The SOA / WHISC trains Latin American Soldiers to engage in Low Intensity Conflict; it teaches them to wage war against civilians. In other words, through the SOA / WHISC, we train terrorists.Now the United States, too, has become the victim of terrorist acts.
It is our hope that through the horror and tragedy of September 11, we as a nation may become more sensitized to the horror and misery caused by our own, exported brand of terrorism.
A Reflection by Dayton POR member, Margaret Knapke:
Waking the Body Politic
September 2002
One morning last February -- five months after the initial grief and dismay of 9/11 -- I awoke with an image that has stayed with me: A body, heavily anesthetized, lies prone on a medical table. People move around it -- pinching, prodding, shaking. But the Body Politic slumbers on.
The image itself prods me to ask: What exactly does it mean to love one's country ? Does love of country have to be exclusive, or can it be compatible with caring for the whole world ? And, perhaps most importantly, do we love best with eyes wide open or partially closed ?
This is not an easy essay to write: I find myself anticipating the same misunderstandings by readers as I have encountered in painful conversations over the past year. Clearly, there is no easy agreement on questions of love of country, especially when fear and anger are still fresh. Many well-meaning people consider any criticism of U.S. foreign policy to be a breach of loyalty, a failure to love one's country.
But this much is obvious to me: We all are lying on that table, anesthetized to one degree or another. And we are called to wake ourselves and investigate the cost of our anesthesia -- and not only the cost to ourselves, but to the vast majority beyond our country.
Anesthesia takes many forms: our various daily preoccupations, and for some a comforting belief in our nation's moral superiority, our "higher moral ground." From there it's an easy slide to trusting whatever is done in our name, with our tax dollars.
But I think abolitionist Frederick Douglass said it right: "He is a lover of his country who rebukes and does not excuse its sins." His words take on added significance now, feeling threatened as we do by possible "blowback" (the CIA's term for the unintended rebound effect of foreign policy to policy strategists and their fellow citizens). Arguably, only a "tough love" of our country can suffice today -- because merely sentimental love leaves us quietly complicit with abusive policies, and ultimately vulnerable to those who would resort to acts of terror.
"Quietly complicit"? Did I just imply that some forms of terrorism are justified, and that some civilians deserve to become political targets? No, I did not. Terrorism can never be justified -- and so our condemnation of terrorism should not falter when the U.S. itself uses, aids, or abets it. This, then, strikes me as inescapable: When "we, the people" abide our own terrorist practices, when we close our eyes to them, we do become complicit by degree.
I know, I know -- in such a brutal world, anesthesia is mightily tempting. Who wouldn't like to believe that the U.S. is truly committed to democracy, rule of law, and human rights -- and not just on paper, but on the ground, in real people's lives ? And there are days when it would be downright consoling to believe that we patrol the world like a stern but benevolent police officer, most recently in the supposed "good fights" against terrorism and drug-trafficking. (And, by the way, I've no doubt there are many individuals in government and military service who are sincerely and honorably motivated.)
But despite the best intentions of some, the evidence just doesn't support a rosy, benign picture of U.S. foreign policy. Our waking task, then, is to recognize the chasm between the values that should, and the actual values that too often do, drive that policy.
From where I stand, the evidence on the ground still supports the sentiments of former State Department analyst George Kennan. In 1948, he noted in an internal document (called Policy Planning Statement #23) that the U.S. had a mere 6.3% of the world population, but fully 50% of its wealth. Kennan declared: "In this situation we cannot fail to be the object of envy and resentment. Our real task in the coming period is to devise a pattern of relationships which will permit us to maintain this position of disparity without positive detriment to our national security. ... We should cease to talk about ... human rights, the raising of living standards, and democratization. The day is not far off when we are going to have to deal in straight power concepts...."
So much for our higher moral ground! The figures have changed slightly since Kennan's day, but the priorities -- not at all! In Vision for 2020, the Pentagon notes that economic globalization is widening the gap between the world's "haves" and "have-nots." But don't expect the U.S. Space Command to play Robin Hood: Their mission is "dominating the space dimension of military operations to protect U.S. interests and investments." They're riding shotgun for the major "have"!
Meanwhile, back on the planet, the School of the Americas (currently calling itself the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation) is a U.S.-run school for Latin American military officers. There Kennan's "straight power concepts" have been fully realized in the doctrine of Low Intensity Conflict. For years, graduate soldiers (and sometimes allied paramilitaries, as in Colombia) have waged terror and intimidation campaigns against popular movements, preferring to support internal economic elites and foreign investors. LIC victims throughout Latin America are nearly as numerous as they are anonymous -- to the world at large.
Yet -- brace yourself -- I love my flawed country. More specifically, I love the land and the people, and some of our founding principles (though not the founding onslaught, nor its continuing imperial aspects). I love my country as an equal (but not superior) member of the world community. But I maintain that real love of country cannot be exclusive, for two reasons.
The first reason (cynics may roll eyes here) is that humans are hard-wired to live in conscious community, rather than cutthroat competition. (We will figure out how to live in broad and deep community eventually, if we manage not to destroy the planet first. Arguably, we are in our sorry world state more for lack of good information than good will.) The second is the practical reason of blowback (you can read Chalmers Johnson for more on that). So love of country requires -- spiritually, psychologically, and pragmatically -- that we care about how our policies really affect all people throughout the world. In an earnest democracy, we'd be living the Nuremberg Principles.
As for me, I'm still a work in progress. I have been trying to wake up for twenty-some years now, and there are days when I still catch myself snoozing on that cold, metal table. Privilege is perhaps the strongest anesthetic, after all, and divesting oneself of it is hard work. But I'd be seriously remiss if I failed to mention two major, reliable perks: The first is a paradoxical joy in facing down difficult truths about our world, and the second is the even deeper joy of solidarity with the world's poor. There's nothing abstract, ethereal, or weeny about it: These are pleasures of the mind, heart, and gut that can kindle your very soul.
This summer in Colombia, I met people so kindled their eyes shine! With few exceptions, they live at a far remove from any anesthesia whatsoever. Daily these Colombians confront the erosion of their rights, the degradation of their fumigated lands, and a poverty looming ever-larger in the shadow of their children's play. Many work in popular organizations, such as peasant and indigenous federations, churches, unions, and women's and human rights groups. They face death threats simply for telling the truth about their reality.
In their gentle but firm way, and without bitterness, these Colombians poked and prodded our gringo delegation -- showing us how and why the U. S. is aiding and abetting terrorism against the Colombian people. Like the Pentagon, they understand economic globalization very well (although not approvingly!). One economist noted: "The FTAA (the Free Trade Area of the Americas) will come to Colombia in the helicopters of Plan Colombia." A peasant organizer, discussing the accelerating threat to labor, appealed for a countervailing "globalized solidarity."
So many good people sacrificed for dollars ! -- but that's only part of the story. I keep coming back to the subtext, that fire in their wide open eyes. And I know that the Beloved Community has already begun, and that it will exist fully when finally we are all awake.
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An earlier version of this essay was printed September 5, 2002 in Impact Weekly
(Dayton, Ohio's alternative newspaper)
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