- Those who died in this war did not die for their country.
- They died for their government.
-
- Our government has declared a military victory in Iraq.
As a patriot, I will not celebrate. I will mourn the dead--the American
GIs, and also the Iraqi dead, of whom there have been many, many more.
-
- I will mourn the Iraqi children, not just those who are
dead, but those who have been blinded, crippled, disfigured, or traumatized.
We have not been given in the American media (we would need to read the
foreign press) a full picture of the human suffering caused by our bombing.
-
- We got precise figures for the American dead, but not
for the Iraqis. Recall Colin Powell after the first Gulf War, when he reported
the "small" number of U.S. dead, and when asked about the Iraqi
dead, replied: "That is really not a matter I am terribly interested
in."
-
- As a patriot, contemplating the dead GIs, I could comfort
myself (as, understandably, their families do) with the thought: "They
died for their country." But I would be lying to myself.
-
- Those who died in this war did not die for their country.
They died for their government. They died for Bush and Cheney and Rumsfeld.
And yes, they died for the greed of the oil cartels, for the expansion
of the American empire, for the political ambitions of the President. They
died to cover up the theft of the nation's wealth to pay for the machines
of death.
-
- The distinction between dying for your country and dying
for your government is crucial in understanding what I believe to be the
definition of patriotism in a democracy. According to the Declaration of
Independence--the fundamental document of democracy--governments are artificial
creations, established by the people, "deriving their just powers
from the consent of the governed," and charged by the people to ensure
the equal right of all to "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."
Furthermore, as the Declaration says, "whenever any form of government
becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter
or abolish it."
-
- It is the country that is primary--the people, the ideals
of the sanctity of human life and the promotion of liberty. When a government
recklessly expends the lives of its young for crass motives of profit and
power, always claiming that its motives are pure and moral ("Operation
Just Cause" was the invasion of Panama and "Operation Iraqi Freedom"
in the present instance), it is violating its promise to the country. War
is almost always a breaking of that promise. It does not enable the pursuit
of happiness but brings despair and grief.
-
- Mark Twain, having been called a "traitor"
for criticizing the U.S. invasion of the Philippines, derided what he called
"monarchical patriotism." He said: "The gospel of the monarchical
patriotism is: 'The King can do no wrong.' We have adopted it with all
its servility, with an unimportant change in the wording: 'Our country,
right or wrong!' We have thrown away the most valuable asset we had--the
individual's right to oppose both flag and country when he believed them
to be in the wrong. We have thrown it away; and with it, all that was really
respectable about that grotesque and laughable word, Patriotism."
-
- If patriotism in the best sense (not in the monarchical
sense) is loyalty to the principles of democracy, then who was the true
patriot, Theodore Roosevelt, who applauded a massacre by American soldiers
of 600 Filipino men, women, and children on a remote Philippine island,
or Mark Twain, who denounced it?
-
- With the war in Iraq won, shall we revel in American
military power and--against the history of modern empires--insist that
the American empire will be beneficent?
-
- Our own history shows something different. It begins
with what was called, in our high school history classes, "westward
expansion"--a euphemism for the annihilation or expulsion of the Indian
tribes inhabiting the continent, all in the name of "progress"
and "civilization." It continues with the expansion of American
power into the Caribbean at the turn of the century, then into the Philippines,
and then repeated Marine invasions of Central America and long military
occupations of Haiti and the Dominican Republic.
-
- After World War II, Henry Luce, owner of Time, Life,
and Fortune, spoke of "the American Century," in which this country
would organize the world "as we see fit." Indeed, the expansion
of American power continued, too often supporting military dictatorships
in Asia, Africa, Latin America, the Middle East, because they were friendly
to American corporations and the American government.
-
- The record does not justify confidence in Bush's boast
that the United States will bring democracy to Iraq. Should Americans welcome
the expansion of the nation's power, with the anger this has generated
among so many people in the world? Should we welcome the huge growth of
the military budget at the expense of health, education, the needs of children,
one fifth of whom grow up in poverty?
-
- I suggest that a patriotic American who cares for his
or her country might act on behalf of a different vision. Instead of being
feared for our military prowess, we should want to be respected for our
dedication to human rights.
-
- Should we not begin to redefine patriotism? We need to
expand it beyond that narrow nationalism that has caused so much death
and suffering. If national boundaries should not be obstacles to trade--some
call it "globalization"--should they also not be obstacles to
compassion and generosity?
-
- Should we not begin to consider all children, everywhere,
as our own? In that case, war, which in our time is always an assault on
children, would be unacceptable as a solution to the problems of the world.
Human ingenuity would have to search for other ways.
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------
- Howard Zinn, the author of "A People's History of
the United States," is a columnist for The Progressive.
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