President Bush started beating the war drums Saturday in an attempt to win support for a war that many people here and throughout the world believe is unjustified. In his weekly radio address Saturday, Bush dug deep into the past; reminding the public that last weekend marked the 15-year anniversary of the poison gas attack on the Kurdish village of Halabia by Iraq’s President Saddam Hussein.  

The attack was indeed an act of brutality and a gross violation of human rights. But what Bush failed to tell the world in his radio address was that it was his father, the former President Bush Sr., who punished Saddam Hussein with a mere slap on the wrist because Bush Sr. did not want to jeopardize United States-Iraqi relations. Today, Iraq does not pose an imminent threat to the U.S. Evidence to suggest otherwise is non-existent. Simply put, this is a case Bush tidying up unfinished business. It’s these past crimes, that Bush’s father turned a blind eye to, that the current president believes gives him the right to start a war with Iraq today. But there is no justification for waging such a war now.  

Amidst the agonizing crisis over Iraq, the violent contortions of the world's only military superpower have given birth to a transcendental force:  the global Superpower of Peace. 

That George W. Bush's obsession with Saddam Hussein has become a global issue at all is perhaps the most tangible proof of this new superpower's potential clout.

Only one thing has slowed (or stopped) Bush from launching this attack:  the economic, political, moral and spiritual power of an intangible human network determined to stop this war. 

Bush has amassed the most powerful killing machine humankind has ever created.  He's set its fuse on the borders of an impoverished desert nation with no credible ability to protect itself from this unprecedented attack.  His military henchmen believe the conquest of this small country can be done quickly, with relatively few casualties on the the attacking side (though many civilians would die on the Iraqi side, as they did in the 1991 Gulf War I).

The potential prizes are enormous:

· Outright control of the world's second-largest oil reserve; 

When my parents and I moved to our present home, on the near east side of Columbus, there was a place off the alley across the street that was notorious as a dog-fighting site. I guess humans like to watch dogs rip into each other, or they make a lot of money betting on it. Both are beyond my comprehension. Not that I am an actual fan of dogs (they've tried to chase me in the park a few times, but Daddy fended them off with a large walking stick) but I don't think it's right to pit pit bulls, or any other kind of dog, against each other to the death. Not for anybody's amusement or profit!

There is an American flag whipping
in the wind above them

They rarely see it
they are shut in
many cannot walk
others are blind

They spend many hours in bed
alone, un-cared for

They are the mangled
the helpless

They play cards
watch television
but mostly they wait

Most wars are little more than
footnotes to history
obscure conflicts with obscure reasons
started by quiet men in quiet rooms
carefully and methodically

And when the bodies are beautiful
the patriots cheer
But when those bodies get mangled
the patriots are no where to be found


Because when the body gets mangled
it is ugly
and does not fit into the American
ideal
of
health
youth
and vigor

Now that the Soviet guardians of orthodox Marxism have fallen, we are free to take Karl Marx for the political economist he was and not as a god or idol. In fact, Soviet orthodoxy did not draw on the humanistic philosopher Marx.

Marx himself gives support to those who link democracy with socialism. He of course did talk about the dictatorship of the proletariat, which contained a vision of overturning the current social order where a few dominate the many. This also resulted in a "vanguard," directing the way for the proletariat, and these leaders became a ruling elite in the Soviet bloc that along the way forgot much of Marx's vision and merely sought to maintain itself in power. However, he stated, "We do not assert that the attainment of this end [political supremacy of the workers] requires identical means." For example, Marx alluded to the possibility that in the United States socialism might be achieved democratically. These many years later, neither socialism nor even any real economic democracy is not yet present in our nation. We who claim to follow Marx seek to make this a reality.