War not just despite victory

To the editor

   A smashing military victory does not a just war make. A just war required that we waited for the final report of the United Nations arms inspectors and a vote, up or down, by the Security Council.
   President George W. Bush had the opportunity to go down in history as one of the great peacemakers in the same revered group as Mahatma Gandhi, Mother Teresa, Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., Yitzhak Rabin and Anwar Sadat.
   Instead, he broke every concept about what constitutes a just war and substituted unilateral, pre-emptive war as our future relationship with other nations. What was so dearly won from the suffering deaths of World War II, the NATO Alliance and the United Nations in its inspection and peace-keeping role, has been greatly weakened.
   It is clear that the policy of the Bush administration is to marginalize the United Nations and to fulfill its often repeated prophecy that the U.N. will go the way of the League of Nations if American policy is not obeyed.
   It is to prevent further erosion of these needed institutions that the peace and justice movement will continue. Calling a war patriotic or holy, whether you use the terms pre-emptive, Jihad or Crusades, does not make it so (God has no need for armies, but those who crave power or more than their fair share of the earth’s resource certainly do).
   There is no question that there is a decrease in terrorism, the elimination of torture and an increase in religious freedom in Iraq. These are significant achievements.
   Yet, these would have been the result of a United Nations-sponsored action as well. Two other major reasons given for the second Gulf War was liberation and self-determination and rebuilding of the Iraqi economy.
   Now, regardless of which side you marched for, for the war or against it, should we support the assurances given to Turkey that the Kurds in northern Iraq cannot set up their own country?
   As Americans who cherish self-determination should we not support a plebiscite by the Kurds as to what they want? Should not one slogan, at least, unite all Americans: "Self-determination for the Kurds."
   Are we nor preventing the real economic future of the Iraqis by allowing only American companies to redevelop their resources?
   It was repeated over and over again, that Iraq has the technical and scientific know-how to build missiles, guidance systems, armaments, etc. Why then are we not using the same scientists, engineers and technicians, with additional training if and when needed, for the future peaceful needs of their country.
   Why, as the American people, should we risk being labeled as the next colonial power in the Middle East for the sake of profits for a few Americans?
   History has a way of repeating itself. A few thousand years ago a philosopher wrote of the Pax Romana, "They make a desert and call it peace."
   Historians will say of our time, "They killed babies and called its collateral damage."

Amadeo D’Adamo Jr.
Renate Drive