The SOUND of SILENCE

What follows is a Statement by US Senator Robert Byrd that was delivered in a Speech on the Senate Floor:
        
We Stand Passively Mute
by US Senator Robert Byrd
Wednesday 12 February 2003

"To contemplate war is to think about the most horrible of human experiences. On this February day, as this nation stands at the brink of battle,
every American on some level must be contemplating the horrors of war.

Yet, this Chamber is, for the most part, silent -- ominously, dreadfully silent. There is no debate, no discussion, no attempt to lay out for the nation the pros and cons of this particular war. There is nothing.

We stand passively mute in the United States Senate, paralyzed by our own uncertainty, seemingly stunned by the sheer turmoil of events. Only on the editorial pages of our newspapers is there much substantive discussion of the prudence or imprudence of engaging in this particular war.

And this is no small conflagration we contemplate. This is no simple attempt to defang a villain. No. This coming battle, if it materializes, represents a turning point in U.S. foreign policy and possibly a turning point in the recent history of the world.

This nation is about to embark upon the first test of a revolutionary doctrine applied in an extraordinary way at an unfortunate time. The doctrine of preemption -- the idea that the United States or any other nation can legitimately attack a nation that is not imminently threatening but may be threatening in the future -- is a radical new twist on the traditional idea of self defense. It appears to be in contravention of international law and the UN Charter. And it is being tested at a time of world-wide terrorism, making many countries around the globe wonder if they will soon be on our -- or some other nation's -- hit list. Higgh level Administration figures recently refused to take nuclear weapons off of the table when discussing a possible attack against Iraq. What could be more destabilizing and unwise than this type of uncertainty, particularly in a world where globalism has tied the vital economic and security interests of many nations so closely together? There are huge cracks emerging in our time-honored alliances, and U.S. intentions are suddenly subject to damaging worldwide speculation. Anti-Americanism based on mistrust, misinformation, suspicion, and alarming rhetoric from U.S. leaders is fracturing the once solid alliance against global terrorism which existed after September 11.

Here at home, people are warned of imminent terrorist attacks with little guidance as to when or where such attacks might occur. Family members are being called to active military duty, with no idea of the duration of their stay or what horrors they may face. Communities are being left with less than adequate police and fire protection. Other essential services are also short-staffed. The mood of the nation is grim. The economy is stumbling. Fuel prices are rising and may soon spike higher.

This Administration, now in power for a little over two years, must be judged on its record. I believe that that record is dismal.

In that scant two years, this Administration has squandered a large projected surplus of some $5.6 trillion over the next decade and taken us to projected deficits as far as the eye can see. This Administration's domestic policy has put many of our states in dire financial condition, under funding scores of essential programs for our people. This Administration has fostered policies which have slowed economic growth. This Administration has ignored urgent matters such as the crisis in health care for our elderly. This Administration has been slow to provide adequate funding for homeland security. This Administration has been reluctant to better protect our long and porous borders.

In foreign policy, this Administration has failed to find Osama bin Laden. In fact, just yesterday we heard from him again marshaling his forces and urging them to kill. This Administration has split traditional alliances, possibly crippling, for all time, International order-keeping entities like the United Nations and NATO. This Administration has called into question the traditional worldwide perception of the United States as well-intentioned, peacekeeper. This Administration has turned the patient art of diplomacy into threats, labeling, and name calling of the sort that reflects quite poorly on the intelligence and sensitivity of our leaders, and which will have consequences for years to come.

Calling heads of state pygmies, labeling whole countries as evil, denigrating powerful European allies as irrelevant -- these types of crude insensitivities can do our great nation no good. We may have massive military might, but we cannot fight a global war on terrorism alone. We need the cooperation and friendship of our time-honored allies as well as the newer found friends whom we can attract with our wealth. Our awesome military machine will do us little good if we suffer another devastating attack on our homeland which severely damages our economy. Our military manpower is already stretched thin and we will need the augmenting support of those nations who can supply troop strength, not just sign letters cheering us on.

The war in Afghanistan has cost us $37 billion so far, yet there is evidence that terrorism may already be starting to regain its hold in that region. We have not found bin Laden, and unless we secure the peace in Afghanistan, the dark dens of terrorism may yet again flourish in that remote and devastated land.

