作成：森岡正博
掲示板｜プロフィール｜著書｜エッセイ・論文
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作成：森岡正博 |
軍隊は使わないと錆び付く？
英語の掲示板でのやりとりです。日本の方が、「米国の軍事産業を持続させるためには定期的な戦争が必要」という考え方が米国人にあるかどうかを、聞いています。それへの、ある米国人の答えがすばらしいので、ここに転載します（許可済み）。
「米国人って、定期的な戦争が必要だって思ってるの？」
infini
questions
Fri Oct 12 12:54:06 2001
On a Japanese BBS and a website, I've found messges which go something like this ...
1) Some Americans believe that the military force without real experiences (?) can't be the strongest military force. Hence America needs wars once in a while to keep her military force in a good shape.
2) [Ugh, this is hard to translate.] Making roads etc. ... this kind of stuff is necessary for both public and for companies which take care of (??) this kind of stuff. America's military industry (?) is huge, and wars are necessary to keep that industry alive.
My questions are ...
Do you feel these are true?
Do many Americans (how many is many?) feel these are true?
参考サイト："War is Good for Business" by Michel Chossudovsky
http://www.globalresearch.ca/articles/CHO109D.html
「たしかに一部の権力者はそう思ってる。でも一般人はちがうよ。」
Anubis
I don't think the "people" do...
Fri Oct 12 13:23:47 2001
It's sort of true, Infini. But it's not the "people" of the United States. Our military IS huge. And it has been since WWII. It's big business, and you know how business is.
It isn't that we NEED wars. But before he left office, President Dwight D. Eisnenhower, who of course was a general and fully aware of how the government/military "sex ring" works, warned the people to watch the military industrial complex.
It's just business, even if it's an ugly business. Any company, Ford, Toyota, Sony, IBM...has to sell in order to keep going and make a profit. The companies who build weapons of war have a very limited customer base. Once they have sold what is needed, they have to wait until the stuff gets used or falls into disrepair before they get more orders.
Now if Toyota sold a bunch of cars that never got driven, or if IBM sold a bunch of computers that never got turned on, it would be hard for them to sell more. If you watch the reports of the "raids" in Afghanistan (the Pentagon reports), they are careful to tell which weapons were being used. They will explain the properties of the weapon and whether or not it performed to specifications. Just like a commercial. During the 1980's, the military industrial complex had a wonderful friend in President Reagan, and he ran up three trillion dollars in government debt to buy all sorts of new "toys," which he justified by calling the Soviet Union, the "evil empire."
The American people were led to believe him. Now that Russia is our friend, we know that during this military build-up, they were not even considering bombing or invading this country. We were sending them tons and tons and tons of surplus wheat, because they didn't have enough food. Would it even have made sense for them to nuke their food supply?
So the answer to your question is sort of "yes". Our country does that...a faction of those with the power and money to do so. But also "no," because this is not how the majority of the Americans I know think. Most of the Americans I know do not want to be killing anyone regardless of whether they are American, Afghani, Japanese, Arabic... We have been TOLD that this is necessary at this point, but I have a hard time believing that war is the only way to bring some criminals to justice. If our government was as serious about peace as it claims, and as serious as the people it represents, all the money that was spent on weaponry would have been spent on eliminating the need. Of course, there will always be the warlike in the world, and we need to be prepared to defend. But nations are people, and people can be brought together on the basis of their common ground.
If we look at it on a people to people basis, it's easier to see how it works. If I came to your house waving a big gun around and calling myself the leader of the free world...would that not make you just a tad bit nervous? Friends don't usually wave guns in friends faces. If I came to your house with a basket of fresh fruit and said I am your friend, how can we cooperate to make the world better, would you be more willing to sit down and listen?
It is the same for nations, and we wave these guns because we are told that we must be powerful to be free. I don't buy it. I am free without a gun in my house. I am free to call you my friend, though you are NOT American, and we have no need to show our arms to talk.
If we'd just take the chance of reaching out, instead of reaching for our holster, America could be the catalyst for a much much better world for all. We can still defend ourselves. But we needn't be such "cowboys" about it.
I can't speak for ALL the people of this country, but most of them I know would MUCH rather sit with you or anyone else and share a meal and pleasant conversation, than to engage you in battle.
I hope your birthday is WONDERFUL!!!!
many many more!