Vietnow (Redux)

Truth hits every one.

Let me start by mentioning that this column was really supposed to be a music review of two worthwhile albums — namely Audioslave’s self-titled debut and Pan’s "Parnaso ng Payaso." Both bands have members formerly from two of the most important groups of the 1990s: militant rock outfit Rage Against The Machine (condemned by the so-called Moral Majority a.k.a White America as being "un-American") and folk-punks Yano (whose sense of irony was lost to our senators at that time). Not only was their music revolutionary, it was charged with a fiery and intelligent brand of social commentary, tackling issues that their contemporaries casually avoided. Using music as a platform, they launched a scathing attack on a society that tried its best to cover its ears. Futile, given that they couldn’t ignore the chants of "F__k you I won’t do what you tell me!" and the sneering of "Natatawa ako...Hehehe" — especially as it was echoed repeatedly in their sons’ and daughters’ bedrooms.

As I was writing and listening to the albums however, I couldn’t help but be moved by what these artists have continued to stand for, their belief in social change undimmed by age. Coincidentally, my television was tuned into the news channels that beamed in snowy images of the bombardment of Baghdad when only a few nights before a local channel was doing a feature of its citizens. Filipino reporter Jiggy Manicad was struck by the warmth of the Iraqi people, the wizened faces of its elders, the innocence of its children’s smiles — not unlike our own. It is estimated that most of the casualties of the war will be civilians, more than half children. It struck me that one cannot ignore these realities; one cannot turn up the volume of one’s stereo or switch channels to drown out the cries of innocents.

There is no credible justification for this war. Plain and simple. Of all the opinions I’ve heard from one source or the other, none has given a proper casus belli. More often than not, those who are pro-war merely resort to name-calling or a cursory perusal of a book of quotations (without bothering to actually read the source or understanding its context) to give them words when they have none. These are people who choose to not see what this war is really about. They fall into the trap of believing the cliched rhetoric and flawed logic of George W. Bush, or maybe the more eloquent but no less wrong reasoning of Tony Blair.

"No blood for oil!" declare protestors at the numerous anti-war rallies erupting all over the world. It will be good to finally listen. As revealed to Philippine STAR publisher Max Soliven by former Iraqi Oil Minister Isaam A.R Al-Chalabi (on a visit here apparently sponsored by the Americans), Iraq has vast reserves of oil still untapped, probably second only to Saudi Arabia. This is a fact that was probably whispered to Dubya by Vice President Richard Cheney (maybe after explaining where exactly the two countries were). (Cheney is shrewd; when construction time begins it will all probably be to the greater profit of his companies.) Bush could barely contain himself when he called on the Iraqi people to protect their oil wells; it could probably be called a Freudian slip if it wasn’t like giving the man the benefit of intelligence.

All this talk about Saddam Hussein being an imminent threat is nonsense. Besides the fact that Iraq has no nuclear capability, the UN has a stranglehold on the country to the point that one can practically hoist the Stars and Stripes alongside its borders. The Iraqi military is so decimated in numbers that even pundits of Bush’s government predict that the war won’t last longer than a number of weeks. It does not take an expert to glean the contradiction. Robin Cook pointed this out before he resigned from Blair’s cabinet. According to Cook, one cannot base "a military strategy based on the basis that Saddam is weak and at the same time justify preemptive action on the claim that he is a serious threat."

In the same speech, Cook also said that he has heard "it said that Iraq has had not months but 12 years to disarm, and our patience is exhausted. Yet it is over 30 years since Resolution 242 called on Israel to withdraw from the occupied territories. We do not express the same impatience with the persistent refusal of Israel to comply."

(It must be added that, if I’m not mistaken, Israel is the only country in the Middle East that has nuclear capability.)

And what now about the United Nations? It is a tattered institution that may probably go the way of the pre-World War II League of Nations. (Something that saddens me for personal reasons since one of its best leaders was a grand-uncle of mine — who never tolerated fools and whose name it pains me to write alongside the current US president’s.) All of this due to a man who the American people reluctantly support.

I cannot imagine why Americans voted for Bush over more qualified candidates like Ralph Nader (or even Al Gore). They should’ve learned something after electing Ronald Reagan — one of the worst American presidents in recent memory. Of course, one can attribute this to the hanging chad controversy that gave the candidate who lost the popular vote the election. I doubt we would be in the position if either Nader or Gore won.

However, Americans are not dumb. As Michael Moore, author of Stupid White Men and director of the Oscar-winning documentary about American gun culture Bowling for Columbine, declared in his speech, "Shame on you, Mr. Bush! Your time is up!" I don’t know about these supposed opinion polls but every intelligent American I know is against this war. Unlike Bush, they realize why Pakistanis cheered when the World Trade Center collapsed, and know that this war is only going to make things worse. Unlike Bush, they remember Vietnam.

Why should us Filipinos care? How can we afford not to? According to the reputable magazine The Economist the Philippines will be the biggest loser. As pointed out in the article, more than one million of our countrymen work in the Gulf countries, keeping our economy afloat amid a "ballooning public debt." How can Filipinos especially the youth — many of whom go to school with the remittances sent by their OCW parents — not care?

To tell you the truth, I think the biggest crime these days for any person is not to care. I think it’s downright unforgivable to wallow in escapism, continually only thinking of what to wear at your next party or nights out on the town when the world is running down. It’s either you’ve lost your humanity or you are as superficial and banal that even your closest friends and colleagues secretly think you are. (The only cocktail I suggest would be a Molotov one.)

I am nowhere near being an activist or a political animal, nor am I anti-American (being in awe of many its citizens and a lot of what it’s supposed to stand for) but I’d like to think of myself as being a humane person. How can someone like me — whiling my time away in air-conditioned shopping malls or safely typing in the comforts of my own home — not speak up when I know that the world is on the brink. If you tolerate this then your children will be next.

Neither am I for Hussein, who is undoubtedly a barbarian, and whom the United States should’ve never armed in the first place. Do I believe that the United States should liberate the Iraqi people? That’s for them to decide. As one Iraqi student replied when told that this was the current reason Dubya was selling, "That’s what all the invaders over the centuries have said."

"Wake UP!" exorted Zack dela Rocha not too long ago. The USA (or again its present leadership) and its allies want nothing more than to ease the world into a heavy slumber, providing the rest of the world its technicolor American dream — something it did well in the past. That era is over. America only provides us our nightmares now.