Contact: Richard Deats

PRE-EMPTIVE PEACE, NOT PRE-EMPTIVE WAR:

According to President Bush, the regime of Saddam Hussein is the most urgent foreign policy issue we face today. No one contests the ugliness of the Hussein government—but when the President claims that Iraq presents us with a security emergency, the world abounds with skeptics. Now without presenting new or convincing evidence that Iraq is an imminent threat, President Bush, in defiance of global opinion and the deliberation necessary to UN inspections, continues his massive military buildup in the Middle East. He makes the case for a war that we will wage alone if necessary and on our own terms.

War is hell. That hell is not being forced on us. Our policies are making it more likely.

The costs of this dangerous war are passed over with little comment. Not only will the Iraqi people suffer greatly from a pre-emptive attack, but the possible reverberations at home are enormous. War can destabilize the entire region, triggering the growth of Islamic and nationalist extremism, toppling the governments of such key US-connected states as Jordan and Pakistan, or even Egypt and Saudi Arabia. It could foster terrorist attacks in the West and increase even further the fear and insecurity to which Americans do not wish to become accustomed.

Pre-emptive war by the United States encourages other states with serious conflicts, such as India and Pakistan, to go to war themselves rather than patiently seeking a diplomatic solution. It sets up our country as the worst possible example to others.

Pre-emptive war weakens the United Nations, international treaties, and the growing framework of international law that encourages the settlement of disputes and crises through peaceful means. The United States devoted much blood and effort throughout the 20^th century to establishing this very system.

The massive financial costs of war with Iraq will have a devastating impact on the US economy. Rapidly retreating federal and state budgets are already producing severe suffering among the poor and unemployed, gutting our schools and damaging or destroying other public services. The President’s main policy for dealing with these problems is to suggest further tax cuts. Gestures of good will toward the bottom four-fifths of our population (and there were many in the speech) cannot mask the social shock of the enormous reductions in taxes paid by the richest 1%.These lopsided tax cuts did not create the jobs promised last year. They won't do it this year, either.

The most serious weakness of the President’s approach is its moral simplemindedness. In demonizing those he calls "the evil ones" and in exalting the goodness and purity of the United States and its policies, he removes himself from the rational world in which problems can be solved. Evil is not something "out there" in others. Good and evil reside in every human heart, and in every society. Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely: nobody is exempt. As the most militarily and economically powerful nation, the United States should beware of hubris and the attitudes and policies that flow from it.

Martin Luther King, Jr., whose holiday this country has just finished celebrating, spoke to us of the triple evils of racism, poverty, and war. He called upon us to build the Beloved Community through the work of justice here at home as well as abroad. We need to put our faith and prayers and resources to work in combating poverty, disease, illiteracy, and despair, the pools of misery in which terrorism and violence thrive. That is an American ideal that will win us the world's respect, rather than its contempt.

Together the community of nations can marshal the great resources of humanity to bring healing, peace, and hope to all people. This was the vision that led to the founding of the United Nations, and the one that still beckons us today.