Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Wen Tzu - Verse 169, Part I

from Verse One Hundred Sixty-Nine
The course of rulers is considered and planned strategically. Action in the cause of justice is not undertaken for their own survival, but for the survival of those perishing.
~ Wen-tzu: Understanding the Mysteries ~
When a leader in the modern world desires to justify to the populace WHY he/she has decided to march the country off to war, we often hear that the primary reason is to liberate the people of the nation being attacked. It's such a laudatory reason; if only it were true!!

More often than not, such words are chosen to manipulate the public -- "manufactured consent" -- to support unethical or immoral actions. The true underlying motivation has little, if anything, to do with rescuing anybody; it's far more about obtaining something the attacker covets or for some geo-political purpose.

A clear example of this is the US invasion of Iraq. Former President George W. Bush told the American people this action was needed to free the Iraqi people from the brutal despot Saddam Hussein. Unfortunately, the manner in which this war has been waged belies the stated objective.

If we truly were there to save the Iraqi people, why then did we purposely target the country's infrastructure? In the first days of the war, military commanders were told to cripple the oil production facilities (Iraq's main source of income) as well as the country's electrical power grid and their wastewater system. We also targeted schools and hospitals. We bombed key bridges and roads.

Destroying the nation's infrastructure has set back the Iraqi people by decades. Even now, in 2010, the electrical grid and wastewater systems are still in disarray. Fuel is rationed. Cropland has been destroyed and it will be years, if not decades, until it can be productive again.

We even turned a blind eye to the looting of Iraq's museums and libraries. Since the cradle of early civilization began in this part of the world, innumerable treasures and artifacts have been lost. In essence, we allowed the Iraqi legacy to be tarnished and, in some cases, outright destroyed.

None of these actions have "liberated" the Iraqi people. It's painfully obvious to anyone who is willing to look that the stated reasons for this war had little to do with justice!

This post is part of a series. For an introduction, go here.

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