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December 12, 2003

My Breakfast with Judd

I had breakfast with U.S. Senator Judd Gregg (R-NH) this morning. Well, me and a whole bunch of others, most of whom are members of the Greater Portsmouth (NH) Chamber of Commerce. A few of us from our local peace group, “Seacoast Peace Response”, decided that since it was a public event, we would attend because we hoped to express some very deep concerns to Mr. Gregg.

Mr. Gregg was introduced a few minutes after 8:00, and he spoke until about 8:20. From early on in his speech, I could hear the language of racism and fear mongering. In his speech, and in response to my question later on, Mr. Gregg invoked all of the now standard responses of the hawks who are benefiting from the so-called war on terrorism the most.

He echoed George W. Bush’s first speech following the attacks of September 11, 2001 saying that “Islamic fundamentalists” hate our way of life, hate our freedom, we are at war, etc. They hate our way of life. I hated that lie the first time I heard it, and I hate it still. What about years of US support for vicious dictators around the world, including Saddam Hussein for several years? What about US military presence in 4/5 of the countries in the world? What about strong-arm business tactics by US business that exploit people and environmental resources throughout the world? On the other hand, when the phrase, “they hate our way of life” is spoken by George W. Bush or Judd Gregg, there is some truth to it. I suspect that people anywhere in the world who are angry at the policies of the United States do hate the way of life of those in power here today. Make no mistake; our leaders’ lives are profoundly different from that of most of us. Does that give terrorists a right to kill? Of course not. But in the pursuit of a criminal, law enforcement doesn’t shy away from looking for a criminal’s real motive. In fact, I suspect that our Federal government is fully aware of the reasons for anger and resentment worldwide. This knowledge should be used to show that our policies for how we treat the rest of the world should be changed.

When I had my chance to ask Mr. Gregg a question, I first thanked him for being there and wished him happy holidays. I then expressed my concern for our troops over seas, and also for Iraqi civilians. I asked him to urge the Bush administration to reverse the new policy of not counting Iraqi civilian casualties, and explained that I understood that this policy announced yesterday came from an Iraqi ministry, but it was under pressure of the U.S.-run Coalition Provisional Authority. Mr. Gregg said he wasn’t aware of the change in policy and that he doubted the administration would approve of such a policy. Some people hear what they want to hear, but his response just made me angry. As if the Bush administration doesn’t have control over all policy moves in Iraq today.

I went on to my question. I noted the disparity in resources being put into Afghanistan and Iraq. These were both countries which were beaten down and suffered for years under repressive regimes. The main significant difference that jumped out at me is that Iraq sits on the second largest oil reserve in the world. So, I asked, are US service people dying every day in order to make Iraq a safe place for companies like Halliburton to make hundreds of millions of dollars.

Mr. Gregg explained that we are first fighting the war on terrorism. He then said that we are talking about “an entire culture” that hates us and wants to kill us. When he took a breath I stood back up and said, “But, Mr. Gregg, with all due respect, we are not talking about an entire culture here by any means. We are talking about a very tiny percentage of people who are willing to resort to this kind of violence.” He said that he was just going to say that. He then went on to say that there are “over a billion Muslims in the world. If we’re talking 10%, that’s 100 million people who are willing to resort to this kind of violence. Even if we’re talking about just 1%, that’s 10 million people who are willing to fly planes into buildings and kill Americans.” The language of racism and fear mongering come together. Add ignorance and you’ve got yourself a whole lot of supporters.

He then discussed the need to stabilize the Middle East. The way they are doing this is to rebuild Iraq and show them that our way of life works best. “Market economy.” “Democracy”. He finished his statement by saying that “oil has absolutely nothing to do with it.” A real trooper, that Judd. He will not give an inch on that one. So, while he never directly addressed the part of the question about Halliburton, in a sense he confirmed that it is about making lots of money. That’s why young men and women in the US armed services, as well as uncounted Iraqi civilians are dying.

Being confined to only one question, I didn’t get to publicly point out that most people in the room would probably take up arms if our country were occupied, and that I simply did not believe that all the attacks in Iraq against US troops were coming from Saddam sympathizers or foreign terrorists. While I don’t think this makes it okay for anyone to kill anyone else, it seems to me that we are being lied to on a daily basis to hold support for the occupation.

After the program was over, I went over to speak with Mr. Gregg. His face turned a slightly deeper shade of red when he saw me. I shook his hand and thanked him for addressing my question, and I told him that I had concerns over many aspects of his response. I expressed my opinion that Hussein and anyone else responsible for the gassing of the Kurds should be tried for war crimes. He interrupted, saying, “If we can find him.” Automated response? Perhaps. I let it slide.

One of my greatest concerns related to his response, I explained, was that in 1988 after Hussein gassed the Kurds, the United States actively blocked other countries that wanted to bring sanctions against Iraq at that time. At this point Mr. Gregg turned an even deeper shade of red and began to turn away from me. I asked him how we could account for such hypocrisy. He told me in an annoyed voice that “the point is, he had weapons of mass destruction”, and for some reason I thought he had jumped into the present tense. “We haven’t found them,” I countered. “Why don’t you go tell a Kurd that,” he said, and walked off. To anyone who’s paying attention, this kind of jumping back and forth between historical realities and policies is absolutely bizarre. Unfortunately, many in the US public know very little about the history of US-Iraq relations, so hawks have been able to blur reality, successfully avoiding the issue that it took the US government almost 15 years to at least pretend that they were outraged over the gassing of the Kurds.

There are other important truths to be told with regard to Mr. Gregg’s supposed concern for the Kurds. During his 1997-98 campaign for Senate, Mr. Gregg accepted large amounts of campaign contributions from weapons manufacturers who were bidding at the time for one of the largest weapons contracts in history, to sell weapons to Turkey, which were ultimately used against the Kurds.

The Turkish government has committed some of the greatest acts of terrorism against the Kurds. US State Department documents show that in the past, the Turkish military has used US equipment against innocent Kurdish civilians, including attacks on civilians in northern Iraq, in the so-called "No Fly Zone", where the US Air Force was supposedly protecting the Kurds.

From 1995 to 2001, weapons manufacturers Sikorsky, Boeing, Bell Textron, and Northrop Grunman competed for one of the largest arms deals in history--- a $4 billion dollar contract to construct 145 attack helicopters for Turkey. The contract was eventually awarded in to Bell Textron, but will require approval by Congress and the president. The companies lobbied congress for support in the arms deal, and its eventual approval.

During his 1997-1998 campaign for senate, Judd Gregg accepted tens of thousands of dollars from Boeing, Bell Textron, Northop Grunman Corporation, and Lockheed Martin.

By accepting money earned through the sale of arms to Turkey for use against the Kurds, Senator Gregg endorsed the murder of innocent Kurds in Turkey and Iraq. He personally profited from "the bodies of mothers huddled over their dead children". Mr. Gregg may deny any knowledge, but that is specious at best. Even if he didn’t know about the blood on these campaign contributions, any responsible leader should check his sources. But, based on everything that I heard during breakfast with Judd, I am convinced he either just doesn’t want to know, or worse.

The level of hypocrisy emanating from Washington today is absolutely astounding. As long as crucial facts are kept out of the public eye, as long as ordinary people are willing to let the dogs of war run free, the language of hate—the language of racism and fear mongering—will shape tragic destinies for millions world wide, including here in the United States.

Posted by Joe Public at December 12, 2003 04:04 PM

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