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Axis
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In
the past year I have stood at Ground Zero and mourned; I have walked
among the debris of the Jenin refugee camp and felt Palestinian anger;
I have seen firsthand the rubble of restaurants where Israelis were
blown to bits and I felt their fear. I am now prepared unequivocally
to declare war on the real axis of evil and to ask others to join the
fight. I propose that Christians, Jews, Muslims and people of all faiths
volunteer for a war to wipe out injustice, suffering, ignorance and
poverty. These evils are themselves a form of terrorism and they incubate
the kind of terrorism that kills American office workers, firefighters,
police officers, janitors and stockbrokers.
Financial resources for such a campaign already exist. But they are
available only if we end excessive national spending for wasteful and
outdated military programs that, ironically, are detrimental to our
nation's true security. Some $60 billion could be saved. That's
the conservative estimate of a group of former generals, admirals, defense
department officials and business executives who participate in Business
Leaders for Sensible Priorities. Without spending an additional dime
of tax money, these savings could reduce or forgive the debt of hopelessly
impoverished nations, increase federal funding for clean and efficient
energy, renovate every public school in America, and offer health insurance
to every child in the nation, just for starters.
If we need any further marching orders in the war against the real axis
of evil we could do no better than to remember the words of President
Dwight Eisenhower, one of our greatest military commanders. In 1935,
he said, “Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every
rocket fired signifies in the final sense a theft from those who hunger
and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world
in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its
laborers, the genius of its scientists and the hopes of its children.”
From this perspective, war with Iraq looks unwise and even counterproductive.
It preempts the great opportunity we have to pass on to our children
a world free of hunger and violence.
The
Rev. Dr. Robert W. Edgar is the General Secretary of the National Council
of Churches, USA.
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Peace