THE INEVITABILITY OF WAR
By Mumia Abu-Jamal
[Col. Writ. 9/28/02]
It is impossible for us to read a newspaper, watch a newscast, or listen to radio without receiving the undeniable message that war with Iraq is inevitable.
Why is this so?
Why, in a nation that claims to be a democracy, is it inevitable, almost unquestionable, beyond the realm of questioning, that war against a sovereign nation is virtually, a done deal?
Where are the voices of dissent? ... of divergent opinion?
If this be a democracy, it is a democracy of fear; fear stimulated and exploited by political leaders in Washington, D.C., and underwritten by the shameless cheerleading of the corporate media.
Iraq, we are told, is a rogue government, and its leader, Saddam Hussein, is a new-age Hitler. It seems like every time the government wants to demonize someone, they call him a "Hitler." It always works, doesn't it? It doesn't matter that the U.S. government was quite friendly to Hussein and the Ba’ath regime when they were at war with their neighbor, Iran.
Let’s think a little about the real Hitler, and the Nazi regime during war time.
During World War II, when millions of Americans, British and the French lived in dread of the Nazi’s, do you know that a number of American firms traded with the enemy? Companies like the Chase Bank, Ford, International Telephone, and Standard Oil?
The Hitler tank divisions were built by Adam-Opel and Ford of Cologne, wholly owned subsidiaries of General Motors and the Ford Motor Company. Speaking of Ford, did you know that Hitler awarded the Nazi’s highest civilian honor, the Grand Cross of the German Eagle, to American automaker, Henry Ford?
Charles Higham in his 1984 book, "Trading With the Enemy" (Dell) writes:
Suppose the public had discovered that the Chase Bank in Nazi-occupied Paris after Pearl Harbor was doing millions of dollars' worth of business with the enemy with the full knowledge of the head office in Manhattan ...? Or that Ford trucks were being built for the German occupation troops in France with the authorization from Dearborn, Michigan? ... Or that ITT built the Focke-Wulfs that dropped bombs on British and American troops? Or that crucial ball bearings were shipped to Nazi-associated customers in Latin America with the collusion of the Vice-Chairman of the U.S. War Production Board in partnership with Goering’s cousin in Philadelphia when American forces were desperately short of them?
Let’s be clear -- many American corporations got rich when Hitler’s war machine was raging. They didn't care about Hitler then, nor about so-called "Hitlers" now. It's about oil, the money it brings, and the power it unleashes.
Don’t let war be inevitable; fight the corporate lies.
Text © copyright 2002 by Mumia Abu-Jamal.
All rights reserved.
Reprinted by permission of the author.Share this page with a friend
International Action Center
39 West 14th Street, Room 206
New York, NY 10011
email: mailto:iacenter@action-mail.org
En Espanol: iac-cai@action-mail.org
Web: http://www.iacenter.org
Support Mumia Abu-Jamal: http://www.millions4mumia.org/
phone: 212 633-6646
fax: 212 633-2889
Make a donation to the IAC and its projects
The International Action Center
Home ActionAlerts Press