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Overtime--2004 and 2003 issues
Overtime
OVERTIME--April 2003 issue
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Dedicated to reflecting the collective wisdom of enlightened workers.
Linda Featheringill
4651 West 41st Street, Down
Cleveland, OH 44109
(216) 661-0794
lfeatheringill@hotmail.com
April 2003
Volume 3, Number 10
Greetings!
Well, the war is upon us. It’s been going on for days but it feels like weeks. They say that the object of battle is to gain a better peace. I certainly hope so.
Take care of yourselves and keep everyone you love safe and sound. -- Linda Featheringill
What we can learn from the war
We can’t un-fight the war. But we can learn from it. And anyone who thinks he or she might participate in a revolution - even if it is a nonviolent campaign - could learn things from this conflict.
Like everybody else, I’ve been immersed in pictures of the war in Iraq on television, the Internet, and in print. There is some great photography out there. There are a couple of things that are obvious when you look at all these pictures.
The first thing is that warriors are young and the dead really are dead -- on both sides. As a columnist in my local newspaper (Dick Feagler) said, "It will all come down to somebody’s kid trying to stay alive by shooting somebody else’s kid." Which is an excellent reason to push for a peaceful, nonviolent revolution.
The second thing that is immediately obvious is that beauty is everywhere. The Iraqi desert in the south shines with its own subtle, complex mystery. The hills in the north are multicolored and alive. Baghdad is a very pretty city and has great visual charm. I can see why people would want to live there and think it would be a nice place to visit in a more peaceful time. The Iraqis are a handsome people. The children are lovely and bright and probably quite loveable.
We are reminded of tactical principles by the news that keeps rolling over us, with up-to-the-minute updates, hour after hour after hour.
The most obvious principle is the old military adage that no battle plan survives contact with the enemy. You can’t wage a successful campaign with only one plan - Plan A. You have to have a Plan B, and you really need Plan C and Plan D, too.
Surprise is a time-honored military tactic but excessive trickery only hardens the enemy’s resolve. Committing dishonorable acts is like sowing dragon’s teeth, where every tooth turns into a warrior who is determined to fight you to the death. Such acts will rise up in the future in the form of new and even fiercer conflicts.
Physical might and strength of will are good but technical skill and information are better.
Truth and openness are good things but more than that, including journalists in your movements has several actual advantages. Public relations work is reduced because the reporters get the news out. Also, they are professionals and probably would do a better job than amateur revolutionaries. Having the reporters around serves as a reminder that, regardless of the emotional load of the situation, you are personally responsible for your actions. A constant stream of news and pictures helps to counteract rumors of atrocities. And if you want to document atrocities done by the other side, you have the people in place to do that.
There is an old saying that God must love poor people because he made so many of them. Well, he made a lot of critics, too. They are all over the place. Humans resist change. Even if you intend to make life better for the people and even if you succeed, they probably will resent the upheaval you cause.
Remember, the average "man on the street" is probably a step or two behind the times. It is very difficult to look forward and so most people just don’t do it.
The weather and other forces beyond your control can be your friends. The big sandstorms in Iraq in the early days were reported by the press as setbacks but they gave the US soldiers a chance to get some very much needed rest and that rest influenced the outcome of the battles that immediately followed.
I would like to say we could learn to never do this again, but that’s not going to happen. [L.F., Ohio, USA.]
On the motives of the US
PNAC
The Project for a New American Century (PNAC) was founded in 1997 by Bill Kristol, who serves as the head of Ruppert Murdoch’s Washington office.
Project members who hold positions of power within the Bush administration include Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz, Lewis Libby, John Bolton, and Elliott Abrams (the reported head of Bush’s Middle East policy). President Bush’s brother, Jeb Bush, was a founding member.
Richard Perle, considered the super-hawk of the US, was not one of the signers of the original statement of principles but seems to be a part of the group now.
It wouldn’t be much of an exaggeration to say that the country is being run by PNAC. A lot of the things that Donald Rumsfeld, US Secretary of State, says can be found on PNAC’s website.
The Project does not openly advertise its lust for empire but it does include this in its Statement of Principles: "We need to accept responsibility for America’s unique role in preserving and extending an international order friendly to our security, our prosperity, and our principles." The same Statement also asks: "Does the United States have the resolve to shape a new century favorable to American principles and interests?"
You must admit that it really sounds like they are saying "empire." [L.F.]
Aftermath
What frightens me [about the war in Iraq] is the aftermath - and I’m not just talking about the problems of postwar occupation. I’m worried about what will happen beyond Iraq - in the world at large and here at home.
