[PEN-L:7403] SEEK PEACE AND PURSUE IT

[Robert Naiman <naimanr@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

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Sunday Journal, Washington DC, May 30, 1999

SEEK PEACE AND PURSUE IT
Robert Naiman

Memorial Day finds us at war again, with Yugoslavia and
Iraq. The death toll from NATO bombing climbs, as NATO
bombs hospitals and embassies by predictable accident and
water and electricity facilities on purpose. The bombing of
Iraq continues, as do the economic sanctions on Iraq's
civilian population which have killed more than a million
Iraqis since 1991.

Holidays evolve. Veterans' Day was originally "Armistice
Day," marking the end of World War I. Memorial Day
originally honored Union soldiers killed in the Civil War.
On this and future Memorial Days we should remember all the
victims of war, not just those who carried guns, and
dedicate ourselves to "seek peace and pursue it," in the
words of Psalm 34.

This is urgent because the United States is waging in
Yugoslavia and Iraq wars designed to have no U.S.
casualties. The bombing of Yugoslavia has been called a
"coward's war," where we show our great humanitarian
commitment by bombing from 15,000 feet.

The public is not nearly so enamored of war as the saber-
rattlers on TV. A recent CNN poll reports that more than
80% of Americans support a halt in the NATO bombing of
Yugoslavia.

Yet the White House, committed to war, ignores public
opinion, international law, and the U.S. Constitution. The
Framers of the Constitution wisely reserved for Congress
the power to declare war. In the Vietnam-era War Powers
Act, Congress attempted to reassert its Constitutional role
by setting a deadline beyond which the President could not
commit troops to conflict without Congressional approval.
Yet the deadline has passed, and the war goes on.

International institutions have been unable to restrain
NATO. When asked about NATO liability for war crimes, NATO
spokesman Jamie Shea said, "NATO is the friend of the [War
Crimes] Tribunal... NATO countries are those that have
provided the finances to set up the Tribunal, we are among
the majority financiers."

To stop war we must create institutions independent of
governments and the news media.

Attacking a country which is contemplating an expulsion of
population can be destructive, because wars are often a
pretext and cover for population expulsions and massacres.
Some suggest that Milosevic calculated that a NATO attack
would provide him the pretext and suitable environment for
expulsions.

Consider 1948 in Israel. Fewer Palestinians might have been
expelled without the war, which consolidated the position
of hawks in the Israeli leadership. There were divisions at
the time -- the civilian population of Nazareth was spared
because the commander of the Israeli forces refused the
order to expel its inhabitants. The war swept aside the
1947 UN partition plan, which would have been much better
for the Palestinians than actual result.

WWII did not prevent the Holocaust. Occupation by Allied
forces halted it after it was mostly complete. The war may
have exacerbated the Holocaust, by strengthening Hitler's
position, and sealing the borders which stopped the escape
of refugees. In _The Myth of Rescue_, William Rubinstein
suggests that the U.S. Holocaust Museum exhibit suggesting
the Allies could have disrupted the Holocaust through
bombing is very misleading -- for example, it uses an
aerial photograph of a concentration camp which was
developed long after the war.

Some say we need an alternative besides NATO and "doing
nothing," but there was an intervention before the bombing,
which if insufficient, was not useless. There were OSCE
monitors, aid groups, peacekeepers, and journalists, and
these had a deterrent effect, which should not be
discounted. I served in a small peace team in Hebron in the
West Bank in 1996. We had no governmental mandate or
assistance, and yet we stopped many bad things from
happening.

A conflict with international monitors, peacekeepers, and
aid groups, is highly preferable to one of total war and no
monitors. Whatever deterrent effect the threat of military
force may have is eliminated by the actual application of
force, leaving only the threat of more escalation.

Any force to stop bad things from happening to civilians
without making things worse has to be on the ground, not
avoid danger, and have the protection of civilians as its
sole priority. Participation in such a force should be
voluntary. Such a force is most likely to accept danger and
prioritize humanitarian concerns. It should not be
offensively armed. It must not be controlled by the big
powers.

Many organizations seek to put this vision into practice,
such as Christian Peacemaker Teams and Peace Brigades
International. We should support these organizations.

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Robert Naiman <naimanr@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
Preamble Center
1737 21st NW
Washington, DC 20009
phone: 202-265-3263
fax:   202-265-3647
http://www.preamble.org/
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