I had the pleasure to attend a seminar in late June 2007 entitled Potential Remedies for War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity* that was sponsored by the Arizona State Bar during its annual convention. One of speakers was Benjamin B. Ferencz, a former chief prosecutor at the Nuremberg War Crimes Trials. When I saw that he would be speaking (along with Eric A. Seitz, Esq., counsel for Ehren K. Watada, and Claire Tixeire, Esq., an international law/rights advocate), I immediately signed up.
Mr. Ferencz is a brilliant, vibrant, and captivating speaker – even at the age of 87. One of his comments (that I was sure to write verbatim) continues to resonate in my brain. Near the end of his presentation he said: "The foot of the tyrant gets so heavy on the neck of the public that they rise up." What bothers me most about his statement is that many Americans remain ignorant that there is a tyrannical boot pressing their necks into the pavement. Perhaps misinformation and propaganda in our era is so effective (or the foot's pressure so subtly imposed over time) that many cannot see through its thick haze. For our American public to rise up, that public must first awaken to our present reality. Are we really safer with TSA's three-ounce toiletries charade; warrantless (and illegal) spying and wire tapping (on you!); the onerous-sounding Department of Homeland Security; nonsensical color-coded threat warnings (always elevated or high to keep us on edge); torture; the draconian Patriot Act; the preposterous and un-winnable alleged global war on terror; our illegal and tragic military blunder in Iraq; our military bases in nearly every country and territory on the planet; our trillion dollar defense (offense?) budgets; and our foreign policy of hyper-aggression? The founders of this formerly great Republic would have been disgusted with us. They would have reached for their swords and muskets long ago.
At this point in our history "the foot of the tyrant" is very heavy and more so every passing day. Never in my life of 44 years would I have imagined that this great country could be lied into a war so blatantly, yet there is so little power in we the people to stop the death and destruction and torture and misery and mayhem and hatred and economic peril that war represents. And we pay for it through taxes, inflated fiat currency, the limbs and lives of our citizens, and our collective reputation worldwide whether we consent to it or not. At the same time, war planes fly over our sporting events and people wave and cheer; flags fly proudly in front of houses; Support our Troops magnets adorn our vehicles; public speakers thank our troops for supposedly "fighting for our freedoms" (as those freedoms are extinguished); aspiring presidential candidates parrot all the "right" garbage just to get elected to grab the reigns of power (with the lone exception of Ron Paul); and the entire time we are despised by the world for our meddling and wrongful interventions and we are actually a lot less safe because of the virulent hatred we have incubated.
The road of critical thinking on these issues leads to only one place: our government is a cruel monster that destroys lives and property and absolutely cannot be trusted with any power, let alone the power to kill millions with the literal press of a button. Yet here we are in late 2007 and we are witnesses of and conspirators to the very death, destruction, and mayhem that we supposedly oppose at all costs. Does it make any sense whatsoever that we must "rid the world of tyranny" as our president tells us, yet our global military adventures and misadventures kill millions? Was dropping those horrific WMD on Hiroshima and Nagasaki really necessary for the safety and security of this country? Did those hundreds of thousands (perhaps many more) of Cambodians that died from our then secret bombing campaign really represent any threat to us? How about the fire bombings of Tokyo and Dresden? Fallujah? Did those horrific and hateful actions really get us closer to a world without tyranny? What have we become; exactly where are we going?
Do we hate ourselves so much that it is easy for us to stereotype others simply because they are different in race, creed, color or religion, or because they live in another part of the world where most Americans have not been and perhaps could not find on a map? Or because well-connected political elites have financial interests to preserve/protect? Or because the delusional and dangerous Dick Cheney lies to us and says they are a threat to our security and safety? Or because the sickening media parrots lies and hysterically command that we must bomb country _______ (insert country to bomb du jour) because it's an imminent threat to us? Are we that infantile and naïve that we are mustered to hate and kill because twisted, evil, pathetic souls like George Bush, Dick Cheney, or Donald Rumsfeld say we should? And when the lies that yanked us to war are clearly exposed, we express almost no outrage as a nation. We the people stand mute.
What have we become, sitting idly in front of our big-screen propaganda boxes watching the figurative lynching of Michael Vick for his alleged dogfighting escapades while many thousands of innocent Iraqi civilians die from our collective actions? Let there be no mistake whatsoever: the greatest threat to our collective safety and security is our own corrupt, evil, soulless federal government to which we are connected like Siamese twins. By extension, our complacence makes us equally guilty; we the people have the blood on our collective hands. Perhaps the real tyrant resides in us; it resides in our collective disinterest and ignorance as a citizenry to stand up and say that we have had enough death and destruction. We have become our own tyrants. We have become our own jailers. We are leading ourselves like lemmings off a cliff.
If we ever awaken and realize that there is a slimy foot squeezing down on our necks, what exactly does Mr. Ferencz mean by "rise up"? Because of the substantial inertia of our nationalistic-corporate-military-government-propaganda-hate machine, it would seem that the awakening must occur at the individual and at the collective level with a focused energy. Maybe that process is beginning and if we are lucky, it will continue unabated. One brave voice standing alone may provide the shove to get us to seriously alter our words and deeds as a nation. Only then can we return to our Constitutional Republic that once inspired the world.
That one lone voice for me has been Ron Paul. I don't believe I have ever witnessed a more inspirational act of selfless courage than that of Ron Paul when he said the words that our government/media hate machine refuses to recognize – even though it is a big, fat, smelly, purple elephant sitting in the middle of the room. The world hates us and we have been attacked (and we may be attacked again) because of our actions overseas – because of our foreign policy of aggression. Ron Paul was viciously attacked for those words, but he refused to back down. As a result, his popularity has escalated and he is now a very real force in the 2008 presidential election. He may not win, but he is certainly impacting many hearts and minds in the process. His challenge to Giuliani (the alleged security expert) to read the 9/11 Commission Report was masterful and inspirational. Ron Paul's words and actions have catalyzed and crystallized the process of awakening and rising up that this great country needs during a very dark time for all peace and freedom-loving Americans.
We the people now live under a stated foreign policy of preemptive war, even to the extent that our military probably intends to use nuclear weapons in a preemptive manner. Do you want this blood on your hands? On the Subject of preemptive war, Dwight D. Eisenhower said that "preventive war was an invention of Hitler. Frankly, I would not even listen to anyone seriously that came and talked about such a thing." Benjamin B. Ferencz says that preemptive war is in violation of the Nuremberg precedents. Mr. Ferencz writes: "The most important achievement of the Nuremberg trials, after over 40 million people had died in World War Two, was the confirmation that war-making was no longer a national right but had become, and henceforth would be condemned, as an international crime. That great historical step forward toward a more rational and humane world order under law must not be allowed to perish." [Emphasis mine]. As Mr. Ferencz's Web site also reads: "Law. Not war" and "Remember the first and last rule: Never give up!" Maybe we do have a chance to awaken, rise up, and avert the future horrors that await us and especially our progeny, but it all begins with each and every one of us. I loathe to even consider our alternative fate unless we the people drastically alter our present course.
*Arizona State Bar 2007 Annual Convention "Potential Remedies for War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity" seminar materials, "Enabling the International Criminal Court to Punish Aggression," by Benjamin B. Ferencz.
August 30, 2007
