different picture appears

AMAZING

by MichaelY - iawm Mon Aug 07, 2006 16:31

What makes this picture - the parts of it.

We are in the fourth week of invading a country. In the words of its supporters, near a village, the world's 4th best "moral" army fights a battle with an insurgent force.
The moral force for justice has 4-5-6 (?) soldiers wounded. Next the sky comes in and over 40 civilians are butchered.
What an amazing picture.....

by lol Mon Aug 07, 2006 16:48

what you fail to understand because you have never been to Houla, never mind the middle east is that Houla is located on very very steep ground---the Israelis were making there way UP the hill towards Houla and came under immense fire FROM bunkers IN and AROUND Houla, also 40 is an exagaration, as per usual just like the 54 was knock 50% off it and your in the correct ball park.

Hizbollah THEMSELVES released press statements announcing that they were DEFENDING Houla thus making it a TOTALLY LEGITIMATE TARGET for the IDF, especially as they were getting LACED with RPG fire from the buildings IN Houla

The UN themselves were through this area encouraging people to evacuate DAYS AGO(and giving transport OUT) as it was GUARENTEED to be a HOTSPOT as hizbollah had BUNKERS all over the shop(one next to an UN Outpost) LOL...wonder what the UN said when it was being built--ohh look another big bunker going up by an illeagal militia, nice. hahaha...
Anyone left there was COMPLICIT or an IDIOT

by omg Mon Aug 07, 2006 17:17

There was no immediate confirmation of the deaths by the joint Lebanese army and police unit operating in the area. Witnesses told local TV stations that an air strike had flattened five multi-storey homes in a tribal compound. United Nations peacekeepers at a post near Houla reported that Hezbollah had fired rockets towards Israel twice today, from positions near the UN base.

The Israeli army said that it was checking the claims about Houla, but repeated that residents in villages in southern Lebanon had been warned to leave.

SURPRISE SUPRISE, the PM was at the arab conference when he released a statement that his own police and army units in the area cannot confirm, nor can the UN which have a base next to Houla(They can confirm rockets flying out of Houla into Israel however)

by UPDATE Mon Aug 07, 2006 17:40

BEIRUT, Lebanon - The Lebanese prime minister said one person was killed in an Israeli air raid Monday in the southern border village of Houla, lowering the death toll from 40. Prime Minister Fuad Saniora said at a news conference that he had based the initial tally on unspecified information that he had received.

He offered no other explanation for the error.

WOW IMAGINE WHY HE SAID 40 AT THE ARAB CONFERENCE!! WITH TEARS IN HIS EYES....

by some photog Mon Aug 07, 2006 20:59

.

by Briz Catholic Worker Mon Aug 07, 2006 23:05 Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

http://melbourne.indymedia.org/news/2006/08/118795.php

by Arthur Tue Aug 08, 2006 01:38

Any protest against the murders in of children is to be commended and shows there is still some nature in some people in our dumbed down western society. What appears to be happening, and may not be avoidable is we are now on a death path with no viable answers, other than more of the carnage repeat of history with the benefit of 21st century technology to assist us on this path of moral and principled destruction. We have seen this in the failure of the British, American, and Israel at the UN to call for an immediate ceasefire after the deaths in Lebanon of the murdered children. “Shame on them” We can also see how the mainstream media have assisted in avoiding any debate on the debauchery which should expose the dangers civilisation now faces. It is well known that when Jews were meeting their demise in gas chambers in the last major war there were Jews known as Kapo’s assisting in their demise, which should alert us to the dangers we now face in the absence of the crap we elect not standing up for society on this basic issue.
What we should now be asking is "how long before we will be accepting the disposal wagon for our elderly if we cannot condemn the murder of children"?.
The Old Bailey in London has a caption outside which reads “protect the children of the poor, and punish the wrongdoer ” Where has society with all its modern knowledge of human history gone so horribly wrong"?.
It is also patently obvious the west wants to expand the war to other oil producing regions I.e. Syria and Iran to create economic development for the cigar smoking arms magnates or more appropriate, maggots that infest our society. They continue to be assisted in this by the mainstream media and any opposition will have a stopper placed in its mouth.
Do not despair, keep up the protest, and remember the saying “A small group of dedicated, committed people can change the world” “Indeed it is the only thing that ever has”