The members of the Bush team don’t seem bothered by the enormous ill will they have generated in the rest of the world. They seem to believe that other countries will change their minds once they see cheering Iraqis welcome our troops, or that our bombs will shock and awe the whole world (not just the Iraqis), or that what the world thinks doesn’t matter. They’re wrong on all counts.
We need $400 billion a year of foreign investment to cover our trade deficit, or the dollar will plunge and our surging budget deficit will become much harder to finance. There are already signs that the flow of foreign investment is drying up, just when it seems that America may be about to fight a whole series of wars.
It’s a matter of public record that this war with Iraq is largely the brainchild of a group of neoconservative intellectuals [Project for a New American Century or PNAC] who view it as a pilot project.
In August, a British official close to the Bush team told Newsweek: "Everyone wants to go to Baghdad. Real men want to go to Tehran." In February 2003, according to Ha’aretz, an Israeli newspaper, Undersecretary of State John Bolton told Israeli officials that after defeating Iraq the US would "deal with" Iran, Syria, and North Korea.
Will Iraq really be the first of many? It seems all too likely - and not only because the "Bush doctrine" seems to call for a series of wars. Regimes that have been targeted, or think they may have been targeted, aren’t likely to sit quietly and wait their turn: They are going to arm themselves to the teeth and perhaps strike first.
People who really know what they are talking about have the heebie-jeebies over North Korea’s nuclear problem and view war on the Korean peninsula as something that could happen at any moment. And at the rate things are going, it seems we will fight that war, or the war with Iran, or both at once, all by ourselves.
And once the shooting starts, the already-loud chorus that denounces any criticism as unpatriotic will become deafening.
[From an article by Paul Krugman for the NY Times, March 19, 2003.]
A fact
Before the year 1900, about 90% of all people who died in wars were military personnel. Between 1900 and 2000, about 90% of all people who died in wars were civilians.
And, finally ----
Insanity in individuals is something rare - but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -Friedrich Nietzsche
We Speak Not of Osama
By Calvin Trillin
(With apologies to Cole Porter, the master,
who wrote "My Heart Belongs to Daddy")
The towers fell. We knew full well
The villain in this awful drama.
His name held sway, ‘till he got away.
Now we speak not of Osama.
We said we’d pound him once he’s found
So flat he’d cry for his momma.
Forget that jive, that "dead or alive,"
‘Cause we speak not of Osama.
He’s not even in the axis.
No, his evil did not make the grade.
For the thing that he mostly lacks is
A country that we can invade.
He could be in Yokohama,
Or Bahrain or Belize or Dubai.
But to get back at Osama
We’ll just pulverize some other guy.
[The Nation, February 24, 2003. Contributed by A.J., Alabama, USA.]
What they want
[What various Iraqi groups want in the post-war period, drawn from several sources, i.e., everything I could find.]>BR>
The Kurds live in eastern Turkey, northern Iraq, and northwestern Iran. Their post-war vision includes a federation, something like what Canada has. Some would design states along ethnic lines [Kurds in the north and Arabs in the central and southern regions] and others support divisions along religious lines. Each area of the federation would be mainly self-governing. Overall, they would probably support any plan that included self-government for the Kurds. They seem to realize that this might take some time but hopefully could be set up within a year. The Kurds in northern Iraq already have a parliament. One group has written a constitution for this proposed federation.
Sunni Muslims (Arabs) make up the majority of the people in central Iraq. Their spokesmen support an elected national government, with a parliament. They support a strictly secular government. However, they want this government to be installed immediately after the Saddam is deposed, so they may want to preserve the Ba’ath party machinery. They also support a strong and probably politically active military branch of government.
The Shia (also ethnic Arabs) live in southern Iraq and southwestern Iran. Their spokesmen support an elected but centralized national government. If there is a parliament, it might not actually run the country. They adamantly oppose administration by outsiders, so probably would want a new government installed very quickly. They have received a good deal of support from the religious conservatives in Iran and would be in favor of blending religion and government. Whether they want a real theocracy is unclear.
Christians and other small minorities support an elected national government, with a strong parliament. They want to have at least some "dedicated" seats reserved for the various minority groups so they would have a voice in running the country. They support a strictly secular government, as they feel that’s the only way the small minorities could enjoy the freedoms and benefits that larger groups would.
There are a few Iraqis, mainly wealthy exiles, who support the idea of a constitutional monarchy, with a parliament that is active, if not actually strong.
The monarchists do not have a real support base among the people of Iraq but do enjoy the support of some people in other countries - including some of the members of PNAC (described above).
