THE METROPOLITAN • 3.8.
07
ANDREW FLOHR-SPENCE
spencand@mscd.edu
Fowl plague
When I think back, I remember the distant
sound of flapping wings, like the muffled hooves of
a far away line of horses, thundering in my direc-
tion. At the time, however, I did not even react.
I had gone to the park to get some fresh air
and did not expect a brush with death.
Geese! Migratory birds – the main carriers
of the infamous bird flu, the H5N1 virus – were
flying dangerously close. I picked up their move-
ment through the skeleton of branches only sec-
onds before they flew from behind the trees into
the open blue sky above me.
I stood totally exposed – no place to hide –
in an open field with a squadron of poison-bear-
ing big birds coming in for attack. I didn’t know
whether to run or stay motionless, but as I stood
there frozen, the flying biological bombs merely
kept flapping their vermin-soaked wings, glid-
ing away from me across the sky.
I know I am lucky to be alive, and yet, some-
thing that day changed the way I look at fear.
While fears about terrorism, crime and
toddlers smoking pot consume the nation’s at-
tention, this far greater threat is lurking in the
shadows, waiting for the day to pounce.
Three times in the past century the nor-
mally mundane flu has gone psycho. In 1918,
the granddaddy of them all, the “Spanish influ-
enza” killed an estimated 40 million to 50 mil-
lion people worldwide. Ships were found drift-
ing at sea with everyone aboard dead. In 1957,
another 2 million were killed, this time by the
“Asian Influenza,” and 1968 saw another 1 mil-
lion flu victims.
Since 1997, when Hong Kong recorded
18 cases of bird flu, including six deaths, the
H5N1 strain has begun positioning itself for a
big assault. Migratory birds, geese and other
waterfowl infiltrate and mingle with other birds,
infecting local populations. Domestic ducks act
as the ringleaders, excreting large amounts
of virus-infected fluid (killer duck snot), while
showing no signs of illness.
The World Health Organization warns that
the conditions are ripe for bird flu to make the
jump to human flu and cause an international
pandemic, which could again kill millions of peo-
ple around the world. It is only a matter of time.
If you are comparing evils, these figures
make war look like a health trend.
Birds are the biggest danger facing human-
ity, and I should have known not to go near any
nature. Immediately, I worried if any bird flu
particles had rained down on me from the flap-
ping wings, but then something occurred to me.
If it’s not the virus-secreting ducks, then it’s
the plague-ridden squirrels, the killer jaguars, or
the starving lions and bears that stumble out of
the mountains and bite joggers. Earth is full of
dangerous beasts just waiting for a chance to
kill, but with all the possible dangers to dwell on,
I would probably never see the big one coming.
In the end I would be staring up at the
pretty colors of the sunset, when the elephant
stampede came out of nowhere. And that’s
something I just have to accept.
War would Saddam-ize Iran
The jargon seeping from the corporate me-
dia and the Bush administration is reminiscent
of the time when a war in Iraq was sold as a
good, justified idea. Many Americans blindly put
their faith behind Dubya the Decider and sup-
ported his ambition to rid the world of the “evil-
doers,” despite the world’s lack of support. But
whatever, we were on a mission from God.
Then reality hit.
One by one, the justifications began to un-
ravel. There were never any weapons of mass
destruction. The only commonality between
Saddam and Osama was a mutual hate for each
other, and even Bush stated that Saddam had
nothing to do with Sept. 11. Yet the number of
troops killed since their commander in chief
proudly pronounced “mission accomplished”
continues to eclipse the casualties of the World
Trade Center collapse.
Now we move to Iran. The eerie echo of the
lead-up to war has been sonorously sounded by the
corporate media’s bobble-head pundits, who con-
tinue to neglect any critical analysis or intelligent
debate. Have the journalists who cheerleaded for
invading Iraq learned nothing? The response re-
garding Saudi Arabia is baffling, as the mute dia-
Weight of our empire crushes domestic freedom
America is an empire. Its militarism invites
resentment and violent opposition, and its main-
tenance comes at a cost for both the economy
and democratic ideals we purport to hold dear.
