War
We’ve pretty well polished off Afghanistan. Still peeking into caves, apologizing here and there for killing or abusing the wrong guys, installing new thugs to replace the old ones, wondering where sly old Osama Bin has slipped off to—but basically finished, I think. We’ve identified a new Axis of Evil, however, consisting of Iraq, Iran, and North Korea, and, of these, it appears that the former will be taken down first. Presumably we will continue to be people of principle and limit our bombing to military targets and collateral damage, but who can really say what may be necessary when dealing with people this evil. Why, it’s whispered in some quarters that they may be trying to produce nuclear weapons!
We will need to be well heeled for our new forays. The Administration has just submitted a new war budget asking for over a billion dollars a day. This is up 14% from last year and doesn’t include the $100 million a day that’s being sought for “homeland security.” The National Catholic Reporter, in its February 8 edition, notes that just the increase is larger than the entire military budget of any other country.
What will we get for this? One big thing is that it gets us off the hook of having to make those darned awkward choices the new government spent so much time talking about the first eight months of last year. Remember the business about having to scrap the existing defense establishment? Having to replace old programs with new technology. No, thanks to Osama Bin and his lads, it now appears we can have it all. Fighter jets and cargo planes from Lockheed Martin; more fighters and missile defense from Boeing; missiles from Raytheon; naval destroyers from General Dynamic; and more. Our cup runneth over. Politicians of every stripe are stepping all over each other in their feverish efforts to get on board this program.
OK, I admit it. I’m petty. I couldn’t help myself from figuring it out. A billion a day -- a whirlwind of this size sucks up an amount greater than our Coalition’s annual budget every five seconds. And I couldn’t help but notice that this monstrosity has been constructed at least in part on the backs of agencies that work on some of the same things we do and that have the potential to make our work easier. Examples: OSHA, the monitor of workplace safety, is slated to have its worker training program funds cut by two thirds. The Consumer Products Safety Commission will need to cut nine full-time jobs. The EPA will get 3.6% less money than it spent this year. The SEC, notwithstanding what we’ve learned from Enron, will get no new staffers. So, lots of corporations other than just Lockheed and Boeing have reason to smile. Moreover, over time, the budget provides $300 million less for Medicare than the Congressional Budget Office claims is needed to maintain current benefits. And, of course, prescription drug benefits for seniors—an issue religious investors have talked to pharmaceutical giants about a lot—are no longer even on the radar. Iraq is on the radar.
The Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility in New York, of which our Coalition is a member and with whom we work has a group dedicated to militarism issues. Dedicated people, led by Sr. Susan Jordan of St. Louis, Marianist Br. Steve O’Neil of Baltimore, and others work hard to address matters like the weaponization of space and the missile defense shield. They are hobbled because many religious investors have divested themselves of the war production companies. Some members of our Coalition are considering reinvesting nominal amounts in order to be players again in this critical arena. The work is also hobbled by events like the blessing of war by many of our major religious leaders that took place in the National Cathedral on September 14. Thoreau, Gandhi, Day, and King are all dead. Where do we find people of wisdom and courage today?