FOR Statement in Response to SOTU

[dweller]

There is Another Way: Building the 'World House.'

Barely a week ago, President George W. Bush placed a wreath at the tomb of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.,
honoring his prophetic leadership and life. It appeared to be, as the many protestors in Atlanta pointed out, a
fairly cynical gesture by the president, who unleashed pre-emptive war on Iraq and whose policies, laid out in
his State of the Union address, contain a vision for this country and the world that runs so counter to the one
the late Dr. King espoused.

President Bush defended the chaos and destruction brought down on the people of Iraq as "liberation," and
promised to bring more "liberation" to the rest of the Middle East - or to any other region where he deems
America's interests are being challenged. Dr. King, in his prescient essay on international affairs, The World
House, warned that history was cluttered with the wreckage of nations who came killing in the name of
liberation and peace. This month, as we celebrate the 75th anniversary of Dr. King's birth, we believe the
great pacifist and civil rights leader would wince at Bush's words, and weep to see what America has become.

President Bush justified the war on Iraq by pointing to Libya's voluntary dismantling of its weapons of mass
destruction. Dr. King believed that no goal, not even the goal of peace itself, justified violence or war, and
that nations separated by religion, ideas, culture and interest had to learn to live together in peace or "perish
together as fools." President Bush dismissed the notion that America needs any sort of "permission slip" from
the international community in order to act. Diplomacy, he said, was only successful when backed by threat,
and he promised strategies to threaten, isolate and pressure North Korea and Iran. Dr. King, on the other
hand, believed in diplomacy and the United Nations as the last best hope of reconciling differences without
violence.

Americans are justifiably anxious about their safety after the events of Sept. 11, 2001, and terrorist acts are
a real threat in many parts of the world. But in its efforts to heighten the kind of fear that justifies ongoing
war, the Bush administration has created a terrorist bogeyman - much like the Communist bogeyman of the
Cold War. In his State of the Union address, the president dismissed Iraqis opposed to the US occupation as
"enemies of freedom," and warned ominously that terrorists continued to plot against America and the
civilized world. Dr. King rejected the objectification of others and spoke passionately against "the convenient
temptation" to attribute the current turmoil and bitterness throughout the world to the presence of a
conspiracy. Rather than waging war or threatening other nations, America should, in the spirit of Dr. King,
"seek to remove those conditions of poverty, insecurity and injustice" which are the fertile soil in which the
seeds of terrorism grow.

full statement with link to 'The World House' chapter of King's book Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community?, based upon on King’s Nobel Peace Prize lecture, delivered at the University of Oslo on December 11, 1964.


from email statement from the Fellowship of Reconciliation www.forusa.org

peace,
dp

[ixion]

1. diplomacy backed by threat is NOT diplomacy... it's extortion.

pure and simple.