Contact: John Harrington – 707.252.6166
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 15, 2003
Napa, California
War is the Wrong Answer for Our Economy and Our Global Community
Suffice it to say, the U.S. invasion of Iraq is immoral, unjust and unnecessary. It is a violation of international law, national sovereignty, the United Nations Charter, will undermine international cooperation for at least a decade and has already divided the American people. This unilateral military act (the "coalitional forces" cover is a hoax) will only further destabilize the Middle East, increase tensions between Turks and Kurds, and the Iraqis and Iranians. It will isolate the United States from our traditional European Allies and most of the developing world, especially the Arab world, and rally Al Qaeda terrorist recruiting. It will also cause immense human suffering and the deaths of thousands of individuals of all nationalities, mostly innocent Arab civilians, who have already suffered twelve years of economic isolation and United Nations sanctions.
It is of course interesting to note that for almost 40 years American Administrations have supported Saddam Hussein and his Baath Party, and as Robert Scheer in a March 25, 2003 AlterNet article said, even after Hussein gassed his own people in 1988, Bush senior extended an additional $1.2 billion in credits and loans to the Iraqi government. Both Bush senior and the Commerce Department under Ronald Reagan permitted U.S. companies to sell anthrax and other biological and chemical supplies to Iraq. Reagan even dispatched Donald Rumsfeld as our country's special envoy to Iraq to reassure Hussein of our government's support of his regime against Iran.
What a crime it is for the largest and most powerful military nation in the world to "bomb into the stone age" (using an obviously timeless quote from General Westmoreland regarding the Vietnam war) the nation of Iraq. After our country has destroyed the entire infrastructure of this poor third world country, will we then actually spend billions in U.S. aid to rebuild the country when we can't even end poverty and illiteracy in our own country?
The most ardent and committed anarchist could not have done more damage to the global and U.S. economy than George W. Bush by going to war with Iraq, providing tax relief for the wealthy, while expanding our national debt, and asking for almost $80 billion in additional funds for the first six months of war and occupation. This war will result in increased interest rates, a decline in the value of the dollar, international boycotts of U.S. companies (Europeans are already boycotting 27 major U.S. brand names) and American products, further erode the economic viability of the travel sector of the U.S. economy, and encourage violent attacks on U.S. businesses and U.S. citizens worldwide. I'm wondering if George Bush is an operative of Al Qaeda, or simply their unwitting pawn.
The Bush Administration's war will not be over quickly, because the U.S. will represent a predominately white, Christian occupying power, in a Moslem Arab country in the Middle East. This will cause more bloodshed than if Israel occupied Palestine, Gaza and the West Bank all at once by military force. It will mean that thousands of American soldiers (mostly young kids with big guns) will be put in harm's way on a daily basis, subjected to random sniper attacks, knifings, bomb attacks and other brutal acts not experienced by American military personnel on such a large scale since Vietnam. Many military analysts have already been quoted as saying that the U.S. will need to occupy Iraq for at least two years, at a cost of over $100 billion per year to rebuild the country. Instead of Al Qaeda traveling all the way to the U.S. to kill Americans, there will now be 300,000 new targets in the Middle East. Bin Laden could not have done a better job of manipulating U.S. leaders. Thanks, George W.
Many U.S. companies have already been bidding on contracts to rebuild Iraq's infrastructure (that we're destroying), and the irony is that U.S. taxpayers will pay for the war by not only dying, but by paying military and weapons contractors to destroy Iraq, as well as paying corporations like Vice President Dick Cheney's company, Halliburton, to put out oil well fires. Americans will spill blood for oil as our military, under the direction of Tommy Franks, will control Iraq's vast petroleum potential with proven reserves of over 112 billion barrels, second only to Saudi Arabia and the cheapest to extract (about $2 per barrel), making big fat margins for our oil oligopolies. The poor French and Russians will be out and U.S. corporations in for some big profits, thanks to the blood of American troops and money from U.S. taxpayers.
This being said, what can investors do to stop this senseless violence and put economic or financial pressure on the Bush Administration and large corporations that continue to profit from the Al Qaeda September 11 attack and the U.S. war in Iraq?
Naturally, investors can avoid investing in weapon manufacturers and defense contractors and companies which profit from this conflict, such as Halliburton, which will not only profit from the war in Iraq, but has already profited from building prisons in Cuba for alleged terrorists being held in Guantanamo. With big budget busting deficit spending coming up, the U.S. Treasury will be raising more money to pay for the war by auctioning treasury bills and bonds: don't buy them, instead buy federal agency bonds to finance housing, small business and farm loans, and buy municipal bonds to support transit, alternative energy, education and veterans' housing. It's also a good time to buy Euro and Swiss franc-denominated bonds to support those countries' governments which oppose President Bush's imperial war. Before someone calls me unpatriotic for suggesting investors invest in foreign government bonds, it's critical to remember that portfolio diversification is the heart of the prudent person rule and the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974. It is an important act to take in uncertain and volatile global economic times, especially the diversification of one's assets into other hard currencies: Ask any corporate treasurer.
It's also not just avoiding investing in weapons and treasuries, it's also refusing to buy products of large brand name corporations and banks which are largely responsible for exporting U.S. jobs and your investment dollars to sweat shop economies and governments that are bribed to hand over the developing country's natural resources to corporate management. This means you have to invest, bank and shop locally, and become an active and vocal shareholder. Don't wait for watered-down corporate governance reforms from management or voluntary human rights and environmental codes of conduct to be adopted by corporate management. Also, don't wait on your pension fund manager to represent you as a beneficiary by voting against management or voting against the big four corporate accounting firms who are in bed with corporate management, because they haven't voted against them in the past and they won't vote against them in the future. This means you vote your stock, don't decline to vote or give your proxy to your broker, if you hold stock in your personal or IRA account. Also contact your pension administrator and mutual fund advisor/manager and tell them how you want your stock or mutual fund shares voted.
Most importantly, keep your money invested and bank in your local community. You can avoid the large multinational banks that export capital, and bank with smaller savings banks, credit unions and community loan funds.
Keeping your consumer dollars close to home is also important. Why eat only processed, genetically modified, tasteless corporate food in containers, transported at great cost long distances, when viable local grocers, farmer's markets and neighborhood produce is only minutes away? We can be smart, healthy consumers supporting our local economies.
In addition to investing and consuming responsibly, the third leg of the stool to peaceful economic participation is philanthropy and participating in community affairs. That means giving money to those organizations you trust to bring about a major change in our world. That also means volunteering to work for a non-profit as a volunteer in your community, or serve on boards of non-profits that are supporting progressive social change.
Speaking of social change, why not vote? I know it's old fashioned, troublesome and nauseates you to think about voting for any of the numerous morons who run for office; but what the heck. He or she will be "your moron" and maybe if they practice enough, they will be able to play a tune on the piano. They may even be able to represent you and provide some progressive leadership.
Lastly, we all have a right in our great democratic country to protest, demonstrate and voice our opinion. Lots of people died for these rights and we had better exercise them. Who knows, maybe one day we'll have more people voting and demonstrating in our streets than watching sitcoms and soaps on corporate-controlled commercial television.
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