(BAGHDAD) DEAR CONCIOUSNESS: On behalf of humanity, with all my respect, I am sending you this letter. On behalf of the widows, orphans, and disabled people of the world, existing and future, created by the insensible sword of war, I am writing you. To protest against the poverty, suffering, obliteration, harm to nature, the clipping of future, the proliferation of hate, that war creates, I am communicating with you. That Saddam Hussein is a bloody ruler, of proven perpetrated atrocities, which should not be in power, is an axiom to the non-fanatic and sensible people of this planet. That he would like to have arms of mass destruction, with effective capacity to deliver them, is very probably a reality. That he has or is close to attain that capability is an unproved affirmation, of dubious certainty. That if he has that capability he will be willing to use it, is an improbability. Even if Saddam Hussein has developed and is keeping, surreptitiously, arms of mass destruction, under a tight international grip and surveillance those arms and delivery systems will be at least neutralized, if not destroyed, through an effective in-situ inspection program. He will not be, obviously, so insane as to use rudimentary mass destruction armaments against other countries, or to provide them to terrorist groups, because his own nation, in that event, could be subject to massive destruction by truly effective means. The containment option of Saddan Hussein regime is the best scenario facing the world today. It is a demanding work; a persistent and effective process of surveillance, inspection, and destruction of any detected dangerous arms. To be really effective, any containment scenario should also include economic allowances to the Iraqi people, from their own oil revenues, confiscated since 1991 by the United Nations due to our political pressure. This will help to revamp their battered economy. Means to readily stop the profound social suffering of that nation through the last two decades. Means to readily stop the death of thousands of children, annually occurring due to lack of adequate health care in that country. This is the correct way for a civilized world: a social world whose finality should be to mitigate suffering of humanity, by rationality, by wisdom, by common sense, by patience, by understanding, by validation, by pragmatism, by brotherhood, by solidarity, by help; by the sense that all people on this planet are equal, and that all of us suffer the same, when we loss a loved relative or a friend. In contra-position to the rational containment option, at this historical moment, the United States of America is ready to attack Iraq, with whatever resources are needed; with the intention of toppling its leader, and to occupy and control that nation as a pawn for an absurd and adventurous plan for eventual westernization of the Arab world; a modern crusade. A quick military toppling of Saddam Hussein is probably attainable due to the superior military forces of the United States. We might rest on that assumption. The true question is not if that is possible, but what could be the probable consequences of that action; what could be the probable explosive aftermath. This is the incorrect way to act for a civilized world; it is the worst scenario. On the positive side, we will be removing from power an elderly sadistic ruler, of improbable present danger. On the dark side, we will be obliterating by brutal direct war, and by collateral damage, a people and its historic heritage, a people that was a protagonist of the foundation of human civilization, thousands of years before America was discovered; a nation that hoards and treasures unique historic monuments of irreplaceable value to humanity. We will be bringing back suffering to an innocent people that have known the cruel chaos of two devastating wars, chaos that we have never known on our land. We will be forging new widows, new orphans, new heartbroken mothers, and scores of new limbless citizens…while we endeavor lovingly to provide readily access to buildings to our limited disabled population. We will be building a new Saddam, a new martyr for fanatics to banner; a further reason for religious fundamentalism to grow in Iraq, and in other Islamic nations. Once the beehive is broken, the venom, if it exists in Saddam’s hands, will be easily and willingly dispersed. We will be creating hate, a visceral desire for revenge of an abused people, abused by an alien nation from far away places. We will be forging an army of desperate persons, ready to serve as delivery systems to return suffering to America. We will be taking the responsibility, for many years to come, for the political instability of a country, of a tumultuous region, that we had dramatically destabilized. We want to prevent an improbable future of harm to us, or to Middle East nations, by Iraq, but we are willing to swiftly destroy that nation without mercy. We are impatient to do them what we do not want them to do us. Are we blinded by our hegemony, by our enormous power of destruction, believing that blood of distant people is different from ours… that people on those lands don’t cry like us when their cherished children die… that we deserve peace, security, and respect, but other nations don’t. We should also not forget about the harm that we will be doing to many of our young citizens, to those that will carry the burden of war…by death, by physical disability, and by mental illness. We should not forget about the suffering that we will do to many of our own families. The delicate order of respect, currently governing relations between nations, built by the arduous walk of mankind through more than half a century, will take the first shots of war. The most powerful nation of the world, in disdain, is ready to pull the trigger to wound it, by blitzkrieg redemption; not worried about the long lasting harm and collateral damage done to civility and to rational international friendship and law. Dear consciousness, think, think fast…time is running out. Calamity is hovering in the sky. Rapacious birds are flying around, looking for the fallen bodies of civilians, and of the young soldiers that will never come back to their parent’s hands. Why war, why punishment to other people, to cultures that we do not understand, has always been in our mind? Why children, other than those who live on our side, have no value at all, as the kids from Libya, Serbia, Afghanistan, and Iraq? Think, think fast. Why children, in far away places, grow up hating our name, flag and lives? Why they plan, covertly, to pay us back the death darts that once took their parents lives. Think, think fast... how to stop our brutal hostility and devastation from the sky, how to stop terrorism from both sides…how to stop the seeding of hate; this insane legacy to history, to our children, to future generations… how to stop the harvesting of wrath. Luis Horacio Bonnet San Juan, Puerto Rico. Jan. 16, 2003 Note: Few weeks after this letter was written, we attacked and occupied Iraq.
Posted on: Mon, 10 Jun 2013 22:28:56 +0000
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