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KING'S VIETNAM CRITICISM: Rings True For Iraq Today
Dr. King denounced the Vietnam War as an unjust, cruel and futile campaign which ravaged the Vietnamese people in their homeland and robbed the poor here in the U.S. He articulated the war's impact on low income Americans when he stated: "A few years ago.it seemed as if there was a real promise of hope for the poor - both black and white - through the Poverty Program.. Then came the build-up in Vietnam and I watched this program broken and eviscerated as if it were some idol, political plaything of a society gone mad on war. And I knew that America would never invest the necessary funds or energies in rehabilitation of its poor so long as adventures like Vietnam continued to draw men and skills and money like some demonic, destructive suction tube."
Dr. King's rebuke still rings true. The spending plan pushed through Congress right before Christmas was touted by conservatives as a "deficit reduction" measure. But it was, in reality, another effort by President Bush and the Republican Party to give huge tax breaks to the wealthy while slashing funds for vital programs which benefit ordinary, working Americans: public schools, jobs, housing, financial aid for college students and medical care for children and the elderly and so on. Meanwhile, Mr. Bush and his Republican allies in Congress continue to find tens of billions of federal dollars for the war in Iraq.
Dr. King was eloquent in pointing out that while our leaders may speak of protecting us from enemies and advancing freedom around the world, the true purpose of American military action is often to prop up of U.S. business interests. King's observations extended beyond Vietnam as he stated: "This need to maintain social stability for our investments accounts for the counter-revolutionary actios of American forces in Guatemala. It tells why American helicopters are being used against guerillas in Cambodia and why napalm and Green Beret forces have already been active against rebels in Peru."
Once again, Dr. King's analysis applies perfectly to current circumstances. The biggest beneficiaries of the war in Iraq are corporations such as Halliburton, the company formerly run by Vice-President Dick Cheney, which received a multi-billion government contract to provide various supplies to our troops and to manage Iraq's oil industry. Halliburton got this mega-deal without having to bid and despite evidence that the company had over-charged the government millions on previous contracts. Accountants at the Pentagon point out that Halliburton has failed to explain millions worth expenses in Iraq, yet the Vice-President's former business associates continue to operate openly, charging everything back to the American people. Not long ago, the White House gave Halliburton another huge, no-bid contract - this time to help clean up New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina (another disaster made worse by the Bush Administration's callousness toward everyday Americans, especially low-income people of color).
It's easy to believe that the real motivation behind the Iraq war was oil profits and other financial opportunities. After all, there was never any proof that Saddam Hussein was linked to terrorist groups like al Qaeda. (One of the first people to point this out was Brent Scowcroft, the retired Air Force general who served national security advisor to the first President Bush.) The question of whether Iraq had weapons of mass destruction would have been cleared up without bloodshed if the UN inspectors had been permitted to finish their work. But President Bush refused to wait and rushed forward with an attack just as the UN Security Council was voting to give the inspectors time to complete their mission. The President's eagerness to start fighting at that pivotal juncture fueled doubts about the Administration's motives.
As skepticism about Iraq's alleged terrorist ties and WMD program grew, the White House modified its rhetoric and began talking about "liberating" Iraq from its cruel dictator, Saddam Hussein. The U.S.-led attack was even titled "Operation Iraqi Freedom." This made many Americans feel that our nation was embarking on a noble, even holy campaign. But other U.S. citizens saw the posturing about liberation as a smokescreen. After all, it our government - particularly under Republican leadership - hasn't made a practice of rescuing oppressed people from brutal dictators. There was no talk of "regime change" when the black folks in South Africa were being murdered, imprisoned and tortured under apartheid. President Reagan never spoke of "liberating" the people of El Salvador, despite ample evidence of government brutality, death squads and "rape rooms" like those so often cited by President Bush in Iraq. When President Clinton sought to deploy U.S. forces to Somalia as peacekeepers, he was opposed by Republicans in Congress (many of whom are now staunch supporters of the war in Iraq). And, of course, President Bush has said almost nothing and done even less about the rampant slaughter that is ongoing in Darfur.
The rising death toll among Americans serving in Iraq is one of the main reasons U.S. citizens are speaking out against the war. Over 2,000 of our men and women have been killed and it's difficult for many of us to feel that those deaths were necessary. Martin Luther King, Jr. felt the same way during the Vietnam era when he stated, "I am as deeply concerned about our own troops there as anything else. For, it occurs to me that what we are submitting them to in Vietnam is not, simply, the brutalizing process that goes on in any war where armies face each other and seek to destroy. We are adding cynicism to the process of death. For they must know after a short period there that none of the things we claim to be fighting for are really involved."
Dr. King was not being disloyal, irresponsible or partisan when he publicly opposed the Vietnam War. He was acting as a patriotic American who loved his nation enough to admonish her when he felt she was going in the wrong direction. The same is true of the numerous Americans who have taken a stand against the war in Iraq.
Cameron Turner is a freelance writer, entertainment journalist and producer in Los Angeles who has created several radio specials honoring Martin Luther King, Jr. Mr. Turner welcomes your comments to hotwirecmt@aol.com.