Pakistan as well is at risk of destabilizing forces. This Administration has not finished the first war against terrorism and yet it is eager to embark on another conflict with perils much greater than those in Afghanistan. Is our attention span that short? Have we not learned that after winning the war one must always secure the peace?

And yet we hear little about the aftermath of war in Iraq. In the absence of plans, speculation abroad is rife. Will we seize Iraq's oil fields, becoming an occupying power which controls the price and supply of that nation's oil for the foreseeable future? To whom do we propose to hand the reigns of power after Saddam Hussein?

Will our war inflame the Muslim world resulting in devastating attacks on Israel? Will Israel retaliate with its own nuclear arsenal? Will the Jordanian and Saudi Arabian governments be toppled by radicals, bolstered by Iran which has much closer ties to terrorism than Iraq?

Could a disruption of the world's oil supply lead to a world-wide recession? Has our senselessly bellicose language and our callous disregard of the interests and opinions of other nations increased the global race to join the nuclear club and made proliferation an even more lucrative practice for nations which need the income?

In only the space of two short years this reckless and arrogant Administration has initiated policies which may reap disastrous consequences
for years.

One can understand the anger and shock of any President after the savage attacks of September 11. One can appreciate the frustration of having only a shadow to chase and an amorphous, fleeting enemy on which it is nearly impossible to exact retribution.

But to turn one's frustration and anger into the kind of extremely destabilizing and dangerous foreign policy debacle that the world is currently
witnessing is inexcusable from any Administration charged with the awesome power and responsibility of guiding the destiny of the greatest superpower on the planet. Frankly many of the pronouncements made by this Administration are outrageous. There is no other word.

Yet this chamber is hauntingly silent. On what is possibly the eve of horrific infliction of death and destruction on the population of the nation of Iraq -- a population, I might add, of which over 50% is under age 15 -- this chamber is silent. On what is posssibly only days before we send thousands of our own citizens to face unimagined horrors of chemical and biological warfare -- this chamber is silent. On the eve of what could possibly be a vicious terrorist attack in retaliation for our attack on Iraq, it is business as usual in the United States Senate.

We are truly "sleepwalking through history." In my heart of hearts I pray that this great nation and its good and trusting citizens are not in for a rudest of awakenings.

To engage in war is always to pick a wild card. And war must always be a last resort, not a first choice. I truly must question the judgment of any President who can say that a massive unprovoked military attack on a nation which is over 50% children is "in the highest moral traditions of our country". This war is not necessary at this time. Pressure appears to be having a good result in Iraq. Our mistake was to put ourselves in a corner so quickly. Our challenge is to now find a graceful way out of a box of our own making. Perhaps there is still a way if we allow more time.     

When this Statement was analyzed by Raymond “Mike” Clausen, Jr._MOH_31 Jan. ‘70, this is what he had to say:

Ya talk about ya Retoric, Sen. Byrd is full of it with all of his wondering, WHY there is a dreadful Silence, I doubt if the Senate and most esp. the Congress are concerned, "they got their's....(Being the best Politicians that money can buy) Both Houses refuse to hold the President to the letter of the law written into the Constitution concerning War and Money Bills and so both types of Bills must Originate from the Congress.....So when Sen. Byrd and the Senate along with the Congress stare in wonderment and are silent on these Important Issues and allow the continued Usurpation of the "Law of the Land" they know damn well who is at fault and who our Enemy is,
"IT IS THEY WHO SIT SILENT"

"Death Before Dishonor"
"The Evils of Tyranny are rarely seen but by him who resists it."
John Hay 1872
SAEPE EXPERTUS, SEMPER FIDELIS, FRATRES AETERNI
("Often Tested, Always Faithful, Brothers Forever")

Death Before Dishonor,
R. Mike Clausen, Jr.    

Now..........if YOU have something to say, you might want to consider adding your voice to that of the ‘American Patriot Friends Network’ and
VOTE To Impeach Bush!


