September 22, 2001

Call to Arms

The people in the town of Guernica experienced it first

In 1937, during the Spanish Civil War

When a bomb, dropped from an airplane

Inflicted death from the skies for the first time in history

In 1941, death came from above for 2,330 Americans in Pearl Harbor

In 1943, for 42,000 people in Hamburg, Germany

In 1945, for 60,000 in Dresden, Germany

And then 140,000 in Hiroshima and 70,000 in Nagasaki

Our own cataclysm came on September 11, 2001

The World Trade Center and the Pentagon

Signature institutions destroyed

The slaughter of 6,500 people

And now, our political leaders are preparing us for revenge

They have identified our enemies B they are the terrorists of all nations

Conspiring and enormously powerful, these sub-humans wander the globe

They have declared war. It is they against us

With a language implying assault, our leaders incite us to action

We are innocent victims and need to defend ourselves

No dialogue is possible. We must destroy evil before it destroys us

We must cleanse the world of this spreading, deadly scourge

Convinced of their own benevolence, our leaders call upon us to obey them

They are enlightened, and if we follow them, they will save us from disaster

If we work hard and sacrifice, they will make us feel safe

It is our duty to step in line, an honor to serve

Anticipating possible guilt, our leaders justify even now any possible destructive act

The present crisis demands that we act outside the law

We have no other option but violence. The stakes are too high

Our way of life is being threatened. Civilization itself is under siege

To further ease our decision, our leaders are empowering us

We can and will meet this new challenge. We have shown our metal before --

Grenada, in 1983; Panama, in 1989; Iraq in 1991; Yugoslavia, in 1999

And we have the means to win B nuclear, conventional, chemical and biological

Our reward will be complete and unequivocal success B

And so it is likely to be with Afghanistan, the recommended first target

A country with a population less than a tenth that of ours, most of it without access to safe water

A third of it illiterate, and with its children dying at a rate 32 times that of our own

But most important of all...

Of every eight persons in Afghanistan, one has recently died in war

One in every family

The population is traumatized B as we know so well

Is it really time again to kill?

Forty-six million people died during the Second World War

Two hundred and six million died at the hands of others last century

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References

Guernica

Shlain, Leonard, Art and Physics B Parallel Visions in Space, Time and Light (Quill, William Morrow, New York, 1991) page 244; and The New Columbia Encyclopedia (Columbia University Press, Columbia University Press, New York, 1975) page 1158. The indiscriminate killing of a civilian target aroused world opinion and the bombing of Guernica became a symbol of fascist violence. The event prompted Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) to paint Guernica, (1937), which was to become a master image of brutality, terror and impotent rage.

Pearl Harbor, Hamburg, Dresden, Hiroshima, Nagasaki

Pearl Harbor, Hamburg and Dresden: Gilbert, Martin, The Second World War B A Complete History, Revised Edition (Owl, Henry Holt, New York, 1989) pages 272, 448 and 641; Hiroshima and Nagasaki: Charny, Israel, Editor, Encyclopedia of Genocide (in two volumes), (ABC-CLIO, Denver, Colorado, 1999) pages 291and 429.

AOur Leaders@

These stanzas were inspired by Charny, Israel, Editor, Encyclopedia of Genocide (in two volumes), (ABC-CLIO, Denver, Colorado, 1999) pages 253-261 and 387-389. Included are some of the indicators of impending genocide incorporated in President Bill Clinton=s 1999 proposal for the creation of a national genocide early warning center.

Our Previous Successes

Grenada, Panama and Iraq: Blum, William, Killing Hope B U.S. Military and CIA Interventions since World War II (Common Courage, Monroe, Maine, 1995), pages 270, 310 and 329. Yugoslavia: Elovitz, Paul, AWar, Trauma, Genocide and Kosovo in the News and the Classroom,@ The Journal of Psychohistory, Volume 27, Number 2, Fall, 1999, pages 188-1999; Udovicki, Jasmina and James Ridgeway, Editors, Burn this House B the Making and Unmaking of Yugoslavia (Duke University Press, Durham, N.C., 1997); and Clark, Ramsey, Sean Gervasi, Sara Flounders, Nadja Tesich, Thomas Deichman, and others, NATO in the Balkans B Voices of Opposition (International Action Center, New York, N.Y., 1998).

Afghanistan, Development Indices

United Nations Development Programme, Human Development Report 1999 (Oxford University Press, New York, 1999), Population: pages 197 and 246. Access to safe water: page 246 (Data refer to the most recent year available between 1990 and 1997); Adult Literacy: pages 134 and 246; Under-five mortality rate, per 1,000 live births: pages 168 and 246. This ratio of under-five mortality B 257:8 B comes to 32:1.

These and additional indices are as follows:

Afghanistan United States

(1997) (1997)

Population 20,893,000 271.800,000

Life expectancy (years) (pp. 134 and 246) 46 77

Infant mortality rate (per 1000 live births) (pp.168 and 246) 165 7

Under-five mortality rate (per 1000 live births) 257 8

Daily per capita supply of calories (1996) (pp. 211 and 246) 1,676 3,642

Adult literacy rate (percent) 33 99

Population without access to safe water (percent, 1990-97) 88 1

Afghanistan, War Fatalities

Charny, Israel, Editor, Encyclopedia of Genocide (in two volumes), (ABC-CLIO, Denver, Colorado, 1999) pages 48-50. Afghanistan has never had a census. A confidential sample census conducted in Kabul in the mid-1970's suggested that the pre-1978 population was probably 12.5 to 15 million (assume 13.75 million). The United Nations estimates that about 1.5 to 2 million people were killed between 1978 and 1992 (assume 1.75 million). The death rate was, therefore, approximately 13 percent B one out of every 8 persons.

United Nations Development Programme, Human Development Report 1999 (Oxford University Press, New York, 1999) pages 246 and 256. The total fertility rate of a country is defined as the average number of children that would be born alive to a woman during her lifetime, if she were to bear children at each age in accord with prevailing age-specific fertility rates. The total fertility rate in Afghanistan, in 1997, was 6.9 children per woman. If we assume nine persons per family (seven children and two parents), an average of over one person per family died during the war years, 1978-1992.

World War II Fatalities

Gilbert, Martin, The Second World War B A Complete History, Revised Edition (Owl, Henry Holt, New York, 1989) page 1.

Killings during the 20^th Century

Charny, Israel, Editor, Encyclopedia of Genocide (in two volumes), (ABC-CLIO, Denver, Colorado, 1999) pages 24-25. World-wide, there were approximately 169,202,000 deaths from genocide, politicide (political killings) and mass murder B excluding war B during the period 1900-87 (most probable mid-estimate). Battle deaths from all wars, international and civil, amounted to approximately 36,500,000 during the 20^th century. The total comes to over 205,702,000 violent deaths inflicted by others during the last century.

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