GMOs and global security

"On the 11 September 2001 the world changed. The time for 'conservative' thinking is over."

16 September 2001

Since the 11 September we have provided only email reports relating to the unfolding global security crisis following the catastrophic events in the US. We will be returning to GMOs shortly.  

We have felt justified in switching topics during this time given the gravity of the situation, and we have had no objections from the hundreds of organisations and individuals across all continents who subscribe to our mail list. We have received back only further reflections on this critical juncture in the history of humanity.  

In fact, we do not see the current security crisis as separate from the GMO problem. Both are manifestations of an immense disease which threatens to overrun the world unless those of us who recognise it for what it is, and care enough about it, take action. Both are products of 'civilisations' which in their own different ways are willing to treat life itself as a commodity - something to be manipulated, bargained with or destroyed, either for political or commercial gain.  Neither should be seen in isolation.  

Before we return to our regular GMO emails we enclose below a copy of a peace petition forwarded by one of our subscribers. Please complete this petition and forward the details on to as many friends and contacts as possible.  

By now our subscribers should be aware (if they have examined our mails in detail) that we have a particular perspective on these types of problems. It is a perspective which considers those things which are often perceived to be causes of such problems, rather as symptoms of a greater problem at more fundamental level. Our principal concern is to address that problem so that campaigning on issues like GMOs and world peace is no longer necessary.  

Whether we like it or not we now live in a global society - as these most recent events have graphically illustrated. It is as if the world has become a single country at war with itself on almost all economic, social and environmental levels. Our own aim is to create a global country of world peace and to pre-empt the current race to the bottom of a very deep dark pit.  

We hope you have valued the thousands of man hours that have gone into providing our GMO news service over the years. If so, in addition to completing the attached petition, we would ask one small favour. If there is compassion in your heart, please take a closer look at our perspective on these matters by following the two links given below. We only ask for 10 minutes of your time, not thousands of hours.  

If you feel this perspective is relevant please pass it on. If not, fine. But at least you will have taken the trouble to inform yourself about it at a time when humanity needs to explore every possible option. However, please bear one thing in mind. The anti-GMO movement relies heavily in its campaigns - and rightly so - on the existence or absence of peer-review scientific literature to support its case. It is clear that there is a paucity of such literature which adequately demonstrates the benefits of GMOs or which adequately reveals that their potential risks have been eliminated or acceptably minimised. This issue of peer-review scientific literature has become a key element of the GMO campaigns.  

The material we are asking you to look at in relation to global security is supported by a large number of scientific papers many of which have been published in peer-reviewed journals across the world over the last 20-30 years, from the 'Lancet' through to the 'Journal of Conflict Resolution'.  The approach is well documented in pilot projects, but has rarely been implemented by governments on a national scale. Why? Because they usually regard it as an unconventional approach which is difficult to explain to 'conservative' electorates, despite the overwhelming evidence.  

On the 11 September 2001 the world changed. The time for 'conservative' thinking is over. Unless we quickly explore new horizons the GMO and all other worthy campaigns will become irrelevant.  

If there is the necessary desire all this can be acted upon and implemented immediately; and for a tiny fraction of the cost of what is otherwise going to be spent in response to the catastrophe which took place in America on Tuesday.

If you have read this far, we thank you for your patience.  We look forward to returning to the campaign to eliminate the release of GMOs into the environment, whilst we continue with our endeavours to create a global community of world peace - a community free of the divisive effects of self-centred nationalism and one where all cultures in the family of nations are cherished and respected.  

NATURAL LAW PARTY WESSEX
nlpwessex@bigfoot.com
www.btinternet.com/~nlpwessex  

The world peace and justice petition is below, followed by a link to an article from the Washington Post and a thought provoking analysis from an Afghan-American journalist. Please, however, if you can, take a few minutes to follow these two links first:

Ending civil war in Mozambique - http://www.mg.co.za/mg/news/2000jan1/13jan-tm.html  

A review of related scientific literature - http://www.subcontinent.com/sapra/military/m_1999_05_01.html  

PLEASE SIGN!
In the aftermath of the ruthless attack on the World Trade Center and Pentagon, we implore the leaders of the United States to ensure that justice be served by protecting the innocent citizens of all  nations.

We beg that the President maintain the civil liberties of all U.S. residents, protect the human rights of all people at home and abroad, and guarantee that this attempted attack on the principles and freedoms of the United States will not succeed.

We plead for a thorough investigation of the terrorist events before any retaliation.

We call for PEACE and JUSTICE, not revenge.

                     In Solidarity,
                     The Undersigned

                     TO SIGN:

       http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/224622495

The system centralizes signature collection to provide
consolidated, useful reports for petition authors and targets.

Please forward this email to others you believe share your
concern.

 Anatomy of a Victory: CIA's Covert Afghan War, Washington Post, July 19, 1992
http://emperors-clothes.com/docs/anatomy.htm

"....The new covert U.S. assistance began with a dramatic increase in arms supplies -- a steady rise to 65,000 tons annually by 1987, according to Yousaf -- as well as what he called a 'ceaseless stream' of CIA and Pentagon specialists who traveled to the secret headquarters of Pakistan's ISI on the main road near Rawalpindi, Pakistan.....

