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Stop the Military Build-Up February 5, 2002 To the Editors,First it was Plan Colombia to stop drug trade -- $100 million dollars more, when evidence showed that previous gifts had only accelerated the drug flow to the U.S. Now it's the Bush administration's turn to send another $100 million to the war torn nation, this time to protect oil interests. But it's also to buy American made weapons, which ultimately destabilizes the country more. Add to this the economic trouble that the U.S. is having, and the $100 million Bush would send to Jordan so it, too, can buy more American weapons, and one has to wonder why there's not more opposition to Bush's military build-up. It's not as though these expenditures will lead to stability or peace. On the contrary, they will lead to more violence, death, and misery: exactly the types of problems that foster MORE TERRORISM. As leaders from Europe have recently announced in a chorus of criticism for the American regime, the President's "axis of evil" talk, and his support for counter-insurgency wars in South America, are evidence that his foreign policy objectives are out of touch with what other people on the planet believe is right. My own feeling is that Bush's foreign policy and military build-up resemble the leadership that Kenneth Lay gave to Enron. Bush is ignoring economic problems at home, while spending lavishly on militarization. Meanwhile, as American pensions are gutted to pay for our impending debt, the foreign policy "solutions" that CEO Bush is offering will only lead to more "need" for more military solutions in the future. The time is now to say NO to Bush's military build-up. No to his $100 million for Jordan. No to his $100 million for Colombia. No to his projected $451 billion per year military budgets by 2007. Sanity lies in a return to the Clinton-Gore policy of gradually reducing the size of the U.S. military in the post-cold war era. The threats of terrorism will not be stymied by high-tech force, only by justice and greater economic equality on our planet. Andy Deck 
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