by OZ Tue Aug 08, 2006 08:05

http://melbourne.indymedia.org/news/2006/08/118855.php

by Chris Murray - The Unmanageables Tue Aug 08, 2006 09:31

The problems experienced in Ireland are the result of the abuse of language.
Words have little meaning for the legislators and the media. They are twisted
into something they are not. The politicians do not say what they mean.

It is about the systemisation of the words we speak, which create connections
and images that mollify the'electorate'. Dermot Ahern (Dept of Foreign Affairs)
will condemn civilian casualty, as will the Taoiseach. Not one word of condemnation
of U.S foreign policy has come from the mouths of those men. Indeed, the
government are to face an E.U enquiry into The use of Shannon Airport.
In the meantime the language of the Mainstream media provokes a similar
reaction wherein statements like 'tragic accident' are juxtaposed with images
of massacre and people consume them with their tea.

When the issue has died down and the usual set of inquests and theories are explored
we see the truth of it, maybe years later. Right now, we are bringing up the next generation,
and they are inheriting one hell of a mess, which is based in beligerent open war-fare
to maintain a system of conspicuous consumption, greed and hatred.

I will not allow my children to inherit that, so we keep chipping at the facade-

by respect Tue Aug 08, 2006 16:50

It is also patently obvious the west wants to expand the war to other oil producing regions I.e. Syria and Iran to create economic development for the cigar smoking arms magnates or more appropriate, maggots that infest our society

but please state facts, Iran is allready exporting massively to the west via OPEC --in fact it depends on it for income. a 5c move up in oil gives Iran 90million USD a day more
Syria does not have oil in any serious quantity

It is OPEC which decides where the price of oil goes, every time they meet and decide wheter to increase or decrease production.

Anybody who believed that the war in Iraq was/is about oil is IMO a fool. the oil nations depend on revenue from the west just as much as the west depend on them

China has been buying up energy assets all over the world in the last 3 years(CNOOC Corp). The west allready owns vast amounts of oil from pretty much all of the oil producers--those that it does not are more than content to flog it on the open market.

the rhetoric about Iran is just that--Iran controls something far more important than its own oil --The Strait of Hormuz ---40% of the worlds oil supply travels through this --about 20million barrels a day

this is what is causing the strife---Irans threat to shut down the Straits of Hormuz---Europe gets 70% of its energy through there alone!!!

the relationship between iran and the West is not as bad as the rhetoric--after all business is business

by R. Isible Tue Aug 08, 2006 17:22

You write:
Anybody who believed that the war in Iraq was/is about oil is IMO a fool. the oil nations depend on revenue from the west just as much as the west depend on them

and then later: Iran controls something far more important than its own oil --The Strait of Hormuz ---40% of the worlds oil supply travels through this --about 20million barrels a day. this is what is causing the strife---Irans threat to shut down the Straits of Hormuz---Europe gets 70% of its energy through there alone!!!

Seems contradictory. It's not about oil, it's about the supply of oil? At best this is a very, very fine distinction.

by omaygawd Tue Aug 08, 2006 17:42

Yes--it is what is causing Strife---Rhetoric--It is not a major issue, USA has not seen eye to eye with Iran ever since it overthrew democracy with the shah, same as it does not see eye to eye with Cuba--because it overthrew democracy(that is the main reason)

but the bottom line is:

Business is business--most of europe does business with Iran and indeed american firms also --there is always a way around an embargo for a multinational

by R. Isible Tue Aug 08, 2006 18:22

Language.
The problems experienced in Ireland are the result of the abuse of language.

