Saturday, December 29, 2007

One Sided Story (war on terrorism)

Just recently in Irak there was a salvadoran soldier killed. His body came home today and the persident´s staff was on hand to receive the body and act as if this truly moved them. My country is run by the extreme right winged ARENA party, which is allied with the extreme right wing of the Republican party of the United States which George W. Bush belongs to. I myself was born in El Salvador, immigrated to the United States and became a citizen and now live back here, so there is two sides to my structure as a person. Unfortunately history is written by those who triumph or in some cases those who hang heroes and this is the case on how I see things. History, or actuality that one day will be history is seen as those who are in power want the majority to see it. People see whats shown to them and believe it, see things for themselves and see the truth and believe what is told to them rather than what they see, they see for themselves and believe what they see and are not fooled by those in power; I think I have been all three types of these people over the years.
One of the reasons that I left salvador when I was a small child with my mother was because of the civil war. It was during the eighties and Ronald Reagan had declared war on the comunist in central america. I grew up in the US in Texas. I went to public schools. During the eighties in the public schools they taught us that marxism or a more popular name, comunism, was bad; that all Russians were comunist and all were bad and all of them hated the United States. They build up the United States to be the greatest country in the world as far humanity, democracy, liberty and justice goes. Now the last two things I totally agree. There is no place on this earth that protects and serves liberty and justice like the United States, within it´s borders. In elemantry school I believed all three claims. I think its funny to see a seven year old child with a political point of view, I must have been a riot to listen to. I believe what was shown to me, what was told to me, and as far as politics went I hated comunists because they wanted to destroy the US.
As time went by and I grew up a little, I started to see things in the world like the first persian gulf war and not all was smiles and sunshine. George Bush senior was president then. I saw things but refused to believe them. I held on to what I was taught. How many people who have a favorite loved one and came to believe he was the greatest person on earth would believe other wise when told this person in question was a heroin addict. Not many. I didnt. During these years I lived in the US in my homeland was an ongoing conflict between the extreme right wing and the rebel insurgents. I automatically supported the right wing, for lack of information. It was during the early 90s that I heard a great song by Cypress Hill. Now you might be askingwhat in the world does a weed smoking rap group and politics have to do with each other? The song was How I could Just Kill A Man and at the end of the song there are some lyrics that I took to heart. The lyrics have nothing to do with politics or the cold war, but it does have to do with life and expiernce and judgment. The lyrics say How do you know where Im at? When you havnt been where Ive been. Understand where Im coming from? My point is how could I have an opinion when I havnt seen with my own eyes the situation or lived it in person. I couldnt.
I made my first concious trip to El Salvador when I was 16. My eyes looking for something more than a vacation. I have an auntie that is not educated, but expierience has made her a survivour during the conflict. So she started to tell me the story, and showing me things about what war is, what humanity is and the absence of democracy and justice. She did all this and I could not grasp. Then she baught me a book. That did it. The book is called FIRE FLIES IN EL MOZOTE. In the corner of my country there is the department of Morazan. In this department not far from the Honduran border is the hamlet of El Mozote. Back in 1980 it was a hamlet of about a thousand people. Farmers mostly. The department of Morazan during the conflict was in the red zone, a part of the Salvadoran territory that was controled by the guerillas. El Mozote was the home of many farmers who did not have anything to do with the guerillas. They did not oppose the government, they lived the best they could under the situation. They were protestants mostly with no link to any social organization. In december of 1980 the Atlactle brigade of the salvadoran army went into the hamlet. They separated the men, women and children and killed them all. Out of about a thousand people there was only one survivour. One woman. She lost everything. Everything. This book said a lot to me. Eventually I made a trip to Morazan. I went to the hamlet which people abandoned during the decade after the massacre. When I arrived I saw that some people had started to return. I was not convinced by my auntie or by this book so I went to speak to those who once had family there in this hamlet. I heard it from them. The words came from their mouths, the story projected by their eyes, the pain had not left their faces. In the hamlet there was still some old houses filled with bullet holes. There was the feeling that something really evil had happened here. To mark the massacre there was a simple metal and wood structure comemorating the massacre with the words NEVER AGAIN on it. Now I saw. Now I knew. Now I was allowed to have a humble opinion. The opinion with authority belongs to those who survived things like these.
In the book that was given to me by my aunt informs of who did this. The salvadoran army using the Atlactle brigade which was trained by the US. When inicial news of the massacre appeared in the New York Times washington and the White House denied the incident. Soon they had to accept. The onesided story that I had believed about the US as the champion of humanity, democracy, liberty and justice died. For me it was a time of reflection, and a time to check my self and see that I had to shut my mouth unless I knew what I was talking about. Needles to say that for some time I didnt talk politics. I dont consider that I talk politics. I dont know anything about politics. I only have an opinion. An opinion based on seeing and not being told. I have both sides of the story.
When I hear about the war on terrorism I really dont know weather to laugh or to cry. It´s the stupidest concept I have ever heard. Speaking as a US citizen I think a lot of the north american people have not evolved from the elemantry stage where you believe everything your told with out seeing for yourself. A while back when Britney Spears was asked on the ABC program 20 20 what she thought of the conflict in Irak she responded that she thought that the american people should trust the president with his desiciones; when asked if she trusted the president she responded that she did. I dont think I need a better example. They said mission accomplished a while back, yet there is still conflict in Irak. They claim time after time that they are winning the war on terrorism yet In Afgahnistan and Irak there is still conflict. The Taliban are still fighting and everyday new insurgent groups come up in Irak. They call it the war on terror and Osama Bin Laden is still on the loose and everyday he gains more and more support. Every day the arab world, the muslim world support more and more the idea of the US being the real enemy. Does no one stop to ask why this is?
I think the north american people really think that the rest of the world wishes that they could be like the US. This is simply not true. The american people think that they are the champions of humanity, yet every day you see american bombs killing innocent people. The US is the champion of liberty and democracy, but every day they support dictators and brutal regimes in the name of american economic intrests. Time after time the US has opposed the establishment of an international tribunal to put on trial war criminals for fear of their soldiers being brougt to the accused stand. The US speaks of democracy but constantly impulses election frauds in countries all over the world, Salvador being one of them. No one like a hipocrit. In the name of american economic intrests the US has stepped on a lot of toes. The american people see Osama Bin Laden as a mass killer terrorist. In the Arab world a lot of people see him as a heroe. If he is captured he will have more support. If he is killed he is a martyr. He has won this war on terror already. One persons terroist is another´s heroe. Why? At this point the US has made many enemies in the world with abuses by their armies, by their foreign policy, by the CIA that people want them out of the their lands. Some want america to fall. This is why the war on terrorism is so stupid, because it cant be won. For as long as american economic intrests cause poverty, injustice and death there will always be a person ready to pick up an AK 47 and fight. For as long as the US keeps on going into countries to establish what has not been asked for and what offends people will be willing to kill. As long as someone is abused he will be waiting for his chance to abuse his agressor.
That Salvadoran soldier that came home in a box, for what? Did he understand the conflict he was in, does his family understand why he was killed. His family is poor, a typical family of a soldier. A person that doesnt know both sides of the story. A person that believes what they are told and cant see for themselves. People who believe that the war on terror can be won.
I think there might be a way to win the war on terror and it doesnt involve rifles and bombs.

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