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AWARE meets every Sunday 5-7pm at the Urbana/Champaign Independent Media Center, 218 W. Main St., Suite 110, Urbana, Illinois. All are welcome!
The following AWARE audio commentary was submitted to WILL-AM 580 in early May, 2004 by AWARE member David Green. But it was rejected by WILL because even though AWARE's first audio commentary was accepted and broadcast in March 2004, WILL subsequently implemented an editorial policy for such listener-submitted audio commentary that precluded discussion of national or international issues. Some of us in AWARE intend to work toward change in what we view as arbitrary restrictions on this form of public comment at WILL, so that ideas such as those presented in this commentary may once again be heard on our community's public radio station.
Update (10/5/2004): Due to AWARE's ongoing opposition to WILL's arbitrary policy, WILL has now responded with a new program of regular listener-submitted audio commentaries called The Public Square. And a revised version of the commentary below was finally accepted. The version that aired can be seen here.
Submitted to WILL-AM 580 on behalf of AWARE by local resident David Green.
As local men and women in our military continue to sacrifice for our government's "war on terrorism," it is vital to place the events of 9/11 and our subsequent wars in historical context. But this past March 15th, NPR's Morning Edition aired a commentary by Ruben Navarette titled "Enough with Vietnam." Navarette claimed that reflecting on our experience in Vietnam is irrelevant to preventing a future attack on our soil.
Indeed, he expressed no interest in any of the historical context relevant to an understanding of terrorism as a response-however immoral--to U.S. foreign policy. This imperial history broadly includes U.S. relations with both Latin America and Asia, but at the very least must consider U.S. policies in the Middle East since World War II that have consistently viewed the people of that region as pawns in the service of American interests. These interests translate into control over the region's oil resources. Uncensored and unflattering historical perspectives are vital for an understanding of the continuities of U.S. foreign policy, and the consistently aggressive actions by leaders of both parties that-until 9/11-had not resulted in an attack within our borders.
George Bush and John Kerry share this historical myopia. Bush has repeated the deceptions and illegality of the Vietnam War in Iraq. Meanwhile Kerry writes in A Call to Service "it's time to recognize (Vietnam) as an exception, not a ruling example, of the U.S. military engagements of the twentieth century." But I would assert that the key to understanding Vietnam is as the most egregious example of the rule that the U.S. is willing to use force against any country whose popular aspirations threaten the interests and profits of U.S.-centered global corporate capitalism. Since World War II, this rule has been applied with bloody results in Iran, Guatemala, the Congo, Indonesia, Chile, Angola, Nicaragua, and elsewhere.
We all want to avoid the pain of another event like 9/11. But to do so we must critically examine the continuities of our history-including Iraq-and then fundamentally change coercive U.S. foreign policies. It is my view, on behalf of the Anti-war Anti-racism Effort, that continued denial of our problematic past and present only makes future attacks more likely.