- The turning of the year is a good time to look back and
recall some of the momentous events and trends of 2003.
- We witnessed the greatest uprising of people ever in
the history of the world in protest to war. In cities large and small
across the planet, ordinary people took to the streets to try to stop a
US-led war against Iraq. In the end, we didnât succeed, but our
effort marked the opening of a new era of global protest against war and
violence.
-
- We witnessed poets across the globe rise up and generate
more than 13,000 poems in opposition to a war against Iraq.
-
- We witnessed the government of the United States ignore
the people of the world, the poets and the United Nations Security Council
and initiate an illegal war against Iraq in violation of the UN Charter,
a war that has thus far resulted in the deaths of some 8,000 to 10,000
Iraqi civilians, some 475 US troops and unknown numbers of Iraqi troops.
- We witnessed the increase of deadly attacks against US
and other troops and international relief workers in Iraq after the president
declared an end to major hostilities on May 1st aboard the USS Abraham
Lincoln.
-
- We witnessed US leaders make claims of the imminent threat
of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction, but after massive searches no weapons
of mass destruction were found in Iraq as of the end of the year.
- We witnessed North Korea withdraw from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation
Treaty, declare itself a nuclear weapon state and offer to give up its
nuclear arsenal and ambitions if the United States would agree to a non-aggression
pact. At yearâs end, despite six nation talks, the US and North
Korea continue to threaten each other without coming closer to agreement.
- We witnessed Iran deny it had a nuclear weapons program
and allow inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency greater
leeway for inspections, and we witnessed Libya admit that it had a nuclear
weapons program and allow inspectors of the IAEA to verify that it had
ceased. At the same time, the US government made plans for building a
new facility to create some 500 plutonium pits each year for new nuclear
weapons.
-
- We witnessed US government leaders press for and the
US Congress support research on more usable nuclear weapons, mini-nukes
and ãbunker-busters,ä and the allocation of funds for shortening
of the time necessary to resume nuclear testing. We witnessed the United
States move toward deployment of missile defenses and pressure other states
to join in this program.
- We witnessed assassination attempts on Pakistani leader
Pervez Musharraf. The death of Musharraf would open the door for nuclear
weapons to fall into the hands of Islamic extremists, which almost certainly
would lead to war, possibly nuclear war, with India or the United States.
- We witnessed the United States stand nearly alone in
opposing major nuclear disarmament resolutions in the United Nations.
In one vote on bringing the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty into force, the
US cast the only vote against the resolution while 173 countries voted
in favor. In a resolution put forward by Japan on the Path to the Total
Elimination of Nuclear Weapons, only the US and India opposed the resolution.
-
- We witnessed the capture of Saddam Hussein, a pathetic
fallen dictator, and the ongoing international trial of another fallen
dictator, Slobodan Milosevic. At the same time, we witnessed the United
States government take extraordinary steps to oppose the newly formed International
Criminal Court, which has the support of nearly all major US allies.
- We witnessed the world spend nearly a trillion dollars
on war and preparations for war, including the United States spending more
than $1.1 billion per day on its military, while more than a billion people
lived in utter poverty on less than $1 per day.
- But despite the wars and preparations for war, the breakdown
of international law and the global inequities, we witnessed a resurgence
of hope that ultimately people power can and will prevail over imperialism;
that peace can and will prevail over the obscene spectacle of war and its
preparations; and that human security and dignity can and will prevail
over the current state of global inequities. In 2004, there will again
be an opportunity for the people of the world to unite in support of peace,
international law and the rights of children and people everywhere to have
their basic needs fulfilled and to live with dignity.
-
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- David Krieger is president of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation
(www.wagingpeace.org).
- "Peace is the only battle worth waging."
- --- Albert Camus
-
- "We stand at a critical moment in Earth's history,
- a time when humanity must choose its future."
- --- The Earth Charter
-
- David Krieger, President
- Nuclear Age Peace Foundation
- PMB 121, 1187 Coast Village Road, Suite 1
- Santa Barbara, CA 93108-2794
- dkrieger@napf.org
- www.wagingpeace.org
- www.nuclearfiles.org
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