Peace In the midst of power
BY LUCRETIA VOIGT CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Joseph Gerson wants to free the American people from the bonds of rhetoric in Plato's allegorical cave of American political history. In his new book, "Empire and the Bomb: How the U.S. Uses Nuclear Weapons to Dominate the World," he lays out the United States' founding as an empirical nation, seeking to replace Britain and the colonial powers as the dominant force in the world. He traces that mindset through the roots of the atomic bomb, into the Vietnam War, the Cold War and the Iraqi conflict.

Dr. Joseph Gerson

Active in the peace movement since the mid- 60s, Gerson has had a front row seat to many of the incidents that have shaped the world we now inhabit. Working with the American Friends Service Committee since 1976, he counts as one of the major successes the Nuclear Weapons Freeze movement precipitated by President Reagan's readiness to "take the confrontation to the evil empire Soviet Union, launching a massive increase in the building of nuclear weapons." Confronted by a 1982 march on Washington and referendums in eight states, Reagan was forced to negotiate with the Soviets.

Not one to rest on his laurels, however, he warns against complacency during this time of conflict.

"During the Cold War, much of the peace movement was viewed only in the context of the U.S./Soviet confrontation. Many were unaware of the history of the development of the American empire and didn't take into account the empirical dimension. So with the end of the Cold War, many people were tired - they went back to their lives, wanting to think the dangers were over. Much of the peace movement atrophied in the 1990s."

Gerson knows that the conflicts of today hold as much potential devastation as the Cold War of yesterday. He points to a January 4, 2007 article in "The Wall Street Journal" by George P. Shultz, William J. Perry, Henry Kissinger and Sam Nunn, where they state ". . . unless urgent new actions are taken, the U.S. soon will be compelled to enter a new nuclear era that will be more precarious, psychologically disorienting and economically even more costly than was Cold War deterrence."

In addition, he is cautious of the rhetoric surrounding the Bush administration's handling of Iran.

"[I]f the Bush people are crazy enough to attack Iran, if we go that route, the level of disaster not only for the Iranian people but for people across the world will be catastrophic. Decades and decades of jihadist attacks and nationalist attacks against the United States will surely follow all over the world. It has the potential to be the equivalent of the gunshot in Sarajevo that sparked a world war."

His concerns do not begin and end with the nuclear buildup, however, but encompass the national debt currently carried by the United States, as well as the trade deficit.

"We have a situation where we have enormous debt - a national government deficit for which we have to sell bonds. People from foreign countries can buy up this U.S. debt, and in time they will sell it off, maybe in response to the current crisis, which will further weaken the value of the dollar. In time the Middle East oil states will not want to trade their oil exclusively in dollars, which will result in less money for the financing of new businesses and for paying new mortgages."

Add into that equation the staggering trade deficit, and you have a recipe for disaster. We send out "billions of dollars every year, which further weakens the dollar."

Gerson believes the ability to change this is in the hands of the American people, and calls the current environment "a dangerous but nonetheless hopeful time." He has watched as the American people have turned their backs on the Bush administration's use of the horrors of 9/11 "to win elections and hit every fear chord they can imagine." The current situation in Iraq has changed so that "here in the U.S. the debate is no longer if but how fully and how soon we will withdraw from Iraq." He is hopeful that if "people have some basic understanding of the current reality, they can

work to change it." I

- Dr. Joseph Gerson is the current Director of Regional Programs for the American Friends Service Committee, New England Regional Office, as well as the Middle East and Peace & Economic Security Programs. His new book "Empire and the Bomb: How the U.S. Uses Nuclear Weapons to Dominate the World" is available at local bookstores. Dr. Gerson will be speaking at the Unitarian Universalist Church, 11 Orange Street, on Sunday, September 30, at 10:45 a.m. Free and open to the public.