And the below (what on earth does it mean?) appears to be a major abuse of punctuation and language:

"Yes--it is what is causing Strife---Rhetoric--It is not a major issue, USA has not seen eye to eye with Iran"

What on earth does that sentence mean?

by Chris Murray - The Unmanageables Tue Aug 08, 2006 19:41

One of the abuses of language endemic in the accquisition of capital or the juggernaut,
whatever you want to call it , is the Road-Map. Bush is sitting this one out, the Israeli's don't
sound too sure.They request only armed forces, no humanitarian aid, no 'observers'.
(Newstalk106 5pm) They say that they are doing it to prevent Iranian interference etc.

Words that come directly from the Bush hawks, the road-map for peace in the middle -East.
Bush/Blair fucked two countries and want someone else to do the dirty work, this time.

So where else do you hear terms like 'Road-Map'- on the Dept of Justice web-site which is
to do with disability equality. ( I kid you not). This is systemised, formulaic abuse of the
words we use. It disguises a multitude. Pretty pictures of equality , which are clever
disguises for inequality and have nothing to do with the reality of the lives of people
who are attempting to cope with these issues in their lives.

The people who are suffering loss and having small joys like their kids removed
from them by a war-machine bent on perpetuating the elitist way of life enjoyed by
western society are complicit in that. This war has always been about securing
a border and providing an American ally in the middle -east, sympathetic to the
U.S/UK ideology of dominance. For that leaflets are dropped, images of democracy
are propounded and language is debased.

Breaking the rules of grammar is an art, and pre-suppouses an understanding of language
such as in Poetry , theatre. Breaking the rules of morality and personal liberty through
cultural and language debasement is an evil.

by Kristina McElroy - The Unmanageables Tue Aug 08, 2006 22:14

Sometimes when I read Indie- Media comment links to stories it can feel like nobody reads each other's comments .but just rush in to give their comment. So to show that I did read your comments .I would like to thank "comenteers" for their moments of small resistance. You all resisted by coming on board within the discussion and building new arguements and i.deas I would like to thank Arthur for reminding us that a few people can make a difference, Iosaf on the importance of visual imagery in agit prop,Redjade for using plain language to say that children as cotateral damage is not acceptable and Chris for focusing the debate back to the media debasement of languague when describing war.Thank you MichaelY for taking the time to rebute those contributers who think that the war in the Lebanon is a war that can be won.

In my opinion wars are never won. Wars are a weapon that hurt those who wage them and those who are the victems of war.
When we held our action on the 6th of August we were mindful of the fact that there is right now a headlong move to building up again nuclear armanents. This rush to nuclear weapons is part of a delusional mind-set that believes that the best form of defence is attack. This is plainly is not working for either Hezbolah nor the Israeli government

When I came home tonight after getting drenched in the rain at a small demonstration outside the Israeli embassy where I brought my arab boy puppet with a new sign " Bertie call for a cease-fire now" I ejoyed eating my pasta with butter and parmsan cheese.
My small moment of small resistance was to remember that true civilisation did not come from wars and the development of arms . It was in a collective moment of resistance when for the common good the first city states had granaries to collect grain to feed eveyone in the winter.

by Art - Dorothy Day Catholic Worker House of Hospitality Fri Aug 11, 2006 08:47 Washington DC, USA

Dear Friends,

Today, August 9, the 61st anninversay of the U.S. nuclear bombing of
Nagasaki, as well as the anniversary of the martyrdom of Frans
Jagerstatter (the Austrian Catholic father of three who was beheaded for refusing
to serve in Hitler's army), about 20 members of the Atlantic Life
Community held a nonviolent witness at the Pentagon. Holding photos of burnt
bodies and the destruction caused by the U.S. plutonium bomb dropped on
Nagasaki, the Sermon on the Mount was read and prayers were offered remembering
the victims of U.S. warmaking--past and present--from Hiroshima and
Nagasaski to Vietnam, from Central America to Iraq to Lebanon.

Five of us (Gary Ashbeck, Eden and Eta from Jonah House, Bill Frankel-Streit from the
Little Flower Catholic Worker and myself) were arrested at the southwest
pedestrian bridge entrance of the Pentagon. Four were charged with
failure to obey a lawful order and I was charged with disorderly conduct. The
truth is that the Pentagon is guilty of war crimes! We didn't break any laws
but rather were upholding God's law and International law. We did what we
could to bear witness to the truth.

