May 20, 2011, Phila. Inquirer
For the past ten days I’ve been thinking about President Obama’s statement that the death of Bin Laden has made the world safer (Inquirer 5/2/11). Preventing Bin Laden from doing any more harm may have made us a little safer, but true security could come:
-When the 4% of the world’s population that live in the United States does not spend 25% of the world’s resources, and
-When the U.S. recognizes that the dozens of U.S. invasions and CIA-backed destabilizations since 1945 (Chile; Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Congo, Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, Iraq, Afghanistan, etc.) have not benefitted the average American and have made us more enemies than friends, and
-When the U.S. is not spending half of its Federal discretionary budget on preparation for unnecessary wars, including hundreds of military bases all over the world, and
-When we obtain most of our energy from renewable sources such as solar and wind power, and we don’t have to patrol the world to control oil.
Real security does not come from the barrel of a gun. Real security could come from building partnerships around the world with people we are not trying to exploit.
John Braxton, Philadelphia
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