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I'm an American tired of American lies
Anonymous
10/23/02 at 13:59:04
 http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0,3604,813189,00.html

Woody Harrelson
Thursday October 17, 2002
The Guardian

The man who drives me to and from work is named Woody too. A relief to me, as it
minimises the chance of my forgetting his name. I call him Woodman and he calls me Wood. He has
become my best friend here, even though he's upset that I have quit drinking beer. He's
smart, funny, and there's nothing he hasn't seen in 33 years behind the wheel of his black
cab. He drove me for a while before I felt confident he liked me; he doesn't like people
easily, especially if they have a rap for busting up black cabs.
Woodman and I agree about a lot of things, but one thing we can never agree about is
Iraq. He thinks the only language Saddam understands is brute force. I don't believe we
should be bombing cities in our quest for one man. We've killed a million Iraqis since the
start of the Gulf war - mostly by blocking humanitarian aid. Let's stop now. Thankfully,
most of the Brits I talk to about the war are closer to me than to Woodman. Only your prime
minister doesn't seem to have noticed.

I have been here three months doing a play in the West End. I am having the time of my
life. I love England, the people, the parks, the theatre. The play is great and the
audiences have been a dream. Probably I should just relax, be happy and talk about the weather,
but this war is under my skin - it affects my sleep.

I remember playing basketball with an Iraqi in the late 80s while Iran and Iraq were at
war. I didn't know at the time that the US and Britain were supplying weapons to both
sides. I asked why they were always at war with each other and he said something that stayed
with me: "If it were up to the people, there would be peace. It's the governments that
create war." And now my government is creating its second war in less than a year. No; war
requires two combatants, so I should say "its second bombing campaign".

I went to the White House when Harvey Weinstein was showing Clinton the movie Welcome to
Sarejevo, which I was in. I got a few moments alone with Clinton. Saddam throwing out the
weapons inspectors was all over the news and I asked what he was going to do. His answer
was very revealing. He said: "Everybody is telling me to bomb him. All the military are
saying, 'You gotta bomb him.' But if even one innocent person died, I couldn't bear it."
And I looked in his eyes and I believed him. Little did I know he was blocking
humanitarian aid at the time, allowing the deaths of thousands of innocent people.

I am a father, and no amount of propaganda can convince me that half a million dead
children is acceptable "collateral damage". The fact is that Saddam Hussein was our boy. The
CIA helped him to power, as they did the Shah of Iran and Noriega and Marcos and the
Taliban and countless other brutal tyrants. The fact is that George Bush Sr continued to
supply nerve gas and technology to Saddam even after he used it on Iran and then the Kurds in
Iraq. While the Amnesty International report listing countless Saddam atrocities,
including gassing and torturing Kurds, was sitting on his desk, Bush Sr pushed through a $2bn
"agricultural" loan and Thatcher gave hundreds of millions in export credit to Saddam. The
elder Bush then had the audacity to quote the Amnesty reports to garner support for his
oil war.

A decade later, Shrub follows the same line: "We have no quarrel with the Iraqi people."
I'm sure half a million Iraqi parents are scratching their heads over that. I'm an
American tired of lies. And with our government, it's mostly lies.

The history taught in our schools is scandalous. We grew up believing that Columbus
actually discovered America. We still celebrate Columbus Day. Columbus was after one thing
only - gold. As the natives were showering him with gifts and kindness, he wrote in his
diary, "They do not bear arms ... They have no iron ... With 50 men we could subjugate them
all and make them do whatever we want." Columbus is the perfect symbol of US foreign
policy to this day.

This is a racist and imperialist war. The warmongers who stole the White House (you call
them "hawks", but I would never disparage such a fine bird) have hijacked a nation's
grief and turned it into a perpetual war on any non-white country they choose to describe as
terrorist.

To the men in Washington, the world is just a giant Monopoly board. Oddly enough,
Americans generally know how the government works. The politicians do everything they can for
the people - the people who put them in power. The giant industries that are polluting our
planet as well as violating human rights worldwide are the ones nearest and dearest to
the hearts of American politicians.

But in wartime people lose their senses. There are flags and yellow ribbons and posters
and every media outlet is beating the war drum and even sensible people can hear nothing
else. In the US, God forbid you should suggest the war is unjust or that dropping cluster
bombs from 30,000ft on a city is a cowardly act. When TV satirist Bill Maher made some
dissenting remarks about the bombing of Afghanistan, Disney pulled the plug on him. In a
country that lauds its freedom of speech, a word of dissent can cost you your job.

I read in a paper here about a woman who held out the part of her taxes that would go to
the war effort. Something like 17%. I like that idea, though in the US it would have to
be more like 50%. If you consider money as a form of energy, then we see half our taxes
and half the US government's energy focused on war and weapons of mass destruction. Over
the past 30 years, this amounts to more than ten trillion dollars. Imagine that money going
to preserving rainforest or contributing to a sustainable economy (as opposed to the
dinosaur tit we are currently in the process of sucking dry).

I give in to Woodman, and we stop for a few beers. He asks me what I'd do in Bush's
shoes. Easy: I'd honour Kyoto. Join the world court. I'd stop subsidising earth rapers like
Monsanto, Dupont and Exxon. I'd shut down the nuclear power plants. So I already have
$200bn saved from corporate welfare. I'd save another $100bn by stopping the war on
non-corporate drugs. And I'd cut the defence budget in half so they'd have to get by on a measly
$200bn a year. I've already saved half a trillion bucks by saying no to polluters and
warmongers.

Then I'd give $300bn back to the taxpayers. I'd take the rest and pay the people teaching
our children what they deserve. I'd put $100bn into alternative fuels and renewable
energy. I'd revive the Chemurgy movement, which made the farmer the root of the economy, and
make paper and fuel from wheat straw, rice straw and hemp. Not only would I attend, I'd
sponsor the next Earth Summit. And, of course, I'd give myself a fat raise.

Woodman drops me at home and I ask if he likes my ideas. He offers a reluctant "yes". As
he pulls away he yells out, "But I'd never vote for a man who can't handle a few pints at
the end of the day!"


Re: I'm an American tired of American lies
se7en
10/24/02 at 23:18:57

awesome article.
Re: I'm an American tired of American lies
gift
10/25/02 at 04:35:57
[quote author=se7en link=board=ummah;num=1035395944;start=0#1 date=10/24/02 at 23:18:57]
awesome article.[/quote]

i totally agree - the most unexpected people say some of the most hopeful and illuminating things  


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