CIA operations officers helped Pakistani trainers establish schools for the mujaheddin in secure communications, guerrilla warfare, urban sabotage and heavy weapons, Yousaf and Western officials said."

From: DavidMcR@aol.com [mailto:DavidMcR@aol.com]
Sent: Saturday, September 15, 2001 5:00 PM

Subject:  A view from Afghanistan


A sobering essay forwarded by a UC Berkeley professor:

Dear Friends,

The following was sent to me by my friend Tamim Ansary.  Tamim is an Afghani-American writer.  He is also one of the most brilliant people I know in this life.  When he writes, I read.  When he talks, I listen.
Here is his take on Afghanistan and the whole mess we are in.
-Gary T.

Dear Gary and whoever else is on this email thread:

I've been hearing a lot of talk about "bombing Afghanistan back to the Stone Age." Ronn Owens, on KGO Talk Radio today, allowed that this would mean killing innocent people, people who had nothing to do with this atrocity, but "we're at war, we have to accept collateral damage. What else can we do?"  Minutes later I heard some TV pundit discussing whether we "have the belly to do what must be done."

And I thought about the issues being raised especially hard because I am from Afghanistan, and even though I've lived here for 35 years I've never lost track of what's going on there. So I want to tell anyone who will listen how it all looks from where I'm standing.

I speak as one who hates the Taliban and Osama Bin Laden. There is no doubt in my mind that these people were responsible for the atrocity in New York. I agree that something must be done about those monsters.

But the Taliban and Ben Laden are not Afghanistan.  They're not even the government of Afghanistan.  The Taliban are a cult of ignorant psychotics who took over Afghanistan in 1997. Bin Laden is a political criminal with a plan.  When you think Taliban, think Nazis. When you think Bin Laden, think Hitler. And when you think "the people of Afghanistan" think "the Jews in the concentration camps."   It's not only that the Afghan people had nothing to do with this atrocity. They were the first victims of the perpetrators. They would exult if someone would come in there, take out the Taliban and clear out the rats nest of international thugs holed up in their country.

Some say, why don't the Afghans rise up and overthrow the Taliban? The answer is, they're starved, exhausted, hurt, incapacitated, suffering. A few years ago, the United Nations estimated that there are 500,000 disabled orphans in Afghanistan--a country with no economy, no food. There are millions of widows.  And the Taliban has been burying these
widows alive in mass graves.  The soil is littered with land mines, the farms were all destroyed by the Soviets.  These are a few of the reasons why the Afghan people have not overthrown the Taliban.

We come now to the question of bombing Afghanistan back to the Stone Age. Trouble is, that's been done. The Soviets took care of it already. Make the Afghans suffer? They're already suffering. Level their houses? Done. Turn their schools into piles of rubble? Done.  Eradicate their hospitals? Done.  Destroy their infrastructure? Cut them off from medicine and health care?  Too late. Someone already did all that.

New bombs would only stir the rubble of earlier bombs.  Would they at least get the Taliban? Not likely. In today's Afghanistan, only the Taliban eat, only they have the means to move around.  They'd slip away and hide. Maybe the bombs would get some of those disabled orphans, they don't move too fast, they don't even have wheelchairs. But flying over
Kabul and dropping bombs wouldn't really be a strike against the criminals who did this horrific thing. Actually it would only be making common cause with the Taliban--by raping once again the people they've been raping all this time

So what else is there? What can be done, then? Let me now speak with true fear and trembling. The only way to get Bin Laden is to go in there with ground troops. When people speak of "having the belly to do what needs to be done" they're thinking in terms of having the belly to kill as many as needed.  Having the belly to overcome any moral qualms about
killing innocent people. Let's pull our heads out of the sand. What's actually on the table is Americans dying. And not just because some Americans would die fighting their way through Afghanistan to Bin Laden's hideout.  It's much bigger than that folks. Because to get any troops to Afghanistan, we'd have to go through Pakistan. Would they let us? Not likely. The conquest of Pakistan would have to be first. Will other Muslim nations just stand by? You see where I'm going. We're
flirting with a world war between Islam and the West.

And guess what: that's Bin Laden's program. That's exactly what he wants. That's why he did this.  Read his speeches and statements. It's all right there.  He really believes Islam would beat the west. It might seem ridiculous, but he figures if he can polarize the world into Islam and the West, he's got a billion soldiers.  If the west wreaks a holocaust in those lands, that's a billion people with nothing left to lose, that's even better from Bin Laden's point of view.  He's probably wrong, in the end the west would win, whatever that would mean, but the war would last for years and millions would die, not just theirs but
ours. Who has the belly for that? Bin Laden does. Anyone else?

Tamim Ansary

 

"I destroy my enemy when I make him my friend"
Abraham Lincoln
President of the United States of America
1861-1865  

  NATURAL LAW PARTY WESSEX
nlpwessex@bigfoot.com
www.btinternet.com/~nlpwessex