I didn’t find any quotes from representatives of these groups that addressed the concerns of people in the other groups. This is not a good sign.
Also, these sources addressed only political issues. The issue of utilization of national resources and distribution of benefits - always a contentious topic - wasn’t even brought up. I did note that the area where the Kurds live contain the headwaters of both the Tigris and the Euphrates. That fact might become very important in the future.
It seems obvious that there’s a lot of work to be done in post-war Iraq.
[L.F., Ohio, USA.]
The Environment
Estimating the damage by the war in Iraq.
First, targeting industrial and military sites such as armaments factories and oil refineries is likely to lead to acute chemical pollution. A report on the Kosovo war by the United Nations Environment Programme concluded that military action resulted in no general "ecological catastrophe" but resulted in "some serious hot spots where contamination by hazardous substances released during the air strikes poses risks for human health and the aquatic environment."
The UK government has named 9 sites in Iraq as involved in the production of biological and chemical agents.
Second, there is the issue of oil. Pumping oil on the ground would contaminate the soil, underground drinking water reserves, and even the Gulf. During the 1991 war, a major Kuwait aquifer (making up 40% of the fresh water reserves) was contaminated and remains that way today. Burning oil wells produces a large amount of smoke. In Kuwait, the wells burned for about 9 months and average air temperatures fell by 10C as a result of reduced light from the sun.
Third, specific weapons likely to be used against Iraq will also create environmental damage. Top of the list of concern are depleted uranium (DU) projectiles.
Depleted uranium is very dense and is used in projectiles designed to pierce armour, reinforced bunkers and other similar targets. Estimates of the amount of DU used by allied forces in the first Gulf War range from 290 to 800 tonnes.
According to a "threat paper" on Kuwait produced in secret by the UK Atomic Energy Authority and subsequently leaked, 50 tonnes of DU inhaled could cause up to half a million additional cancer deaths over several decades. Internal DU exposure is acknowledged to cause kidney damage, cancer of the lung and bone, respiratory disease, neuro-cognitive disorders, chromosomal damage and birth defects.
Fourth, this war will pose a serious threat to the biodiversity of that region. Data on Iraq’s biodiversity is limited. There is little information on fish, amphibians and reptiles. No major surveys have been conducted since 1979. But iraq’s wetlands have been of major international significance, especially for wildfowl. Thirty-three Iraqi wetlands were included on a 1993 provisional list of internationally important wetlands. They support substantial numbers of at least 7 species of mammals and birds listed in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Animals. They are important as a staging and wintering area for more than 60 species of waterfowl and 9 species of birds of prey. They are also of great cultural significance, having provided a home for the Ma’dan or Marsh Arabs for at least 5000 years.
Fifth, refugees pose an ecological threat. Separated from their usual means of meeting their needs and often in desperate straits, such people often over-exploit the land around them and can cause great damage.
[Duncan McLaren and Ian Willmore, Friends of the Earth, in The Observer (London), January 19, 2003. Contributed by P.E.N., Colchester, England, UK.]
Glaciers
New evidence from a rapidly warming part of Antarctica suggests that ice can flow into the sea much more readily than had been predicted, perhaps leading to an accelerated rise in sea levels from global warming.
Many polar and ice experts said the new study suggested that seas might rise as much as several yards/meters over the next several centuries. They called that prospect a slow-motion disaster, the cost of which - in lost shorelines, salt in water supplies, and damaged eco-systems - would be borne by many future generations.
The new analysis focuses on the recent breakup of one of the floating ice shelves fringing the 1000-mile [1600km] Antarctic peninsula after decades of warming temperatures there.
The loss of the coastal shelves caused a "drastic" speedup of the seaward flow of inland glaciers.
The peninsula, which stretches north toward South America, has warmed an average 4.5F [2.5C] over the last 60 years, so much so that ponds of melted water now form in the southern summer atop the flat ice shelves.
The warming there has not been linked definitely to a global warming trend that scientists attribute in part to emissions of carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases from human activities. But if the warming spreads to more of Antarctica, the freeing of other glaciers could greatly accelerate the amount of ice flowing into the ocean.
Two argentine researchers report on aerial surveys they conducted in 2001, which led to a sudden surge in the seaward flow of 5 of the 6 glaciers [after the shelves broke off] - as if a doorstop had been removed or a dam breached.
[Andrew C. Revkin, NY Times, March 7, 2003.]
This and That
Tourism
A Canadian couple are touring Australia and stop for a drink in a small country town pub. The locals, who are unused to seeing visitors, are keen to demonstrate their friendliness and send one of their number over to these Canadians to make them feel at ease.