We have court dates set for Sept. 22 in
U.S. District Court in Alexandria, VA.

Thank God for all those imprisoned resiters and military refusers and
all the actions taking place around the world to end the sin of war,
weapons, torture and economic exploitation.
We keep our eyes on the prize and hold on!!!
In peace and hope,
Art

by Frank's Friend - des Moines Catholic Worker (USA) Wed Aug 16, 2006 08:29 Support Letters to Frank Cordaro, 713 Indiana Ave. Des Moines, IA 50314 USA

Frank Cordaro is concluding 6 months county jail & fed prison time for his nonviolent trespass at Offcut AFB, Omaha on teh faest of Holy Innocents" (Dec 28th 2005). here he reflects on his jailtime, anniversary of the bombing og Hiroshima and current developments int he Middle East.

Prison Journal #11 -- August 6-9, 2006
Frank Cordaro
FPC Yankton

Dear Friends,

I wish to begin this last of my prison journals with thank yous. I want to thank all who have held me in your thoughts and prayers and those who supported me financially during these six months of incarceration. Those beginning months were not easy ones. My time in the Jackson County Jail was some of the most difficult jail time I've served in my peacemaking career. Your prayers and support lifted me through those difficult times. Thank you.

I'd like to thank my community members at the Des Moines Catholic Worker. Knowing you all were "taking care of business," doing the hospitality and keeping the doors open was a great support for me. Doing the works of mercy is the core and heart of any Catholic Worker community. That we are able to afford my being locked up for my peacemaking efforts is a testimony to the wealth and blessings God has bestowed on our Catholic Worker community. Thank you all….

Finally, I want to thank the few dear people who did most of the work, invested hours of their time, to make sure I was supported in the manner I asked to be, at times seemed to demand to be. Much-o-thanks to Barbara Hans who took my weekly lectionary scribblings and transformed them into readable text to be sent on for their final editing. I'm sure Barbara was relieved to receive my last installment. I owe you big time, Barb. I also want to thank Andrea Molinari and Allyne Smith for sharing the duty of doing the final editing on the lectionary reflections. These guys made sure I did not get too far a field from the beaten scriptural track, correcting any major misreads of mine. Much-o-thanks good and holy scribes.

Mostly though, my thanks go to Fran Fuller, my fellow DM Catholic Worker, who really did most of the work of support for me. For starters, Fran was the one who got the emails out to you all. She also singularly edited my prison journal writings. She handled all my correspondence, banking needs, and served as the person I called first for any and all personal needs. Secondarily, she took over a number of my responsibilities at the Catholic Worker. She was the editor of the two issues of the via pacis and directed their mailings. She took over the Berrigan House and took care of Dan and Phil, my two white cats. My partner, Laney Green, and the love of my life said that Fran saved our relationship during these months. For Fran took the brunt of my rough, rude and demanding directives from jail. Laney rightly knew if Fran were not my main support person she would have caught a lot of my ill tempered mood swings. The last time I talked with Frank she said she was looking forward to getting her life back. Thank you so much, Fran. I am not sure I will ever be able to repay you for all you have done. I do hope in some measure to make an effort. (Editor's note: hmmm…..I'm sure I can think of something! J)

A-BOMBING OF HIROSHIMA AND NAGASAKI, JAPAN – 61 YEARS OF LYING WIITH NO END IN SIGHT

It is fitting that I'm writing my final prison journal on the anniversaries of the USA A-bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, on August 6 and 9, 1945. As I write this reflection, fellow Des Moines and Omaha Catholic Workers are participating in our annual 3 ½ day vigil at the main gate of Offutt AFB, the home of the Strategic Nuclear and US Space Commands. We first started demonstrating at Offutt AFB, south of Omaha, NE, back when it was the Strategic Air Command Headquarters on August 6, 1979. We have returned every year since to remember what Pope Paul VI called, "A butchery of untold magnitude," the slaughter of 120,000 innocent Japanese civilians in an unacknowledged war crime.

