Re: time for environmentalists to become political - oppose war against Iraq

[Kaltofen@aol.com]

Thank you Jon for reminding folks of the impact of warfare on the environment.
Countless times I've heard from people who say that hundreds of tankers were
sunk during the Second World War without obvious harm to the environment.  Now
we know that there was lots of damage, but no one was recording it.  (They
were busy.)

I believe that in the near future we will see much more reporting about global
environmental criminals.  One example of such criminals are those who use
their oil wealth to try to destroy the reputations of climate scientists who
report on global climate change.  Another set of eco-thugs are those who
manfacture chemical and biological weapons.  We are paying a heavy price to
dispose of the horrible weapons that were made in the USA.  (Ask anybody in
Beria, KY where they are fighting an incinerator.)

We have not moved in time to stop Iraq from trying to become the World's
defacto leader of chemical weapons.  Whatever we think of using military force
to destroy his mass destruction capabilities now, we would have been far
better off if we had united globally to prevent their manufacture in the first
place.

We have the technical capability to manufacture weapons and products of
devastating environmental and human impact.  Dioxins, chemical weapons, CFCs,
and potentially, genetically engineered bioweapons: are all within the means
of a rogue country or corporation.

We have managed to make any work on offensive chemical weapons morally
repugnant to reputable scientists.  Now, whether or not war comes to the
Persian Gulf yet again, we need to make the World pay more attention to the
spirit of the Global Chemical Weapons Treaty that the US signed last year.

That treaty may by the only thing people on this list-serve and the CMA ever
agree on.  This may also be an area where we prevent an environmental disaster
that eclipses even the one at Bhopal, India.