President Bush vs Junior Lieutenant Beah
I have listened to foreign policy statements from a lot of our importantly titled patriotic political leaders. It all seems, mostly, to be more of the same, the only difference often being where bloodshed will occur and by what means. 9/11 and George Bush certainly changed the nature of conflict, the reasons for war, and the prospects of any peace across our globe. The best insight on all this, for me, came from Junior Lieutenant Beah in 1996, speaking before the United Nations.
Lieutenant Beah is a tad different from George Bush. Bush was raised waddling in wealth. There was never much of any need for Bush to chase after, or achieve much of, anything---everything was handed to or arranged for boy George to amass the kind of money and titles appropriate for his status in life, that status as a son of a former Vice-President and President. Even school came easy for George---with a C average and mediocre entrance exam scores George was admitted to Yale, but of course not under any affirmative action program, so in his circles it was legitimate. George seemed a nice enough harmless enought spoiled brat, enjoyed baseball and partying. When the Vietnam War came along George was little interested in real combat or bringing democracy to Vietnam, and it was quietly arranged for him to be assigned to some sort of special National Guard Unit. Back then the National Guard was a way to avoid Vietnam. He was moved to the front of the line to be trained to be some sort of pilot. Near the end of his tenure in the National Guard no one seems to remember him ever even being present in any capacity. What was known is that he refused to keep his pilot license up to date. Maybe he knew such an act would subject him to some future assignment in some war somewhere or maybe George just lost interest in being a pilot, the reason for being a pilot gone with his escape from going to Vietnam. Like myself (a 'valuable' graduate student) George escaped. My culpability is probably worse than George since early on I was gung ho for that war. After the war George's dad directly or indirectly bought George a baseball team. George has since said he enjoyed owning a baseball team as much as anything in life. Somewhere along the line George learned to achieve things in life by his gut feelings. Every gut feeling was always rewarded, from baseball team owner to Governor of Texas to President of the United States. 9/11 changed George and for the first time George showed some real interest in something serious. Unfortunately, for the rest of the country, George genuinely liked being Commander in Chief. In George's case 'war has no fury like a noncombatant'. On any other matter George sort of gets glassy eyed and bored, but Commander in Chief gets his adrenaline going along with his usual gut feelings. The rest is now history: a total global mess with violence as the solution and a rapidly growing number of terrorist groups busily engaged in random killings to teach those they hold responsible for their unhappiness a lesson. The tragedy of George is that he doesn't know what he doesn't know and the less he knows the more sure he is that he knows a lot. Poor George (and the rest of us), the more he spends and the more he kills---the more terrorists, the better they are trained, the less centralized any control over them, and the most powerful military operation in the world becomes more and more reduced to circling wagons in heavily armed 'green' zones here and there.
The latest answer to all of this from President Bush is to surge things up, declare a situation he has created to be a fight to the death, a war between Good and Evil, freedom fighters vs. terrorists, right wing Christians vs radical Muslims, and the right of our country to place military bases all over the globe, mostly to ensure countries have as leaders those who understand the importance of doing our bidding on all sorts of matters. We will be the deciders and George will be our decider. Then everything will be ok; peace and prosperity will come to all. George's gut feelings tell us this. Prior to this who could have guessed he had any guts. The President says, over and over, with each news conference, that progress is being made. Sure. Any more progress and we are ruined.
Personally, I think Junior Lieutenant Beah has a clearer insight on foreign policy. I first saw Mr. Beah in an interview on Chicago Tonight, a public television news program. He piqued my interest and so I read a book he wrote titled, Memoirs of a Boy Soldier. His whole name is Ishmael Beah and he became a Lieutenant in a government army at age 12: that's right age 12, a Junior Lieutenant in charge of his own unit, all members around his own age. Before his army stint, Ishmael was visiting another village the day rebels attacked and murdered or sent fleeing all those in his home town. It wasn't Sudan, Somalia, Darfar, Iraq, Afghanistan, or any of the other many such crazy cruel conflicts spread across the globe---his hell was found in Sierra Leone. His story is similar to other kids in so many places across the earth---no family, left alone with no home, no food, fleeing with other kids as best they can, seeing death from disease, starvation, machetes, from being set on fire, shot, drowned---until the innocence of youth is lost along with respect for human life. To get access to food and some kind of family, these kids join armies, are supplied weapons and drugs to help them get over their horrors and fears of all that goes on around them. Supplied with modern weapons, usually American made, the pattern is similar world wide. Lieutenant Beah's unit would sneak up on an unsuspecting village then gun down all the inhabitants, burn many alive in their own homes, and sometimes make some women and children haul the loot back to their camp before killing them. Nothing was too cruel---slow torture, burying people alive, rape, every despicable act imaginable. Kids being kids I guess.
