The Effects of US Protection
by Chris Stockdill, December 24, 1998

The Serbian offensive against Albanians have spurred talks of US and NATO protection.  When the US Government says we need to protect other countries, remember Vietnam.  In 1962 when Kennedy attacked South Vietnam we claimed we were protecting South Vietnam from the northern Communist threat, but the South bore the brunt of the attack.  This is well-supported by political analyst Noam Chomsky in his book A Chomsky Reader.  Barbed wire fences appeared for the South Vietnamese, with signs reading "welcome to freedom."  If we were protecting the South, why did we drop so many bombs on the South? And why the barbed wire?  Because, although our atrocities were committed in the name of Democracy, we didn't have popular support in the very country we claimed we were saving.  Chomsky points out, that in October of 1966, a confused Robert McNamara says  "...the discouraging truth is that, as was the case in 1961 and 1963 and 1965, we have not found the formula, the catalyst, for training and inspiring them into effective action. All we seem to be able to do is kill." (McNamara's italics).

A Vietnamese friend of mine, Naranjana Pham, was forced to flee with his family through the jungle, where among other problems he barely survived a bout with malaria.  Mr. Pham says, "When the French were here, that was bad enough.  But when the Americans arrived things got really bad."  Ask him or other eye-witnesses about the effects of US "protection."

Bombs never protect people. Bombs kill people. Bombs wreck lives. Bombs destroy the environment and everything in their wake.

Washington has made plain that we plan to go ahead with or without UN authorization.  International law applies only when convenient.  Author of the book Nato in the Balkans: Voices of Opposition, Sara Flounders says "The question of refugees has nothing to do with this issue. There is a determination by Washington to dominate militarily and control economically the balkans. . . .We already have military bases in Albania, Macedonia, Hungary, Bosnia, Croatia, Italy, and Germany."  No wonder Russia and China are concerned.  Andreas Zumach, a United Nations correspondent for the German publication The Daily Paper based in Geneva, suggests we could end the problem quickly and peacefully if we help Russia cut off the oil supply to Serbia.  So why are they so eager to drop bombs?

With all the noise about the Presidential sex scandal, a $270 billion military budget passed with almost no opposition in Congress.  This is roughly a third of the military expenditures of the rest world combined.

As long as the hubris of the Pentagon is stroked by these ridiculously huge budgets, we can continue to expect more US bombing or other violence against our human family.  Violence is how the military gets support, and that is why they are eager to bomb.  They say "Hey, see all that work we're doing." Yes we see. We see the work you did in Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos. We see how you protected us from the great military threats of Panama and Grenada. We see the deadly results of US action in Nicaragua, Guatemala, El Salvador, Somalia and others. Ask people in any of these countries if they see any benefits from US protection.  May God protect us from this kind of protection.