While you ponder taking that ‘step’, you might want to consider...On February 15, 2003, through out the world, people took to the streets raising their voices in asking if the proposed WAR with Iraq is just. When queried about the demonstrations in the United States, President Bust quipped that what the people were saying wouldn’t affect his policy, but THAT is what is so great about Democracy...the people have the Right to Freedom of Speech. ???

Isn’t what makes Democracy, under a government that’s OF, BY and FOR the people, so great...is THAT the people ‘Speak’ and their will determines policy? Is President Bush saying that the ‘opinions’ of the citizens of the United States are ‘irrelevant’, just as he’s said that the UN, Congress and any other country that doesn’t ‘fall in step’ with his policy is, or will be considered, ‘Irrelevant’?

WHY??? is the world poised on the threshold of WAR? 

Isn’t it interesting that the media seems more concerned about having limited access to the ‘battlefield’, citing  the people’s Right to Know, than they are about sorting through the opposition and taking an ‘objective’ look at HOW and WHY the world seems convinced that WAR is inevitable?

Shouldn’t the efforts of France, Germany, Brussels, Russian and other nations, including China to avoid WAR (having ‘Been There...Done That’, on their own soil) be viewed as the ‘Voice of Experience’ that’s urging the United States to LEARN from their mistakes?

If the ‘White House’ is remodeled into a ‘Glass House’ and it’s occupant throws the first stone, doesn’t that just make (the) US the ‘newest’ BIG BULLY on the BLOCK?

Did PEACE ever have a chance or is it a thing of the past...did it become ‘irrelevant’?

The PREAMBLE of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted and proclaimed by General Assembly resolution 217 A (III) of 10 December 1948, begins with the declarations:

Whereas recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world,

Whereas disregard and contempt for human rights have resulted in barbarous acts which have outraged the conscience of mankind, and the advent of a world in which human beings shall enjoy freedom of speech and belief and freedom from fear and want has been proclaimed as the highest aspiration of the common people,

Whereas it is essential, if man is not to be compelled to have recourse, as a last resort, to rebellion against tyranny and oppression, that human right should be protected by the rule of law,
(view this document, in it’s entirety, at: http://www.un.org/Overview/rights.html)

Currently, charges of total “disregard and contempt for human rights” are being heralded as justification to end “peace in the world”. Are those charges ‘Just’ or would this war ‘just’ be a matter of ‘Might Makes Right’?

If you’ve ever gotten a mailing with a list of ‘gems’ that people send around to share ‘The Lessons Life has taught me’...maybe you’ve seen the one that says: “I’ve learned that the greater a person’s sense of guilt, the greater his or her need to cast blame on others.”

With that in mind, take a really GOOD LOOK at the materials covered at this site. The Beimdiek Situation, alone, demonstrates violations of: Article 1, Article 2, Article 3, Article 5, Article 7, Article 8, Article 10, Article 12, and Article 30 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights document! But, in the United States, the Right to being protected by the rule of law is nowhere in sight! (Check out Calculus 101 on the Little Red Hen page of this site to see what insight and integrity look like as both are ‘alive and well’ in the UK!) Thus, the ‘Deafening Silence’ has become the ‘Nightmare Reality’ for a
growing number of families, who believed they were living the ‘American Dream’, in a land where TRUTH and JUSTICE reigned supreme!  

Take a long inquiring look at the Lucas Family site, the VERPA endeavors, the Gulf War Syndrome cases, the Agent Orange families, the Project SHAD families, the MIA Families etc., as the list goes on and continues to grow...THEN one can start talking about barbarous acts that SHOULD have outraged the conscience of mankind.

Is it possible that the Right to Freedom of Speech is the ONLY Right left and (to paraphrase one of Mr. Clausen’s favorite quotes by John Hay) only those of us who are resisting the Evils of Tyranny know it?

The Sound of Silence is deafening when one Speaks and no one is listening. It might be advisable for YOU to Speak Up and tell President Bush, Senator Byrd and any others, who need to be told, that “Business as usual in the United States Senate.”, that would lead to all of (the) US “...sleepwalking through history” is OUTRAGEOUS  and UNACCEPTABLE! ‘Just Do It!’...before you become totally ‘irrelevant’!



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