Watching the news about Japan, worried and horrified and praying for the Japanese people like all other Americans, I was moved beyond measure to see our own soldiers arriving with aid and strength and fortitude to help as much as they could. I don't know about you, but this is who I want us to be. I want our reputation across this world to be one again of compassion in the form of compassionate acts, not acts of war. I want us to be loved and respected again as we once were, not accused constantly of meddling in the problems and affairs of foreign countries as a means to satiate our own unstoppable greed. When I was at Cambridge University, many days every week for four years I was lambasted by such accusations by fellow students from all over the world. I apologized, I explained, I defended and I felt bad the whole time. I don't want to feel bad anymore. I don't want to just say I support our troops. Of course I support our troops, our terribly brave men and women who risk their lives. But if they are to risk their lives for those in desperate need outside the U.S. I want them to risk radiation poisoning to save those people pounded by natural forces, not guns from people yet again at war.
Meanwhile, while Japan is in such terrible need, the Arab League has endorsed allowing the Western NATO Alliance to impose a no-fly zone over Libya. For those of you who haven't yet read the description our own Defense Secretary Gates gave the House Appropriations Committee last Wednesday of what a so-called no-fly zone actually entails, here is a part of it. Gates said, "A no-fly zone begins with an attack on Libya to destroy the air defenses. That's what you do in a no-fly zone. And then you can fly planes around the country and not worry about our guys being shot down. But that's the way it starts." He also warned the committee against starting another war in the Middle East and called an end to "loose talk" about steps like a no-fly zone that would be the equivalent of an act of war. He said also that enforcement of a no-fly zone, if it was imposed, would be expensive and difficult and would stretch U.S. resources thin in the Middle East.
Meanwhile, ironically, France is lobbying members of the U.N. Security Council in favor of the no-fly zone, though Germany, Russia and China are against, Germany specifically bringing up soiling our reputation even further as meddlers in the Arab World. Russia has responded by blocking Gadhafi and his family from carrying on any financial transactions in their country. The Prime Minister of Turkey has said, "Military intervention by NATO in Libya or any other country would be totally counter-productive."
Meanwhile, however, Senator John Kerry, who is the Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee said the Pentagon should be prepared to go ahead with it. And now we know that the U.S.S. Kearsarge and the U.S.S. Ponce, both warships, have passed through the Suez Canal into the Mediterranean towards Libya.
Three conditions have to be met by the Western NATO Alliance before they can or will approve violating Libyan air space. The first condition was met when the Arab League on Saturday called on the west to create the no-fly zone. The second condition is that proof has to be had that help is needed. That proof would typically be of humanitarian suffering or atrocities. But Human Rights Watch says there have been reports of arrests and missing people in Tripoli but there is not a lot of actual evidence of it. So far. The third condition is a Security Council resolution. If the Security Council approves the no-fly zone, and here's the kicker, though the world screams its opinions, the bulk of enforcement of the no-fly zone would fall on the shoulders of guess who. Need I say? I will. The U.S.
I say it's time we Americans shouted from the rooftops, "JUST SAY NO!" Come up with other ways and we all can think of plenty of them. Secretary Gates said that as part of the no-fly zone scenario we would definitely be killing people. Let us not use the world "casualties" any more. We would definitely be killing more people. NO. NO. There has to be a turn-around, literally. Turn around those warships. Figure out another way to be the greatest country on earth. If we still are, that is, as we descend so far into economic devastation now there's no certainty at all we can actually recover. We just keep thinking we probably will. But history and ancient history has consistently showed one "empire" after another so full of their own certainty that they ignore the clear and present danger signs and they fall. Every single civilization. How will we be an exception to that if we continue to spend every dime to kill foreign people and risk the lives of our own best youth?
No. We go to Japan and help as much as we possibly can. Yes. We offer assistance to those who need compassionate humanitarian aid. But we must stop jumping into war as if there is no other solution and so quickly that no one even realizes what is happening before it is too late. We must once again become a loved nation, a compassionate nation that creates peace in the world by being an example of what peace should look like. We need to use our brains to create solid, real solutions not our brawn to go beat-up the bad guy. We have a chance to climb out of the horror of war and fear of economic collapse. But we must think to be able to do it, not just react.
