By Shea Howell Special to The Michigan Citizen
Perhaps the single most important lesson of this moment is that violence begets violence. Once violence is unleashed, it becomes not only acceptable but develops its own momentum. A kind of casual cruelty has now become normal international policy. U.S. leaders, who hail the sanctity of human life in order to stop research on stem cells, speak with callous disregard for the children, women and men killed by our bombs and bullets.
Now, into the second week of open warfare in Lebanon, more than 400 people have been killed. Most of these are women and children, many fleeing for safety. More than 700,000 Lebanese people are facing crucial shortages of food and water and an equal number are being turned into refugees. In one night alone, Israel dropped 23 tons of explosives on Beirut. Such massive destruction seems unable to touch the conscience or hearts of those in power.
The dimensions of this crisis will be felt for decades. The toxic energy unleashed by U.S. policies will endure for generations upon generations. Driven by a deadly combination of ideology, ignorance and arrogance, we are creating a world where brute strength and physical force are the preferred means of human interaction. In such a world the lives, hopes and dreams of parents and children have no meaning. Tenderness has no place.
In such a world the words of the U.S. Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, are chillingly empty. "Every peace has to be based on enduring principles," Rice said. "Ultimately, a Middle East that is peaceful and democratic will be a place where peace is sustainable."
Such statements that use abstract principles to justify brutality are transparently insulting to most of the people of the world. In proclaiming that a cease-fire not based on "enduring principles" is meaningless, Rice diminishes every life being lost in this war. It is anything but meaningless to those who endure the bullets.
In these two weeks of bombings and killings the lives of literally millions of people have been stripped of meaning by forces beyond their control. The most simple pleasures of ordinary life, birthday parties, weddings, funerals, comfort to elders, evening walks and quiet moments with loved ones have all been ripped from people now forced to flee for survival.
It is this loss of life worth living that Rice dismisses so casually as she travels between Lebanon and Israel with her message of "enduring principles." Her conviction that peace can be brought about by death and destruction contradicts everything that human beings have learned from our bloody history and are learning from the present crisis.
As Rice promises humanitarian aid and offers plastic sheets to refugees, the Bush administration has put a rush order on delivering precision-guided bombs to Israel. They are part of a multimillion dollar deal approved last year for the delivery of satellite and laser-guided bombs.
Israeli demand for these weapons and the U.S. willingness to provide them make it clear that our only intention at this point is to assist Israel in killing Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon. If it means destroying much of Lebanon to achieve this, so be it.
It is this use of massive force for our own ends that terrifies much of the world. The enduring principle of the administration is one that justifies violence against life. Such a principle is not easily contained.
The actions being taken now are creating a toxic violence that will endure long past the powers of this administration.
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