Are You Sure This War is Working?

MADE BY ENRON

This war is being brought to you by the people who brought you Enron. Are you sure it is working?

If you are not altogether sure, the least you deserve, and the least you can do, is to ask your questions and talk with other citizens about it, before it is too late.

Terrorism is not child's play. The dreadful possibilities are nearly endless, and to be wrong, or blissfully misguided about what might work in response to it, could be disastrous beyond description.

So if you have any doubts, now is the time to voice them, now is the time to do what good citizens of any democracy would do. Now is the time to gather with other "stockholders" and talk this over.

That's right -- we are stockholders. We have a stake in the future of the world. This is not Enron. This is bigger than Enron by quantum measures. Your government is playing Russian roulette with the future of the earth, and what are you doing about it?

Here are some questions which we will discuss at community forums over the next weeks, and months, and years -- if we are fortunate enough to have that much time to work on it. You have some questions too. Come to the local Truth Forum and ask them. It's your retirement, and more, which is at stake.

HERE ARE SOME QUESTIONS

Why isn't there a public debate about this war? Why aren't the newspapers full of stories of passionate speeches, reasoned arguments and weighty choices which are being debated by congresspeople and senators in the hallowed halls of the Congress of the United States? Is there some kind of conspiracy of silence? Is this like Enron -- nobody talks because there is a culture of conformity? One or two talk and they are discredited and thrown out?

Why aren't there safe spaces for the questioning, the debate, the discussion, the search for better ways which nobody has thought of because nobody has really thought? In other words, why are people seemingly afraid to ask? Is there some penalty hanging over people's heads for just raising their hand and saying "Why?"

Who is this war obviously good for, now, on the face of it? Who stands to profit from it? Who is getting this $billion dollars a month which President Bush proudly announced in the State of the Union, to witless applause, that this country is spending on this war? And who will make a profit from the $40+ billion tax increase this year for the war?

Does it work to fight terrorism with war -- or as somebody said, to fight terrorism on the retail level with terrorism on the wholesale level? Can you get rid of dandelions by hitting a dead and dry one a booming stroke with a golf club?

Can evil be rooted out of the world by killing people? The intention may well be to kill evil people. Is that the way it works? What about killing people who are not particularly evil -- let's say, people more like you and me? How would you know the difference between evil and innocent people unless you conducted long interviews? And who is bothering with interviews?

Has the United States as an empire, by some strange miracle, broken the mold of all empires in history? Is its wealth all innocently gotten? Is its military might, unequaled in all time past and present, used only for benign and beneficent purposes? Is the United States the first empire in history to be just and peaceful, kind and gentle?

Is there anything in this approach to terrorism which reduces the threat of nuclear terrorism, by sabotage of power plants such as TMI, or by bomb, rather than actually increasing it?

Where is the church in all of this? Or put another way, where is morality, spirituality, or even the common decency of open discussion of alternatives? Has the church checked out, fallen into line, sold its birthright for a mess of pottage?

What would Jesus do?

OTHER APPROACHES ARE POSSIBLE

Are there alternative responses to terrorism which would draw on the moral depth, goodwill, character, and creativity of the American people, to forge a new relationship with the world, and change the image of the Ugly American? Would these have to be easy, cheap, or fast alternatives, or could we be committed to this search for alternatives for the long haul?

You have things to say on these questions, but nobody is asking you to say them. We are asking you to speak your mind. The purpose of Tuesday Truth Forums is to encourage the practice of public citizenship across the country, starting with the churches, for they have a responsibility to the public and to themselves. America needs hundreds, indeed thousands, of forums where the voicing of opinions and the search for truth is welcomed.

Rev. Robert Bowman said in a book titled WHERE WAS GOD ON SEPT. 11? "We can have security, or we can have revenge. We cannot have both."

One view, not unreasonable, says that the United States today owes a large debt to the peoples of the world. It can pay that debt in the coinage of increased justice and fair play, or it can pay it in the coinage of mounting strife and suffering, but let no one doubt, the debt will be paid.

So, the folks who brought us Enron now bring us this war. Are you sure it is working? Are you going to take it without asking some questions, and without considering some alternatives? Make your contribution to a better future by participating in a Tuesday Truth Forum. -- March 2002
For information on how to start a Tuesday Discussion (Truth) Forum, see www.ecapc.org/invitation.asp.

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