Offutt AFB is not the only place in the country that people are remembering these dark evens. Peace activists in Oakridge, TN, Bangor, WA, Livermore, CA, Washington, DC, Valley Forge, PA, and Duluth, MN, are just a few more places. These sites were reported in the Nuclear Resister. The Nuclear Resister is an important publication that reports and networks nonviolent resistance to war and nuclear weapons. It gives updates and lists of peace activists who are doing prison time for their peacemaking efforts. It is published six times a year and has been doing so since 1980. I highly recommend subscribing and supporting this important little newspaper. They can be reached by mail at PO Box 43383, Tucson, AZ, 85733, or by phone at 520-323-8697, or by email at nukeresister@igc.org.

With all that is going on in the world today, especially with the ongoing wars in the Middle East, one might reasonable ask why peacemakers in the USA would focus on something that happened over 60 years ago? Would not our protesting energies be better served on the current wars?

A Greek philosopher once said, "The first casualty of war is truth." Like any human activity whether loving or hating, wars are an infinite network of human relationships that contribute to the larger web of life. They do not happen in a vacuum. The violence of war like the nonviolence of peacemaking is cyclical. It builds on previous violent war-making acts. The accumulation of violent war-making acts helps to create cultures of war. Currently, the cultures of wars dominate the world's human societies. And the USA is the leading nation creating the global war-making cultures. Martin Luther King, Jr., said it best in 1968, "The USA is the greatest purveyor of violence in the world." That was in 1968. It has not changed today. And I believe the USA A-bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, serve as the emblematic deeds giving the moral rational to our believed national licenses to be the world's singular military Super Power in whose mission STRATCom attempts to fulfill.

We Americans have lost our moral bearings when it comes to war-making. We would do well to study what Pope John Paul II meant when he said, "All wars are human failures." If truth be the first casualty of war, then as a human failure, all wars are built on lies, lies that lead to crimes against humanity. Both the winners and losers tell lies in wars. The one moral advantage a losing side has over a winning side is that at the end of a war their lies and crimes against humanity are often exposed and prosecuted. This was certainly true after WW II, a human failure that killed over 30 million people and left most of Europe, Asia, North Africa, and the Middle East in shambles. At the end of WW II, the Allied forces of the USA, Britain, France and the Soviet Union put the leaders of German, Italy and Japan on trial for the war crimes they and their nations committed. But when it came to trying the war crimes of the winners, there was no one to judge or prosecute. Therefore, there was no opportunity to confess, repent and make amends for the lies and crimes that we as a nation committed during WW II. In fact, just the opposite took place. Our lies and crimes were remembered as truths and heroic deeds of a righteous nation.

The A-bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, was one of those unacknowledged USA war crimes. Some war crimes are textbook, open and shut cases. The deliberate targeting and bombing of civilian populations is one of these textbook war crimes. Neither Hiroshima nor Nagasaki were military targets. The USA reasoning for the A-bombings was to end the war and to save both American and Japanese lives. I do not believe either of these claims to be true but even if they were, they cannot excuse the criminal nature of the bombings. And yet to this day, we cannot get an official apology or a national consensus to the criminality of these two A-bombings.

There are a number of reasons why the USA cannot bring itself to own up to the criminal nature of the A-bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. If we were to admit to their being war crimes, we would also have to look at the other related massive indiscriminate bombings of civilian population centers that took place in the last two years of the war in Germany and Japan. Every major city in both countries was bombed during these years and tens of thousands of civilians were killed. One of the reasons the USA chose to bomb Hiroshima and Nagasaki was they were two cities of their size that had not already been bombed. To admit the truth about Hiroshima and Nagasaki would open a Pandora 's Box that many in power would just as soon keep the lid on.

