October 4, 2003

War against Terrorism

or

Massacre of those fighting for Existence?

Table 1: Countries attacked

Country	Year attacked by the United States (a)	Population 2001 (b)	Life Expectancy at Birth (Years) 2001 (b)	Infant Mortality Rate (Percent of Live Births) 2001 (b)	Under-5 Mortality Rate (Percent of Live Births) 2001 (b)	Adult Literacy (Percent Age 15 and Above) 2001 (b)	CO2 Emissions (Metric Tons per capita) 1999 (b)	Gross Domestic Product (US$ per capita) 2001 (b)
United States	B	288,000,000	77	0.7	0.8	99	19.7	35,277
Grenada	1983	100,000	65	2.0	2.5	94	2.2	3,965
Libya	1986	5,300,000	72	1.6	1.9	81	8.3	6,453
Panama	1989	3,000,000	74	1.9	2.5	92	2.9	3,511
Iraq	1991, 2003	23,860,000	61	10.7	13.3	40	3.3	B
Afghanistan	1998, 2001	22,083,000	43	16.5	25.7	36	0.0	B
Sudan	1998	32,200,000	55	6.5	10.7	59	0.1	395

Table 2: Countries threatened

Country	Year threatened by the United States (c)	Population 2001 (a)	Life Expectancy at Birth (Years) 2001 (a)	Infant Mortality Rate (Percent of Live Births) 2001 (a)	Under-5 Mortality Rate (Percent of Live Births) 2001 (a)	Adult Literacy (Percent Age 15 and Above) 2001 (a)	CO2 Emissions (Metric Tons per capita) 1999 (a)	Gross Domestic Product (US$ per capita) 2001 (a)
United States	B	288,000,000	77	0.7	0.8	99	19.7	35,277
Iran	B	67,200,000	70	3.5	4.2	77	4.8	1,767
North Korea	B	22,409,000	63	4.2	5.5	99	9.4	B
Syria	B	17,000,000	72	2.3	2.8	75	3.4	1,175

Conclusions

The AWar against Terrorism@ is neither a AWar@ nor Aagainst Terrorism.@

1. It is not a War but a Massacre

AWar... begins at that point where inflicting mortal injury becomes reciprocal, an activity known as fighting. The only way in which [a] worthy goal can be achieved is by putting one=s own life at risk. In any war, the readiness to suffer and die, as well as to kill, represents the single most important factor@ (van Creveld, p. 160).

AWar does not begin when some people kill others; instead, it starts at the point where they themselves risk being killed in return. Those... who engage in the former but not in the latter are not called warriors but butchers, murderers, assassins [etc...]... Killing people who do not or cannot resist does not count as war. Nor are those responsible for such killing likely to earn the respect reserved for warriors... [Neither] Heinrich Himmler... [nor] Rudolf Hoss, even in Nazi Germany, [were considered heroes]@ (van Creveld, pp. 159-160).

AWhere one belligerent is much stronger than the other,... the conduct of war can become problematic, even as a matter of definition... War... implies that the opponents should be of a broadly comparable nature... Where no symmetry exists, violence may still take place, even violence that is organized, purposeful, politically-motivated, and on a fairly large scale. However, usually the name such violence is given, is not war but disturbance, uprising, or crime. These are accompanied by their opposite numbers, namely repression, counter-insurgency, and police work@ (Italics in the original; van Creveld, pp. 173-174).

AThe question of right and wrong... turns out to depend in large part on the balance of forces... It is not a just cause that makes for a good war but a good war that makes for a just cause... A good war, like a good game, almost by definition is one fought against forces that are at least as strong as, or preferably stronger than, oneself@ (van Creveld, pp. 175-176) .

2. It cannot be against Terror because the United States is the Principal Terrorist

AAt present, as during the entire period since World War II, perhaps four-fifth of the world=s military power is controlled by a handful of industrialized states: the United States, the Soviet Union, and their allies in NATO and the Warsaw Pact. Between them, these states spend over four-fifth of all military funds... The principal military states... >own= perhaps 95 percent of all military expertise...@ (van Creveld, p. 1).

A secret Pentagon report made available to Congress on January 8, 2002, expresses the need for the Pentagon to be prepared to use nuclear weapons against at least seven countries, and build smaller nuclear weapons for use in certain battlefield situations. The countries cited are China, Russia, Iraq, North Korea, Iran, Libya and Syria (Los Angeles Times, 2002).

Considering the condition of the people in the countries studied here (Tables 1 and 2), their feeling must surely be one of terror lest they be annihilated. From their perspective, any conflict with the United States or one of its allies, must look like one which will determine their own continuation as a nation and a culture. The response they give will determine their survival. Their fight is one for their own existence.

