THE WAR - A FEW UNANSWERED QUESTIONS

THE WAR - A FEW UNANSWERED QUESTIONS
By Eduardo Galeano (1326 words)
IPS COLUMNIST SERVICE, MARCH 2003

Eisenhower said in 1953 that ''preventive war'' was an invention of Hitler. ''Frankly I would not even listen to anyone seriously that came and talked about such a thing,'' was his position, writes Eduardo Galeano, a Uruguayan writer and novelist, author of ''The Open Veins of Latin America'' and ''Memories of Fire.''

In this article, Galeano writes that the US is the largest weapons manufacturer and dealer in the world. It is also the only country that has used atomic weapons on civilians. And it is traditionally always at war with someone. Who then is the threat to world peace? Iraq?

Israel, which since 1967 has continuously usurped Palestinian land, has a nuclear arsenal that guarantees it impunity. And Pakistan, another loyal ally as well as a notorious nest of terrorists, has a fine set of nuclear warheads. Yet the enemy is Iraq, because it ''could obtain'' these arms. If it really did --as North Korea claims it does-- would the US dare to attack it?

A final question, which I borrow from John Le Carre: Will they kill a lot of people, papa? No one that you know, dear. Only foreigners.
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