"G’day!" says the local. "We all welcome you to our small town and hope you’ll have a most enjoyable stay. Where abouts do you good people come from?"
"Saskatoon, Saskatchewan," reply the Canadians.
"Hmmm", Says the Aussie, and strolls back to the locals and sits amongst them.
"Who are they? Where do they come from?” enquire his mates.
"I dunno," says the Aussie. "They don’t speak English!"
[Gogglesworth, West Australia, Australia.]
Leprosy on the rise in the US
In the US, leprosy is usually regarded as a plague of the past, a disease relegated to biblical times or to poor and distant countries. But as cases of leprosy have been declining worldwide in recent years, the infection has been on the rise in this country.
There were some 900 reported cases in the US 40 years ago. Today, more than 7000 people have leprosy (or Hansen’s disease, as it is now called). "And those are the ones we know about," said Dr. William Levis, attending physician at Bellevue Hospital’s Hansen’s Disease Clinic in New York. "There are probably many, many more."
Most of those infected in this country are immigrants from global leprosy hot spots, such as Brazil, India and the Caribbean. But in the past 6 years, Levis and his colleagues have proved that a handful of his patients have contracted leprosy within the continental US.
As a result, the disease is now officially endemic to the northeastern US for the first time. The bacteria are thought to be passed through respiratory droplets of an infected person.
With a standard regimen of multiple drugs, most people with leprosy cease to be contagious within 3 months. They will become free of the bacteria itself in 2-5 years.
[Sharon Lerner, NY Times, March 3, 2003.]
The price of gasoline
One of the reasons for the higher prices of fuel is the fact that the US military is using so much more than before Bush’s Holy Crusade and that has created a big demand. Many hundreds of planes and thousands of tanks and trucks use a lot of fuel. And then there are all those ships and aircraft carriers (only a relatively few run by nuclear power) sailing around needlessly in the Persian Gulf, wasting scarce oil.
Also, many of the so-called problems with SUVs could easily be corrected by using automobile tires on them instead of truck tires. This would lower the center of gravity and make them safer. It would also reduce the vehicle weight and same a lot of fuel.
[Stephen H. Frey, Pennsylvania, USA.]
Media censorship
The people of America are supposed to believe that the media does not practice censorship. As the old saying goes, "Seeing is believing." But when it comes to certain viewpoints and opinions, no matter how substantiated they are, we don't see anything.
The catch-22, in exercising the patriotic duty of free speech towards the formulation of governmental direction accepted by the majority, is that one can be accused of being unpatriotic by exercising that right and duty. Not only is a person considered unpatriotic but the media arbitrarily assumes an authority to silence; obstruct certain viewpoints and opinions from public consideration.
The comment is often heard that the public (over 90 percent of it is the working class) is too stupid to assimilate the full spectrum of ideas, and from that proceed to form a rational opinion. If that be the case, than why wall off the public from information and only allow selective portions through for the appraisal of the public?
Here is another case, of many cases. So far the writer is batting zero in getting his letters to the editor printed in the Star Tribune, a capitalist rag sheet in Minneapolis, Minnesota; a patriotic protector of the people of course; their assumption not ours.
[D. Donaker, Minnesota, USA.]
Submitted to the Star Tribune, 03/09/2003:
Four letters appeared in the Mpls. Star Tribune, Sunday, March 9, 2003, under the heading "Not all dissent is patriotic." Let us begin with Timothy Taylor's opus: "if patriotism is the expression of love and devotion to one's country, it seems perfectly fair to point out that people expressing such sentiments [defined as carrying banners such as "America: Axis of Evil," or a sign depicting Uncle Sam as a Nazi storm trooper]. . .. are acting in an unpatriotic manner." We must conclude that Mr. Taylor believes that those expressing opinions not in keeping with official administration pronouncements are "unpatriotic." I would hope that the author of this letter knows that the Bush administration in its official capacity as executive branch of our government takes on the mantle to those outside of our country of speaking for the American people. Thus the "America: Axis of Evil" is an expression indicting the Bush administration and not the American people. Protesting Bush's posture is in the finest tradition of American history.
Using Taylor's reasoning, anybody objecting to British infringement of American rights--especially if they put Britain in an unfavorable light during the birth of our nation--would be considered "unpatriotic," and he would be forced to challenge the patriotism of America's revolutionary forefathers. Using the Bill of Rights to state a position is not unpatriotic--it is an example of utilizing the ideals of the founders of our nation in its finest form.
