It was an honor to speak [last night] to people who work day in and day out to nullify the worst ravages of war. They were speaking of Yemen, Ethiopia and Tigray. . . . Most particularly, our task is to eradicate any situation in which American arms sales contribute to the unnecessary suffering of our fellow human beings.
War profiteering used to be considered a crime, and now it’s an industry. American arms manufactures profited from the Afghanistan war – a spectacular failure – to the tune of $2 billion. Congress just endorsed a $650 million arms sale to Saudi Arabia, a country perpetrating genocidal war in Yemen. (Hopefully it will be blocked in the Senate.)
America’s foreign policy today is not guided solely or even primarily by our ideals. It is guided by our military goals, and our military goals are based not on legitimate defense concerns but on the expansion of market value for the defense industry. We are not exporting democracy, we’re expanding market share.
But every day, inch by inch, people are working hard to change all that. Just as we need to move from a dirty economy to a clean economy, we need to move from a war economy to a peace economy. They are analogous tasks. And just as the transition to green energy is eminently possible, so is the transition from war-making to peace building as our primary foreign policy goal. What’s important is that we realize that in both cases, neither more or less important than the other, our lives and the future of humanity depend on it.
Every day, inch by inch, we’re getting closer to the goal. I was quoted in an article on the Al Jazeera site the other day, speaking on the arms sale to Saudi Arabia: “This has less to do with Saudi Arabia and more to do with the US arms industry. Our economy should not be based on merchandising death.”
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Related Off-site Links:
Biden Administration Approves $650m Weapon Sale to Saudi Arabia – Al Jazeera (November 4, 2021).
It’s Time to Stop U.S. Arms Sales to Saudi Arabia – Bruce Riedel (Brookings, February 4, 2021).
Ilhan Omar Is Working to Stop “Unacceptable” $650 Million Weapons Sale to Saudi Arabia – Jessica Corbett (Common Dreams, November 10, 2021).
Nuclear Weapons Ban Treaty Tied to “Historic Shift” Away From “Perilous Profiteering” – Jessica Corbett (Common Dreams, November 11, 2021).
Violence to Non-violence: Transforming America from the Inside Out – Marianne Williamson (Newsweek, June 24, 2021).
Peace in the World and Peace Within – In Search of a New Eden (November 10, 2019).
Veterans Group on Annual Mission to Reclaim November 11 as Day for Peace – Andrea Germanos (Common Dreams, November 11, 2021).
See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• On Armistice Day, Remembering Edward Brittain and Geoffrey Thurlow
• Caitlin Johnstone: Quote of the Day – November 11, 2015
• The War Racket
• Cultivating Peace
• Rallying to End U.S. Militarism
• Michael McPhearson: Quote of the Day – November 10, 2015
• The Christmas Truce of 1914
• The Origins of Mothers Day
• Remembering Wilfred Owen
• Vigiling Against Weaponized Drones
• The Challenge of Peace
• All On a Beautiful Morning
Image: Photographer unknown.
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