Does war bring peace?

Let’s skip the middleman!

by
Cary Hopkins Eyles

I am thrilled that the debate continues – that people know how important this is and are willing to spend time and energy to have a dialogue about it. And my students thought politics was boring! It seems to me that the discussion has gotten off-course however. It is certainly not my place to push where the debate goes but I think we have to define what we are talking about. I know that I raised issues of what America has done in its foreign policy not to defend the actions of those on 9/11 but rather to illuminate two things: (1) if war was waged on us each time we committed an act of terrorism, we would have been in war for decades (+) now, and (2) while the methods of expression were entirely wrong, there are good reasons why people would want to hurt the U.S. We have been the terrorists of the world for long enough.

Jerre and Steve were discussing standard of living. I think that again the issues are two-fold. First there is what our expectations for a nice standard of living perhaps should be: as Steve said, water, food, medicine when needed, education, work. Even these things are somewhat luxurious – and only "expected" in so-called "First World" countries. But even here we don’t all have these things. Why? Who has all the resources?

That leads into the second issue: the reality of the situation. Many people in the U.S. believe that they "need" that Big Mac or that Palm Pilot. Due to a bombardment of advertising and PR we have blurred the line between wants and needs and that is why the issue of standard of living is unclear. I know I have things at home that I don’t need to live, to be fed and warm, even to be comfortable. So what is considered a low standard of living in middle class/lower middle class areas in the U.S. is a pretty high standard of living when you compare it with numerous other societies, particularly of course in the so-called "Third World".

I could certainly go on but I want to get to the heart of my essay. Steve has expressed his strong support for this war. He and others have said that we need to respond to the terrorism, that to not go to war is to show tacit support for the attacks of 9/11. They claim it is self-defense but self-defense is when you are protecting yourself. We are not protecting ourselves and as I have said before war will not bring back the people who died. Why are we really there? Retribution. Revenge. Hatred. Or is it more complicated? Political angling? Power? Oil? Making the world safe for capitalism?

I ask that anyone who supports war, this war or any other, to ask themselves this question: why are we at war? Is it truly for the reason you believe? Are our actions an attempt to rectify the horrible acts of the past – which we cannot do? Or will our actions simply bring more violence, poverty, oppression and hatred into the world? Do you believe that war brings peace?

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