In The Republic, Plato compares relations between cities and their colonies to those between parents and children (van Creveld, pp. 152-153). The present analysis confirms that the relationship between the Adeveloped@ and Adeveloping@ nations is similar to that between parents and children, with the parents being all-powerful relative to the children (Hall, Nations as Parents and Children B Child Abuse).

Notes

Grenada B Invasion.

Lybia B Bombing of cities as a Aself-defense against future attack.@

Panama B Invasion.

Iraq B Invasions.

Afghanistan B 1998 B Bombing in retaliation for the bombings of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.

2001 B Invasion.

Sudan B Bombing of the Al Shifa pharmaceutical factory in Khartoum, on the allegation that it was manufacturing chemicals used to make the nerve gas VX, an allegation which turned out to be false.

United Nations Human Development Programme, Human Development Report 2003 B Millennium Development Goals, A Compact among Nations to end Human Poverty, (Oxford University Press, New York, N.Y.), 2003:

Population pp. 250-253 and 339

Life Expectancy pp. 237-240 and 339

Infant Mortality pp. 208-211 and 339

Under-5 Mortality pp. 208-211 and 339

Literacy pp. 237-240 and 339

CO₂ Emissions pp. 218-221

GDP pp. 278-281 and 339

On September 13, 2001, at Department of Defense briefing, Deputy Secretary of Defense, Paul Wolfowitz, advocated targeting the Hizbollah training bases in Lebanon and Syria.

On January 29, 2002, in his State of the Union address to the U.S. Congress, President George W. Bush named Iran and North Korea (along with Iraq) as forming an Aaxis of evil.@

On October 5, 2003, Israeli planes bombed inside Syria, near Damascus. The next day, United States Ambassador to the United Nations, John Negroponte, explained: AThe United States believes that Syria is on the wrong side of the war on terrorism.@

Other countries receiving attention include Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines, Indonesia, Somalia and Yemen.

Bibliography

Grenada and Panama

Gonzalez, Juan, Harvest of Empire B A History of Latinos in America (Viking, Penguin, New York, N.Y.), 2000, p. 77.

Lybia

Chomsky, Noam, Ramsey Clark and Edward Said, Acts of Aggression B Policing ARogue States@ (Seven Stories, Open Media, New York), 1999, p. 26.

Iraq

Hiro, Dilip, War without End B The Rise of Islamist Terrorism and Global Response (Routledge, New York, N.Y.), 1988/1989/2002, pp. 91 and 320.

Afghanistan

Hiro, Dilip, War without End B The Rise of Islamist Terrorism and Global Response (Routledge, New York, N.Y.), 1988/1989/2002, pp. 275 and 337.

Zinn, Howard, Terrorism and War (Seven Stories, New York, N.Y.), 2002, p. 21.

Sudan

Hiro, Dilip, War without End B The Rise of Islamist Terrorism and Global Response (Routledge, New York, N.Y.), 1988/1989/2002, pp. 275-276.

Iran and North Korea

Hiro, Dilip, War without End B The Rise of Islamist Terrorism and Global Response (Routledge, New York, N.Y.), 1988/1989/2002, p. 388.

Syria

AbuKhalil, As=ad, Bin Laden, Islam and America=s New War on Terrorism (Seven Stories, New York, N.Y.) 2002, p. 92.

Ahmed, Nafeez Mosaddeq, The War on Freedom, B How and Why America was Attacked September 11, 2001 (Tree of Life Publications, Joshua Tree, CA, Media Messenger/ Institute for Policy Research and Development, Brighton, East Sussex, UK), 2002, p. 374.

Hiro, Dilip, War without End B The Rise of Islamist Terrorism and Global Response (Routledge, New York, N.Y.), 1988/1989/2002, p. 325 and 386.

Mahajan, Rahul, The New Crusade B America=s War on Terrorism (Monthly Review Press, New York, N.Y.), 2002, p. 11.

WBAI, New York, ADemocracy Now,@ 10/06/03.

Conclusions

Boyle, Francis, The Criminality of Nuclear Deterrence B Could the U.S. War on Terrorism go Nuclear? (Clarity, Atlanta, GA), 2002, pp. 162-173.

Hall, Francoise, Nations as Parents and Children B Child Abuse, September 15, 2003, 27 pages.

Los Angeles Times, March 2002; cited in Ahmed, Nafeez Mosaddeq, The War on Freedom, B How and Why America was Attacked September 11, 2001 (Tree of Life Publications, Joshua Tree, CA, Media Messenger/ Institute for Policy Research and Development, Brighton, East Sussex, UK), 2002, p. 265.

Van Creveld, Martin, The Transformation of War (Free Press, New York,. N.Y.), 1991, pp. 1, 152-153, 159-160 and 173-176.

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