Evil Exists as Long as We Support It
by Jack Bussell

Gandhi said that evil has no existence of its own; it is only when we connive and support evil that it exists. When we withdraw our support from the powers of destruction, we discover that it-is an enemy which has already been slain.

Just up the street is a prime example of supported violence. Built here is a weapon that is illegal under international law, the Aegis nuclear weapon system.

Note that the nuclear weapons dropped on Japan were in the 13-kiloton range. Each of the Aegis missiles can carry a 200-kiloton warhead. Each ship carries 56 of these missiles. There are 34 anti-submarine missiles aboard. Each can carry a one-kiloton warhead. The on-board 20mm Phalanx system carries 3,000 rounds. Each round has a depleted uranium penetrator. The Tomahawk missiles alone amount to 840 Hiroshimas on board each Aegis destroyer.

The Prince of Peace Plowshares action on Ash Wednesday, 1997, resulted in the disarming of an Aegis destroyer, and over eight years of jail time for the six participants in the action. There is something radically wrong when peace activists go to jail for disarming an illegal nuclear weapon system, while our congressional delegation is financially supported in their political quests by the military-industrial complex, which builds these lethal and illegal weapon systems.

Evil exists as long as we support it.

Stock at General Dynamics, Bath Iron Works' parent company, has, in the past four months, increased in value from $72 to $99 per share, a 25% increase. Obviously, the military-industrial sector in Maine is a growth industry. Someone is making a lot of money buying and selling violence.

Evil exists as long as we support it.

Following the events of September 11, the United States had a limited time window in which to initiate a paradigm shift in how we, as a country, perceive the world, and in turn, how the world perceives us. It was a point in time that unfortunately has passed, and will, in all probability, never come again. The low quality and lack of courage of the people leading us made sure of that.

To immediately alleviate the escalating hatred and violence, there should be an immediate stop to all arms sales; an immediate lifting of all sanctions imposed by or supported by us; an immediate halt to any and all U.S. military actions, overt or covert, throughout the world; an immediate and sincere apology to the world for the havoc we have wrought through our imperialist actions. This apology should include the Native Americans for the destruction of their peoples and the African Americans for the enslavement of their people; a call for a national 30-day retreat, a basic halt in the pursuit of commodities, where all residents of this country could reflect on who we are, who we want to be and how we, as a people, wish to be perceived.

As time passes and our long slide into fascism continues, I fear for our survival. If we are to survive, we must continue to speak out ever more frequently and ever more forcefully. We must continue to gather in the streets in ever-increasing numbers.

Jack Bussell is a member of Maine Veterans for Peace. He lives in Portland.