Yesterday was devoted to another march... one of how many over my lifetime?... this one to mark the 8th anniversary of the beginning of the Iraqi war. In those 8 years, hundreds of thousands of Iraqis have been killed by the American military effort. I have been a part of the problem: I have paid taxes to a government that has no conscience, and has killed in my name, using my money. For that I take full responsibility. I have not done enough to end this tragic chapter in our lives. I vow to do more for the children who have survived our rape of their country.
This need was stated, very very clearly, by Zahra Alkaabi, an Iraqi woman currently living in Portland and the founder of Save Refugees. She is dedicating her life to helping the victims of American aggression in her country. She spoke eloquently about the tragedy of so many civilians killed in the name of 'democracy'... estimates vary from 100,000 up to a million, and a large portion of those killed have been women and children. We've killed thousands of children in Iraq. Repeat: We have killed thousands of women and children in Iraq.
Ms. Alkaabi gave postcards to us, the marchers, preaddressed to Iraq and with space to "... write your apology and seek forgiveness for the destruction of the nation of Iraq." Wow.
I carried a cardboard coffin from the Corvallis Central Park to the Corvallis National Guard headquarters. It was about a mile. The coffin was draped with an Iraqi flag. Painted on the flag was the name of an Iraqi child killed by us. That was one long mile... about an hour (many halts for traffic because the march had not been sanctioned by 'official Corvallis)'. An hour to consider the complexities of being an American, being governed by wealthy people without the need for conscience. Who cares about Iraqi kids and women? Certainly not Obama... he has had more than two years to end the slaughter, yet we still have 50,000 combat troops and maybe double that number of paid ( thmercenariesey call them 'contractors'), more than a dozen huge permanent bases (specifically banned by congress), and the most impressive Embassy on Earth. We are guilty as charged by Ms. Alkaabi.
Fascinating to hear her start her talk. She gave us holy hell... couldn't believe that a city of 55,000 people could only muster 100 marchers, most the 'usual suspects' in Corvallis... retired, grey hair, the same crowd you see at every event. There were two young moms with kids, but it was cold and windy and I didn't envy them their situations with the babies. Tough. The march was well promoted in the local paper. Too much other stuff to do, I guess. We are a busy people, for sure. The Iraqi speaker wasn't looking for excuses.
So I was a total mess by the time we reached the guard armory. I put my coffin on the lawn and headed home... another two miles or so, enough time to consider the moral dilemmas involved with being an American. Damn, it's complex! But the walk was good, and I made it home without doing anything too dumb.
Part of the daily dilemma now is the Japanese nuclear crisis. Just for the hell of it, I dug out a couple of photos/articles from April l988. We (the four of us) were feeling threatened by the proposal to reignite the two reactors at the Peach Bottom nuclear facility in Delta, about 20 miles east of our farm. We had had a horrendous experience in March 1979 when the partial meltdown of the Three Mile Island plant caused us to escape for a few weeks. Peach Bottom was even closer than TMI... very close, in fact, to the kids' schools... and the plant had been closed for a year because the night-shift control-room guys were caught napping, playing cards, and (maybe) smoking some kind of funny weed? The restart was frightening. So there we are, protesting with our signs ('Peach Bottom is the Pits'), engaged once more in a futile effort to change our world for the better. I quote one of the nuclear officials: "I can assure you that we will not seek permission to restart (the Peach Bottom reactors) until we are completely satisfied that the plant can be operated without presenting a safety risk to you, the public, or to our employees who will operate the plant".
Exactly what the Japanese heard up until last week.
I'll quit now. Oh... my book of the day yesterday was a classic Pearl Buck, 'The Big Wave', a beautiful description of how a Japanese community reacted to a tsunami. It really is a wonderful tale, told by a master and filled with hope and joy. And deep sadness, of course. Highly recommended. It's in the library under 'juvenile fiction'.
Kirk
Posted by corvallisgadfly at 11:15 AM
No comments:
Post a Comment