At some point the army he was part of agreed to stop using boy soldiers and U.N. representatives showed up at his camp one day and all the kids were forcibly saved (removed) to a rehabilitation facility. The kids were angry, they felt they were now alone again, helpless, with no power, and a lost meaning to their lives. They fought viciously with each other practically every day and attacked their counselors and teachers at every opportunity. They tore up any books given to teach them, and went through terrifying withdrawal symptoms from their former drug use and war atrocities. With the drug withdrawal came nightmares and they trusted no one, most of all the staff of the facility. Many were permanently lost to a mindset of irrationality. Ishmael credits his rehabilitation with the patience of a particular nurse and a UN counselor. It took 2 years for him recover his lost human feelings for others. Whenever Ishmael would get violent towards others or himself these two guardian angels would tell him "it's not your fault", but he hated to hear that so much he would then attack them. Slowly his lost boyhood innocence began to emerge and the former Lieutenant began to trust others, smile, and enjoy some things in life. They managed to find a relative, an uncle who took him in to his home. The other kids in his new home were not told of his past because people feared former boy soldiers---as well they should have.
He progressed so much that they sent him to New York to address the UN. He was 16 years old then. Here is his little speech: "I am from Sierra Leone, and the problem that is affecting us children is the war that forces us to run away from our homes, lose our families, and aimlessly roam the forests. As a result, we get involved in the conflict as soldiers, carriers of loads, and many other difficult tasks. All this is because of starvation, the loss of our families, and the need to feel safe and be part of something when all else has broken down. I joined the army really because of the loss of my family and starvation. I wanted to revenge the deaths of my family. I also had to get some food to survive, and the only way to do that was to be part of the army. It was not easy being a soldier, but we just had to do it. I have been rehabilitated now, so don't be afraid of me. I am not a soldier anymore; I am a child. We are all brothers and sisters. What I have learned from my experiences is that revenge is not good. I joined the army to avenge the deaths of my family and to survive, but I've come to learn that if I am going to take revenge, in that process I will kill another person whose family will want revenge; then revenge and revenge and revenge will never come to an end."
George Bush has led America down the path of endless revenge. George Bush is not rehabilitated. We all need to fear him. Most now do, even Americans. Anyone anywhere who fights to get the U.S. military out of their country is labeled a member of El Qaida. The number of dissident groups fighting across the globe with any kind of real link to El Qaida leaders is probably absurdly small. The link with El Qaida hangs essentially on one common thread---fighting to get U.S. forces out of their country. Many of these new militias are far worse than El Qaida in that they are devoid of any political or religious principles. They are mostly gangs of thugs thriving on violence and fear, simply stripping communities of property and valuables. To the extent we continue to try to out terrorize the terrorists, to keep fighting on their terms---we cannot win and everyone loses. Junior Lieutenant Beah has seen it all close up. Revenge is a scourge hard to shake.
P.S. Ishmael returned to Sierra Leone but a coup occurred and once again Ishmael was sent running out into the forests alone, without family or friends. This time he was determined not to join any army but wended his way, alone, to the border of Guinea. He managed to get across the border, and contacted some older woman he met while in New York. She got him to New York, adopted him, he graduated from high school and recently from Oberlin College. He lives in New York. He is now 26 years old. I wish he were our Secretary of State. He understands the nature and consequences of what is going on across the globe. His priorities are now straight. We need to follow suit. He could probably justifiably claim that Jesus, Buddha, and most all the assorted religious leaders of the past and present would take his side. Those who think otherwise must have little real understanding of religious principles. Sorry George. I doubt God is very happy with you. Lincoln, who understood human nature as well as anyone, served as President during a most contentious Civil War, and unlike Bush, faced the situation thusly: "I shall do nothing through malice; what I deal with is too vast for malice." It makes sense to be concerned more with whether we are on God's side than arrogantly assume God is on our side. Maybe he is on neither side right now, the behavior on both sides is seeped with malice. Not good.