The next letter by Margaret Aten, worries that protesters "trust Sadam Hussein more than George W. Bush." Recall that our president stood in front of a helicopter proclaiming that Sadam had enough components to create a few nuclear weapons and that this information was in an official IAEA report. The administration also noted that Sadam had ordered special aluminum tubes to use in refining uranium. These two claims turned out to be fallacious! The IAEA issued no such report, nor did the criminal under consideration [Sadam] order the proper type of tubing for the claimed purpose. Surely our president knew the truth of these matters. This doesn't inspire trust in our president.
Finally we have the charge--letter by John Capello--that antiwar protesters are "come financed by old-school, anti-American socialist groups. . . that have one agenda: Oppose anything American or Western at every turn." Of course, no proof is offered to butress this charge. According to the author, the protesters under consideration "have been chased out of Eastern Europe, and have been forced to live under rocks and in the shadows." Again, no evidence of such an emigration of the protesters is forthcoming.
As I recall, most of the protesters were ordinary citizens of our European allies. Protests in most of the other nations--Japan, Canada, South America, for example--are not of Eastern origin. As for true patriots protesting "at the ballot box," sadly, the whole nation witnessed the Supreme Court of this nation diminishing itself in its proclamation of George W. Bush as our president.
As for the fourth letter by Charles Stueber, that states that "there is nothing patriotic about giving comfort to our nation's enemies," it is again an expression of intimation of support for terror if one doesn't support our President. The aforementioned answer this charge.
[B. Danelius, Minnesota, USA.]
What Mad [Muslim] Women Want
By Pamela Taylor
[From Muslim WakeUp!, an online magazine based in California.]
I am mad, and I'll tell you why.
I am mad about stupid, egotistical male rulers who don't mind killing hundreds of thousands of innocent human beings to salve their egos. Who trump up fake charges for a war no one wants or even understands the reasoning behind. Who refuse to give in to something unjust, unfair, illegal and immoral so as to save the lives of thousands upon thousands of the people over whom they are supposed to be steward. What a moral high ground that would be!
I am mad about any man who thinks that raping a woman somehow disgraces her not him. I am mad about men who steal, murder, maim, torture in the name of greed, powerlust, passion, or any other stupid emotion. I am mad that while death is being prepared for hundreds of people around the world the men in my neighborhood are more concerned about who is practicing at the fieldhouse for the upcoming NCAA basketball tournament than about what our government is doing.
I am mad at the men who think that women cannot, should not or have no interest to think, act, make decisions, have a life outside of house, husband and kids, be politically active, derive satisfaction from career or other outside interest, have no aptitude for understanding economics, politics or anything else and therefore have to rule the roost.
I am sick to death of the havoc men wreak upon the world! And I am mad about women who do the same thing (although statistically that is an incredibly smaller number). I find the hadith that says women are going to be the majority in Hell to be absolutely unbelievable because it seems like 95% of the misery in the world can be attributed to the acts of men!
I apologize to the five percent of men who are decent (and thank God endlessly that I married one of them!) for this rant.
Men often ask women what we want. I'll tell you that, too.
Women want respect, dignity, the right to make our own choices, to pursue our own dreams, to live in safety with enough economic resources so that we can give our children a happy childhood which encourages them to discover their own unique strengths and to help them build defenses against their weaknesses, a mate who is a tender lover, a best friend, a comfort in hard times and a joy in happy ones, supportive and in need of support.
We want autonomy--the right to define who we are, not to be defined by others.
Next month: We’d love to know what you think. These are our usual classifications:
-- Open - questions, comments, tirades, etc.
-- RSVP. React to previous statements.
-- The ecology.
-- Clippings from newspapers, etc.
On the Web again
The guys at Socialism for a Real Labor Union are up and running again and have included Overtime on their website. They can be reached at:
http://socialismmarxdeleonforarealunion.org
Money. Overtime is free, but there are expenses and any help with these would be appreciated. Please make checks payable to Linda Featheringill and mail to me at 4651 West 41st Street, Down, Cleveland, OH 44109. Contributions will be acknowledged in the next issue, or you can remain anonymous if you wish.
Finances at the end of March 2003:
Balance--------------------7.53
Contributions-------------58.68
Supplies and stationary----3.57
Copying-------------------29.87
Postage-------------------26.45
Total expenses------------59.89
Balance--------------------6.32
Contributions: K. Hofstatter, 2.68; N. Wilgus, 1.00; A.J., 10.00; Anon., 20.00; and Anon., 25.00.
And, to Everyone, thank you, thank you, thank you.
Linda Featheringill.