Yet the greater risk for the USA in facing the truth about Hiroshima and Nagasaki lies in the criminal acts that have followed them in which the national mythology surrounding them has given justification. The old moral imperative that one lie leads to another holds true here. In the post WW II world, the unacknowledged crimes of the A-bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki set in motion the lies behind the nuclear arms race. Instead of having a period of mourning and repentance after WW II form the criminal acts by losers and winners alike – something truly Christian countries would have done, after WW II, the USA celebrated our victory, condemned our enemies and promptly started the Cold War with our former ally, the Soviet Union. And almost immediately we were in a Nuclear Arms Race in which we never were equaled and most of the time, we were far superior to our nearest rival, the Soviet Union. The lie behind the Nuclear Arms race is there is no real security with it. It helped to create a spirit of never-ending war, robbed from the poor and undermined any real chance for peace.

Just as dangerous and evil as the nuclear technology was, the spiritual "black hole" Hiroshima and Nagasaki opened up in our national consciousness. Once we as a nation were able to morally justify the mass killing of 120,000 innocent civilians as acceptable "collateral damage", there was nothing we weren't willing to do to defeat our new Cold War adversaries. Through the Cold War years, USA foreign policies took on a major disconnect between what we told ourselves we were doing and what we actually were doing to further our national interest. For over 45 years, the world's two super powers battled each other through surrogate wars and harsh economic and political policies that exploited the peoples and nations of the world. Millions of people were killed, resources plundered and cultures destroyed. We have on to look at the blood legacy of the US School of the Americas and the wholesale human rights violations it fostered in Latin America to begin to understand the magnitude of our murderous ways.

It is not that the USA has not committed other grave national sins and crimes. We have a history replete with criminal, murderous deeds done in or name Slavery, the liquidation of Native Americans, and the destruction of the environment rank high on the list of moral failures and we continue to live with their after affects today. But the A-bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki is a critical piece in our national narrative, a building block event of our perception of ourselves in the post-WW II era that has given us a self-ordained "Divine mandate" to play global policeman.

Proof of this unholy alliance with nuclear weapons came with the fall of the Soviet Union in 1989. With the fall of the Soviet Union, the reason for our having our nuclear weapons disappeared and yet our nuclear arsenal remains. In fact, our military and war-making capabilities have actually increased since the end of the Cold War. The mission of STRATCom at Offutt AFB is now to have a Global Strike Force ready to project US military might anywhere on the planet in a matter of minutes. Today the USA has military personal stationed in over 600 paces outside our country. Our military budget equals the combined military budges of all other countries in the world! We are the singular global super power. No empire in human history has ever acquired as much power and global dominance as we have today. The single major question Americans need to start asking themselves is whether we are an empire or a republic?

THREE WAYS IN WHICH HIROSHIMA AND NAGASAKI'S LIE IS BEING PLAYED OUT IN THE MIDDLE EAST TODAY

1. Say one thing. Do another.

For the last 55 years, the USA foreign policy in the Middle East has been one track run on two rails. All the while we claimed to be defenders of freedom and democracy, our actions belied an entirely different agenda. The first rail of this one track foreign policy was to make sure that Middle East oil kept flowing out of the region, cheaply. To insure this, we supported and put in place the most undemocratic government who had no regard for human rights, who neglected the needs of heir poor majorities and brutally put down genuine, nonviolent dissent.

The second rail of this two rail foreign policy track was to support the State of Israel no matter what it did. Over the last 55 years, Israel has morphed from a small, vulnerable, out-numbered, out-gunned nation trying to survive amidst a host of hostile neighbors into a regional super power with a military capable of defeating all other armies in the region at the same time, with its own stockpile of nuclear weapons. Through the years with its occupation of Palestine, it has become the biggest human rights violator in the region which is no small thing! Israel is still a small country, out-numbered and fiercely hated by its neighbors, especially the poor and dispossessed. And Israel is currently fighting a war with Lebanon that they cannot win despite their overwhelming military superiority. Because their enemies were birthed in previous defeats at the hands of Israel, killing them only makes them stronger. Israel seems to be squandering any chance for making peace with its neighbors by treating the Palestinians unjustly and only joining them in making war on each other.

