Posted on 03/15/2004 10:20:04 AM PST by Future Snake Eater
Recently there was an article in Newsweek, among what appears to be a standard array of disgraceful articles, called "American Terminator." It says that America is "an empire in all but name," going on to bemoan several problems that are hinderingour imperial power. The article identifies three "deficits" that we face in furthering our dominance. The first is an "economic deficit," which has been caused by growing economic weaknesses over the last quarter century or so. The second is a "manpower deficit," caused by a shortage of troops to occupy other countries. The third one is the most serious, an "attention deficit...reluctance on the part of voters to tolerate prolonged commitments...in hostile territory." I strongly recommend everyone view this article; it is unusually frank.
In particular it seems to me that if we consider ourselves at all responsible or moral, then we should do what we can to try to increase as much as possible the second and third "deficits" that are hindering imperialism like those advocated by Newsweek. I would like to talk about what can be done to try to remove NCSU, as a university, from participation. The most obvious thing that comes to mind is to end university support for the ROTC (Reserve Officer Training Corps) programs. Such courses as military science and naval science should be discontinued. Any NCSU facilities that are currently used by ROTC should be transferred to other fields. This is not a long-term plan. It should be done as soon as possible. Every semester that we continue to support these programs is another semester contributing to ongoing crimes abroad. I would liketo see NCSU start its fall semesterwithout ROTC on campus.
There are a number of concerns peoplemay have about ending our support for military recruitment on campus. As a society, we are very saturated in militarist propaganda, which isused to get the public to support crimes abroad. For example, many people believe that the current wars, such as the on e in Iraq, are protecting American security, defending America. In fact, they are a disaster for our security. There can hardly be a more probocative action to organization like al-Qaeda than an unprovoked invasion into the heart of the Middle East. The tens of thousands of people who have been killed in this invasion, the deterioration of living standards that has followed, this will be remembered for a long time to come. World opinion was almost unanimously opposed to such an invasion; in fact, the only countries with majorities in support were the United States and Israel. It was, as is quite typical, a brazen violation of international law.
What about the war in Afghanistan? The war in Afghanistan was not unprovoked, but it is nevertheless a great crime, for reasons that seem rather obvious when one considers the facts. According to studies by Marc Herold and others, the number of civilians killed by the United States and United Kingdom attacks in Afghanistan is probably around the number killed from Sept. 11, 2001 in the United States--althoughthat surely understates teh toll, because it doesn't include indirect deaths caused by wartime chaos in a very poor country. if this was at all reported, if anybody knew about it, I have no doubt there would be great pressure to find a less bloody course of action, but luckily for those in power, the public doesn't know. Sept. 11, 2001 of course received total news coverage; in the case of those in Afghanistan, their deaths received almost zero.
It is likely, too, that if not for militarism abroad, the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks would never have occurred in the first place. Osama bin Laden has said why he supported such attacks; he specifically mentions United States support for Israel, which has included roughly $3 billion per year in military and other aid for the last several decades.
The United Staets is hardly a neutral observer in overseeing Israel's occupation, a gross violation of international law and numerous U.N. resolutions, the brutal reality of which is kept carefully from the United States public.
A second reason bin Laden cited is the stationing of U.S. troops in Saudi Arabia and the Muslim holy lands. There are also the sanctions on Iraq, which resulted in probably more than a million excess deaths in that country, with the United States as their main supporter. They were called "genocidal" by the former head of the U.N. humanitarian program there, who resigned in protest.
Clearly then, it is in our best interest, and in the best interests of our fellow humans elsewhere, to desist from military domination abroad. If we are to stop supporting this at NCSU, then ceasing to support recruitment efforts--increasing the second "deficit"--is crucial. It also appears obvious that ceasing such support will have a positive effect on campus culture, making it a safer,more secure place to be.
To name an example, as long as we host ROTC, we cannot have a campus free of discrimination based on sexual orientation. All our policy statements on the matter, if you read them, have exceptions written into them--we won't discriminate against you if you're homosexual, except in military and ROTC matters. Then we'll discriminate.
That's pretty terrible, in my opinion, and we should stop supporting it immediately.
But I am definitely going to pass this along to my cousin, who was in AFROTC at State.
I've made life-long friends in that program, and the job I will be presented in May because of the program is a tremendous opportunity to positively influence a great number of people.
Then this little f***er comes in spewing his crap in a medium which has no real rebuttal and makes wild accusations and summarily determines that our program (as well as all the others) needs to go.
I'd LOVE for this guy to come to one of our FTX's and say that to our faces on the firing range.
I think I need to count to 10 now...excuse me...
I think at this moment he needs to be more concerned with planning a quick exit from his apartment when ticked off people whom he's directly and terribly insulting come to have a chat with him.
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