One does not have to be a knee-jerk liberal
to discern the faintest glimmer of truth con-
tained within Chalmers Johnson’s premises of
America’s foreign policies. Nemesis: The Last
Days of the American Empire, the third install-
ment of the University of California professor’s
trilogy exploring American foreign policy and its
consequences, sets out Johnson’s apocalyptic vi-
sion for our fair nation, but will the outcome be
as dire as he predicts?
As a Scot growing up in Europe, I never
considered the American military umbrella to be
an imperial one. As time went by my impression
evolved. America was an empire, but an acciden-
tal and fundamentally benevolent empire.
For those still unwilling to swallow the tag
of empire, consider the following figures from
the Department of Defense in 2003. The United
States owns or rents 702 overseas military bases,
not including such oases of peace as Afghani-
stan, Iraq, Israel, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Qatar and
Uzbekistan. The 2007 post-Iraq figure will be
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MANDI JONES
mjone108@mscd.edu
logue pertaining to its ties with Iraqi Sunni militias
mirrors the deafening silence regarding its support
for 15 of the Sept. 11 hijackers.
The Bush administration is once more proph-
esizing that it will proceed with the escalation
despite whoever may disagree; the only differ-
ence now is that Bush is set to defy his own Con-
gress and his own people. While Bush’s approval
ratings continue to plummet, the media has yet
to cover the fact that numerous polls conducted
by the likes of Newsweek, MSNBC and Zogby
International have shown that more than 50
STEVE LEWIS
slewis42@mscd.edu
higher. In contrast, there are zero foreign military
bases in America. Johnson’s contention is that
the modern empire is one of garrisons or bases
rather than territory and that the American Em-
pire is as real as its Roman and British predeces-
sors. Who in their right mind could disagree?
To what extent, though, does America’s
militarism invite resentment and violent op-
position? Take your pick: Taliban, Saddam and
radical Islam all grew stronger in reaction to,
with the support of and despite American hege-
mony. Terrorism in the ’70s, be it the IRA, the
SERVING THE AURARIA CAMPUS SINCE 1979
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INSIGHT • 21
percent of Americans agree that impeachment
should be seriously considered by Congress.
Ever since the Coalition of the Imperial-
ists illegally invaded Iraq, the infrastructure
we destroyed has yet to be rebuilt, and civilian
casualties have exceeded 650,000, according to
a study overseen by Johns Hopkins University.
The Iraqi people have been negated from the
ongoing debate of whether we should pull out,
while supporting the troops has again become
the rhetorical pedestal exploited by warmongers
and profiteers.
While the Iranian regime continues to carry
out some of the world’s worst human rights abus-
es and violent acts against women, I do not agree
that jotting them down on our military’s list of
things to do today will remedy the situation.
Prior to jumping into procession and march-
ing to the humdrum of war, it is crucial we pause
and demand our legislators explore every possi-
ble alternative to avoid a conflict in Iran. It would
be foolish for anyone to put military strikes be-
yond this reactionary and ill-witted administra-
tion. The red flags are there. The alternatives
are there, one of which may be found in voices of
the Iranian people and their resistance.
Baader-Meinhof or the Red Brigade, however
loathsome, seems positively quaint compared to
the global variants we fear today.
Johnson’s final point is the cost of empire.
The financial aspect is obvious: bases, bullets,
bombs, etc. Supplements and casualties pile
up while universal healthcare, education, infra-
structure and other pressing domestic concerns
are sacrificed on the altar of what President
Eisenhower warned would become a self-per-
petuating military-industrial complex.
Johnson also believes it will cost us our own
democracy. It was Hannah Arendt who said suc-
cessful imperialism requires domestic tyranny.
If the Patriot Act, the denial of due process, do-
mestic wiretapping, the disdain for the Geneva
Conventions and the determinedly isolationist
approach to international treaties say anything,
they demand less democracy. By contrast, when
an exhausted Britain contemplated its post-
World War II future, it chose to relinquish its
empire rather than its democracy. Despite vio-
lence in Kenya and India, the decolonization pro-
cess was relatively peaceful. The same could be
true for America’s demilitarization process. Or
do we prefer emperors, Huns and Visigoths?
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