Talkin’ Desert Storm” by Kelly Mulhollan.
AFSC, Weekend Reading.
Brett Wilkins. “US Increases Dominance as World’s Top Arms Exporter.”
Jake Johnson. “60+ Faith Groups Urge Congress to ‘Dramatically’ Slash Pentagon Budget.”
| I hope my readers will someday hear Kelly sing his impelling song about our warrior president Bush II and one of his wars, written “the very day we started the first Gulf War.” Here are the lyrics. –D Talkin’ Desert Storm by Kelly Mulhollan Who would have guessed how the whole world’s fate woulda’ changed when Saddam Invaded Kuwait? They’ll forever be arguing the circumstances but it seems the Amir’d been takin’ chances – Fixin’ prices, and doing a little slant drilling And, where there’s oil you’ll always find that Uncle Sam has found the time To make a few friends and reserve some places for Airforce runways and Army bases Well, just in case, you never know, Gotta’ keep your eyes on free enterprise With the Russians consumed by their own shrinking borders Bush thought he’d claim him a new world order He’d show all the world all his fabulous toys and just for good measure, add a half a million boys The New World Police! Gonna’ liberate the Amir! So Bush set off on heart felt mission, had to pay off the leaders of a world coalition Make us look like the world defender cause some Americans can still remember – Vietnam, didn’t go so well We’d need good relations, he even bought off the United Nations But he still couldn’t sell it, not for jobs, not for freedom, he’s a rackin’ his a brain for a line that he could feed em’ And appealing to our hearts from the pit of his soul he finally found one that would fly in the polls And it was Hitler! Now that one flew. And this time, He’s Nuclear. And so it goes, that a dead broke nation billions in debt with a looming recession Like a mad dog cornered and rearin’ to fight our F -18s scream off in the night and the war had begun Stay tuned to your TV sets! And if it ever ends it may come to be by the loaded dice of history That with all our connections, sooner or later we’ll find them Iraqis another dictator And there we’ll stand, on our new claimed soil talkin’ democracy and selling all their oil For millions, and billions Till it’s all, Gone AFSC, Weekend Reading, 3-18-23 Dear Dick, March 19 marks the 20th anniversary of the [2ND] Iraq War. Today, it’s clear as ever that the U.S. cannot solve the world’s problems with war and military responses. Instead, we must invest in peace, diplomacy, and nonviolent solutions that benefit all people and communities. Read more from AFSC’s Mike Merryman-Lotze, Beth Hallowell, and Mary Zerkel. And join us on March 28 for our webinar “Remembrance and Accountability: The Iraq War at 20” to discuss what we’ve learned and how we can build a different future. Register today. [You might recall that OMNI’s founding Mission Statement was copied from the AFSC and FCNL.] BRETT WILKINS. “US Increases Dominance as World’s Top Arms Exporter.” Common Dreams (3-14-23). https://www.commondreams.org/news/arms-trade “The impacts of the global arms trade aren’t just about the volume of weapons delivered,” said one expert, citing “a few examples of how U.S. arms deliveries can make the world a more dangerous place.” A Sweden-based research institute published a report Monday showing that the United States accounted for 40% of the world’s weapons exports in the years 2018-22, selling armaments to more than 100 countries while increasing its dominance of the global arms trade. The report—entitled Trends in International Arms Transfers, 2022—was published by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) and listed the United States, Russia, France, China, and Germany as the world’s top five arms exporters from 2018-22. The five nations accounted for 76% of worldwide weapons exports during that period. The five biggest arms importers over those five years were India, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Australia, and China. “The country is sprinting towards a trillion-dollar budget for weapons and war,” the groups wrote in a new letter. “We cannot continue down this morally bankrupt path.” MORE https://www.commondreams.org/news/arms-trade JAKE JOHNSON. “60+ Faith Groups Urge Congress to ‘Dramatically’ Slash Pentagon Budget.” Common Dreams (March 14, 2023). More than 60 faith-based organizations on Tuesday urged the U.S. Congress to impose major cuts on the bloated military budget as President Joe Biden pushes for a nearly $30 billion increase and Republicans demand even bigger spending hike. “The country is sprinting towards a trillion-dollar budget for weapons and war—propping up an expensive and harmful militarized foreign policy while people struggle to meet their basic needs,” reads a new letter to members of Congress signed by U.S., international, and state and local groups including the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), Unitarian Universalists for Social Justice, Hindus for Human Rights, and dozens of others. “We cannot continue down this morally bankrupt path,” the letter continues. “We urge members of Congress to dramatically cut militarized spending in the fiscal year 2024 budget—both to facilitate reinvestment in the well-being of our communities, and to curtail the harms of our militarized foreign policy.” The groups’ principled stand against devoting further resources to the U.S. military—and specifically to the Pentagon, an agency that recently failed its fifth consecutive audit—comes days after Biden requested an $886 billion military budget for the upcoming fiscal year, with $842 billion of that total earmarked for the Department of Defense. Tori Bateman, the policy advocacy coordinator at AFSC, said Tuesday that “we know that there is enormous waste, fraud, and abuse at the Pentagon—and that spending exorbitant amounts of money on weapons and war takes away from the funding our communities receive for things like healthcare and housing.” “This year, we need Congress to commit to cutting Pentagon spending, and maintaining a robust level of spending on human needs programs,” Bateman added. [I have recently added Common Dreams to my abundant sources on US warmaking. –D] |