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American
foreign policy should This “War on Terrorism” has gone awry. Many people have been patriotic citizens and are watching every World War II movie our corporations can move through the pipeline. But, despite Bush’s lame attempt to conjure up an “axis of evil,” consisting of two countries whose population regularly starves and Iran, another war popped into my mind this weekend and it even starred one of our elite Roosevelt family members. Transport yourself to the year 1898, and come with me to the beautiful tropical island of Cuba. The Maine, a battleship, is in Havana’s harbor when an explosion occurred. Some say it was an accident, others blame Spain, nonetheless it precipitated the Spanish-American war. Either way it hardly justified our squashing of a nationalist movement in Cuba. This event did however create quite a string of acquisitions to our growing colonial empire. Guam, the Philippines, Cuba and culminating in 1903 with the creation of Panama for the purpose of securing a canal spanning the Americas. In our current war, George W.’s vehement and righteous pursuit of Osama bin Laden now appears to be akin to his schoolwork, sub-par and devoid of principle. We now find ourselves maintaining a presence in Afghanistan and Central Asia. Imagine the tourism when Americans find out they can tan in new depleted uranium tanning caves. Or enjoy the friendly mine field diet centers. So once again if Bush says bin Laden is no longer important, why does Afghanistan matter? A majority of the suicide bombers were Saudi Arabian, and most trained at camps the CIA developed for the Mujahideen. However, we actually maintain and support the Saudi royal family in their entirely undemocratic kingdom for the sole reason of cheap gas. Plans are in the works for a Trans-Afghani pipeline owned and operated by Unocal corp., but defended by the taxpayers of America. Perhaps we should call the resulting nation built by the peacekeeping forces Afghanama. It’s funny how when the president, the vice president and power positions of the administration come from oil companies and consult only with energy company executives, the nation’s priority is placed upon depleting foreign oil supplies. However, little effort is put into developing alternatives to oil because George, Dick, and Condoleezza Rice would be out of business. The Afghanama stage of the “War on Terrorism” can be better explained as a vehicle for access to the Caspian Sea. Why would Dick and curious George W. want the Caspian Sea? Well, slightly behind the Middle Eastern oil supplies ranks the Caspian Sea reserve. These oil fields were too costly to tap in the past, but technology now makes it possible and profitable. And when any derivative of the term profit is used any where in the world, you can bet American capitalists will be there to exploit whatever is needed to insure their cut. Whether they be the Maquiladoras of the Mexican border, or the sweatshops of the Asia and the pacific islands, if corporations can make profit from slave labor they will take it. In fact, back when America had real unions that sought to improve the conditions of all people, because they realized that ‘divide and conqueror’ was still the preferred method of subjugation by the rulers, they fought against the dehumanization of any workers, not just their particular careers. What they knew and has been proven by the recent flight of productive capacity from America, is that when oppressed people are exploited in other lands then our standards of living are lowered here. Opening “new markets” helps the economy but who cares when one considers that helping the economy often mutually excludes helping the average American. A world with no corporations and many more small businesses is preferable over a world of all corporations and no entrepreneurs. For the price we pay at the pump for gas and the military operations and weapons, not to mention the moral price for maintaining sanctions on Iraq, imagine a government that explores the conservation of resources, alternative fuels and railways instead of just airways. Chris
Dobson is a senior history major from Arlington. |
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