A people
without hope cannot rise up. The Iraqis, faced with
internal oppression and poverty, and threats of war from
outside, are a people of resignation, a people without
hope. However, people with hope can rise up and do almost
anything.
So I ask myself - what could give the
Iraqi people hope for the future without destroying their
infra-structure and without killing tens of thousands of them in
order to get rid of Saddam Hussein?
What if the world could win without
war? What if we could find a win-win solution? What
if a different approach could liberate the Iraqi people and rid
the country of whatever weapons of mass destruction they may
have?
There are estimates that more than 200
billion dollars will be spent waging a war on Iraq. And
that doesn’t count the billions being promised in aid to other
countries to buy their cooperation for the war, nor the billions
the USA and the international community will spend on
reconstruction after a war. It is also estimated that
250,000 American soldiers will fight in this war. No one
knows how many thousands of Americans and Iraqis will be killed
My first "what if?" is this:
what if the world spent just a few of those billions of dollars
to rebuild the Iraqi utility and water plants that were
destroyed by bombs in the first Gulf War? That bombing and
the United Nations sanctions have caused poverty and unsanitary
water conditions that are responsible for the deaths of at least
500,000 Iraqi children.
Other "what ifs?" include the
following. What if a few billion dollars were spent on
education and health care and small business loans/grants in
Iraq? What if the world sent 250,000 volunteer peace laborers
instead of 250,000 soldiers?
What if we tried something truly
creative instead of war? What if we tried goodwill and
friendship? What if our movie stars and professional
athletes got behind such a venture? What if the families
of loved ones being sent off to war got behind this? What
if the peace movement got behind it? What if the American
people and the people of the world got behind it? Then
maybe Congress and our national and world leaders would get
behind it.
You say, "Hussein would never
allow it!" But if the people were filled with hope
they might convince him. Or oust him.
You say I’m a dreamer. I plead
guilty. But I’m not naïve. I know it is
complicated and risky and wouldn’t be easy. But lots of dreams
that were said to be impossible have come true. Just about
nothing good happens without a dream.
You say it won’t work? Maybe
not. But that little phrase still nags at me.
"WHAT IF?"
Ron Henry