2. "Why do you notice the splinter in your brother's eye but do not perceive the wooden beam in your own eye?" Matthew 7:3

The USA is very good at pointing out the faults of our enemies but is virtually blind to our own short comings. Because of this, we have a very distorted view of the world and our role in it. Contrary to what President Bush keeps telling us that Islamic terrorists hate our values of freedom and democracy, what they really hate is our hypocrisy and double standards regarding Israel. What Americans need to start understanding is that all we say about the evils of our enemies is mostly true. However, things are even worse because in many ways we have done many things more evil and immoral than our enemies!

3. Numbers do matter – The issue of proportionality

One person murdered in political violence is a human tragedy. Still numbers do tell a tale. Body counts do matter. Who kills best and most, who commits the most human rights violations, who controls the most resources, land and human beings through violence and force, whose people live better than others, all these things matter. The truth behind the numbers is something Americans are unwilling to see. Iraq is a great example of this self-serving blindness. Starting with the first gulf War in 1991 to the present occupation, the USA has killed more Iraqis than all other warring factions within Iraq combined. That includes the 100,000 plus people killed by Saddam Hussan immediately after the 1991 war, the post USA invasion suicide bombers, the Iraqi on Iraqi sectarian violence in the some-be-be-declared civil war. In the first five years of the USA led sanctions alone, over 500,000 children died because of the sanctions. We killed close to 200,000 Iraqis in the first Gulf War and we have killed between 50,000 and 100,000 in the second Gulf War. The destructive power of our war-making machines has done huge amounts of destruction to the Iraqi civilian infrastructure in both the Gulf One and Gulf Two Wars. The nearly 3,000 USA military deaths from the current war and occupation does not even come close to the death and destruction we have brought upon Iraq since 1991, yet for most Americans the only lives that matter are American lives. This spiritual blindness was set in place with the A-bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. It speaks directly to one of the key principles of the Just War tradition called "proportionality."

The 9/11 Mis-Read

The Bush administration's mis-read of the events of 9/11 is very revealing. The USA Government, the national media and vast majority of Americans read the events of 9/11 as another Pearl Harbor and rallied the country to fight another World War against terrorism. In Reality, 9/11 was the inevitable "blow back" from our A-bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the 61 years of lying on top of lying which has made us the hated World Empire we are today. What Malcolm X said regarding the assassination of President Kennedy fits well to describe what happened on 9/11 when he said, "The chickens have come home to roost." The bible says it even better, "You reap what you sow."

Our yearly remembrance and protest surrounding the August 6-9 anniversaries of the USA A-bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki is just the beginning and necessary work of calling the nation to a collective AA Fifth Step process of no more lying, of telling he truth, of confessing of all past sins, asking for forgiveness and making a good faith effort to make amends for 61 years of lying and killing.

Frank's release date: 8-23-06
Welcome Home Party for Frank and the 30th Anniversary of the DM Catholic Worker will be held at Dingman House, 1310 - 7th Street, Des Moines, IA, at 7:30 pm on Friday, August 25, 2006. Mass celebrated by Fr. Ed Pfeiffer at 7:30 pm followed by food, drink and music. Hope you can join us!
Fran Fuller

--
Frank Cordaro
< frank.cordaro@gmail.com >
Phil Berrigan Catholic Worker House
713 Indiana Avenue, Des Moines, IA 50314
(515) 282-4781
www.DesMoinesCatholicWorker.org

by Jonah Mon Aug 21, 2006 19:17 USA

the Atlantic Life Community network gathered at Jonah House (Baltimore, Maryland) for the internment of the ashes of Elmer Maas, one of the original Plowshares 8 see www.plowsharesactions.org

Following the ceremony they headed down to DC to confront the Enola Gay and witness at the Pentagon. Fr. Dan Berrigan SJ reflects......

http://www.jonahhouse.org/Aug06FRinvitation.htm

Fr. Carl Kabat a co-defendant of Dan & Elmer's in the 1980 Plowshares action remains in jail awaiting tral in North Dakota folowing the recent "WMD Here!" Plowshares action. background & info www.jonahhouse.org