home
discuss
pieces
professional
about
faq
search
links
Smart Bombs at Borobudur / p.2
A slim young man
in a denim jacket introduced himself as the teacher of
this English class. Their final lesson was a 100-mile
trip to Borobudur in search of English-speaking tourists.
Their assignment was to speak with us, to introduce
themselves, and to ask us questions. Would we be so kind
as to help his students? They were not advanced, so could
understand only if we spoke in short sentences using
simple words. "Of course," I said, my anxiety
replaced by relief.
|
|
|
The youth
with the red scarf around his head asked, "Why did
your country bomb Iraq?" Their teacher broke in,
"Please excuse my student. He is just learning, and
can ask another question."
"That's all
right," I said, "Let me see if I can
answer." So I said
that some Americans did not want that war … that
some of us did not think it right to bomb any city, any
country … that some of us thought war was not a good
way to settle a disagreement.
And then I paused, thought
a second, and went on to tell them how we demonstrated
against that war, how we marched through the streets of
Seattle. I told them how we gathered at the Cathedral,
"the big Catholic church," where we listened to
speakers, sang songs, met old friends and their children
in the crowd. I told how hundreds of us walked, holding
candles in our hands, in the middle of the street up the
hill and around the corner of another large street.
"We saw many, many candle lights in front and
behind, we saw hundreds of people. Students joined us at
the college, where they had met that night. We walked to
the big Protestant church. And we knew that others were
demonstrating in other cities in the United States."
I told how my own children gathered every evening in
front of the Federal Office Building to continue the
protest against the war.
|
|
 The Ultimate Indonesian Homepage
Borobudur Site (Univ. Laval)
Buddhist Art: Borobudur Temple (BuddhaNet)
1998 Human Rights Report (USIS)
Human Rights Watch - Indonesia
Indonesian Weekly Netnews
Inside Indonesia
Proponents for a peaceful solution will gather here again:
Like before Desert Storm, group will march for justice
Summary - GAO Report Operation Desert Storm:
Evaluation of the Air War,
July 1996
Links updated September 2001
|
"What happened
then?" asked the red-scarfed youth. That
was a painful question there among the Buddhas of
Borobudur. Because, of course, we didn't stop the bombing
of Baghdad. So I told of our grief that we couldn't stop
those bombs and of our frustration when our voices were
drowned out as TV, newspapers, and radio bombarded us
daily with stories supporting the war and glamorizing the
military technology appearing nightly on our television
screens. At the end, I could only say, "We
tried."
Demonstrations
are illegal in Indonesia. Peaceful protest is an oxymoron
there. I was embarrassed before these teens, because I
was sure they felt that if they demonstrated they'd have
more effect! I remembered them when I read of
demonstrations in Indonesia, of 200 students arrested in
Yogyakarta.
|
|
|
I revisited
Iraq-as-media-event at "Courage Under Fire," a
movie that keeps it simple by limiting itself to the
military, leaving us with the comforting message that
personal bravery and honor are sufficient virtues, and
technical expertise the true sign that we are among the
elect and God is on our side.
I thought of the gee-whiz
boys of the press spoon-fed and spoon-feeding us whatever information the military thought appropriate.
I thought of the hour-after-hour coverage of smart bombs
and this brave new world of pin-point accuracy. I thought
of this war filling the television screens around the
world.
I thought of the bombing of Baghdad, of smart
bombs falling and Patriot missiles firing in endless
reruns, telling the world of U.S. military might and
technological proficiency. I thought of a world where
each watcher was offered two choices and two choices
only: to identify with the controllers of these powerful,
invincible weapons or with the victims on the ground,
helpless before such power.
In July of 1996 the General Accounting Office issued a 4-year study of
the effectiveness of these "smart" weapons. The
report concluded that the military's claims for the
success of these weapons "were overstated,
misleading, inconsistent, or unverifiable." The
power was real, but the magic was illusion. But since the
whole world "saw" this war on their TV screens
the GAO should probably consider the money spent for
these higher priced but no more effective weapons part of
an advertising budget and evaluate them accordingly.
The smart weapons cast a spell of glamour over the
brutalities of war, and young men throughout the world
watched entranced as bombs unerringly found their targets
with pinpoint accuracy. It's hard sometimes to know where
the movie ends and the news begins, but making such
distinctions is the basis of art, of history, of
politics, and - at times - of journalism.
Page<< 1 2 >>
© 1996-2001 Cecilie Scott
back to top
|
respond/create/discuss
|
|
|
