The U.S. is committing spectacularly cruel acts to intimidate other countries

By IOL Cairo Staff

CAIRO, December 18 (IslamOnline) - Thomas Nagy, a professor of Business and Public Management at George Washington University, told IslamOnline that it is the “responsibility of U.S. citizens primarily to prevent the escalation of the war against Iraq.”

Speaking in a live dialogue with IslamOnline’s visitors, Nagy said that there is a growth in the opposition to the escalation of war throughout the U.S.

“It is critical to retain a margin of hope that we can, all working together in active nonviolent ways, prevent the atrocity of an escalation,” said Nagy adding that it is critical to retain optimism that protests and other efforts to help restore safe water in Iraq, will “end the move towards escalating the on-going war.”

He gave some examples of the success of the protests beyond campus cities. He said that the state of Montana has an active, effective peace movement (www.montanapeaceseekers.org).

Another indicator, Nagy said, is that so many best sellers in the U.S. oppose the Bush foreign policy.

“These books range from Moore’s Stupid White Men to Tariq Ali’s book, and the books of Gore Vidal and Chomsky and Barbara Kingsolver,” he said. 

However, Nagy said that there is a high likelihood that the U.S. will escalate, which ethically requires us to devote more effort to undertake nonviolent protest and positive programs.

Nagy said that the U.S., like previous empires, is “showing credibility”.

“That is, committing spectacularly cruel acts, to intimidate other countries. The downside for the U.S. government is that it losses respect and by resorting to terror, is increasing the prospect of more terror,” he said.

He said that he believes that the U.S. is operating as an “empire”, but a very sophisticated empire that makes use of marketing tools such as focus groups to “disguise what is illegal in its foreign policy.”

“As an empire, it feels compelled, for financial gain, to resort periodically to great cruelty to intimidate the world as well as to keep its own citizens from dwelling on broken promises such as universal health care and the biggest theft in history-- the Enron and similar scandals.”

Nagy said that it would be helpful if the E.U. explain to “their U.S. friends” why the world opposes the U.S. foreign policies.

“I hope Europe sends more people into Iraq (parliamentarians, entertainers, pacifists, professors)whose presence would help deter escalation. I salute those who have gone such as George Galloway, Member of the British parliament,” he said.

Responding to a question on how the U.S. will take over the country, and whether it was really going to oust Saddam, Nagy said: “I fear that, consistent with the U.S. Air Force Doctrine, “Strategic Attack” 2-1.2 dated 20 May 1998, the U.S. will destroy the infrastructure of Iraq yet again as it did in 1991.

“I hope I’m wrong because that would cause very large civilian casualties as it did in 1991.”

He said that if more people read this document which is available on the internet, the “opposition to escalation would accelerate.”

“There is an unfortunate tendency to overlook painful facts-- especially about one’s own country. But it is our duty to read even painful documents when the lives of so many are at stake,” he said.

Nagy’s writings include “The Secret Behind the Sanctions: How the U.S. Intentionally Destroyed Iraq’s Water Supply,” published in The Progressive magazine.