Afghanistan – Page 5 – Engaging Peace

From Star Wars to weaponized drones

Posted on July 29, 2013July 29, 2013 by kathiemm

In the midst of the Cold War nuclear arms race in 1983, President Ronald Reagan proposed a Strategic Defense Initiative aimed at mounting defensive weapons in space to shield the United States from a Soviet nuclear attack.

Map of the fictional Stars Wars galaxy by W.R. van Hage. Used under CC Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

Perhaps in part because of Reagan’s own publicly-stated conviction that Armageddon, as predicted in the Bible, was at hand, the proposed initiative raised anxiety levels around the world and was promptly labeled “Star Wars.”

Some of these anxieties were relieved by the signing of the first Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) by the U.S. and U.S.S.R. in 1991 and the subsequent Strategic Offensive Reduction Treaty with Russia in 2001, requiring reductions in nuclear weapons in both countries.

Despite the fact that the sanity of the nuclear arms race was challenged around the world, technological junkies and arms manufacturers have been busy on another Star Wars adventure. This time, it’s developing weaponized drones (euphemistically called unmanned aerial vehicles). [In our next post we will consider Autonomous Weapons Systems (AWS).]

Nuclear weapons were terrifying in part because they were likely not only to vanquish any “enemies” almost immediately but also to leave in their wake destruction and contamination that could destroy life on earth. In contrast, weaponized drones and other modern “miracle” weapons are touted for their ability to zero in on individual bad guys. What could be more precise? More humane? More just?

Our own President has said that their use will be guided by just and moral principles but national and international anxiety is once again high. A recent study indicates that drones have killed more civilians than manned aircraft in Afghanistan.

Kathie Malley-Morrison, Professor of Psychology

To combat moral disgrace (Engaging Bradley Manning, Part 2)

Posted on March 25, 2013March 25, 2013 by kathiemm

Like other whistle-blowers and rebels against arbitrary authority, Bradley Manning has detractors as well as admirers; nevertheless, his reasoning and actions are consistent with a “diagnosis” of moral engagement.

GIPGAP, the Group on International Perspectives on Governmental Aggression and Peace, has built on Albert Bandura’s theory of moral disengagement to identify forms of reasoning characteristic of moral engagement. Following are examples of such moral engagement in Bradley Manning’s statement at his pre-trial hearing.

Attending to negative consequences of inhumane or unjust behavior

In regard to his assignment as an intelligence analyst:

“I knew that if I continued to assist the Baghdad Federal Police in identifying the political opponents of Prime Minister al-Maliki, those people would be arrested and in the custody of the Special Unit of the Baghdad Federal Police and very likely tortured and not seen again for a very long time—if ever.”

Exonerating or pardoning victims of aggression (rather than “blaming the victim”)

“I wanted the American public to know that not everyone in Iraq and Afghanistan are targets that needed to be neutralized, but rather people who were struggling to live in the pressure-cooker environment of what we call asymmetric warfare.”

Humanizing the other

Regarding the video he released to WikiLeaks, showing U.S. military personnel killing Reuters reporters and Iraqi civilians and wounding two children, he says:

“The most alarming aspect of the video to me…was the seemly delightful bloodlust they [the American servicemen] appeared to have. They dehumanized the individuals they were engaging and seemed to not value human life by referring to them as quote ‘dead bastards’ unquote and congratulating each other on the ability to kill in large numbers.”

Telling it like it is

Regarding detaining and interrogating prisoners at Guantanamo, he says:

“The more I became educated on the topic, it seemed that we found ourselves holding an increasing number of individuals indefinitely that we believed or knew to be innocent, low-level foot soldiers that did not have useful intelligence and would be released if they were still held in theater.”

America needs moral engagement to combat moral disgrace.

Kathie Malley-Morrison, Professor of Psychology

Engaging Bradley Manning

Posted on March 18, 2013March 19, 2013 by kathiemm

Bulletin: PFC Bradley Manning pleads guilty to some charges against him for providing classified government documents to Wikileaks.

Manning’s statement is a remarkable document, illustrating many forms of reasoning we have identified as morally engaged, based on Albert Bandura’s theory of moral disengagement and engagement.

Essential to moral engagement is exercising moral agency—that is, acting as a moral agent and accepting responsibility for those actions. In my view, this is exactly what Bradley Manning did.

Regarding his release of materials, he says, “I felt I had accomplished something that allowed me to have a clear conscience based upon what I had seen and read about and knew were happening in both Iraq and Afghanistan every day….The decisions that I made to send documents and information to the WLO [Wikileaks Organization) and the website were my own decisions, and I take full responsibility for my actions.”

In this post and the next one, we provide excerpts from Manning’s confession that exemplify moral engagement. We begin today by providing examples of principled moral arguments that underlay his actions.

Principled moral reasoning

“In attempting to conduct counter-terrorism, or CT, and counter-insurgency (COIN) operations, we became obsessed with capturing and killing human targets on lists…ignoring the second- and third-order effects of accomplishing short-term goals and missions. I believe that if the general public, especially the American public, had access to the information…this could spark a domestic debate on the role of the military and our foreign policy in general [and] as it related to Iraq and Afghanistan.”

“The more I read the cables, the more I came to the conclusion that this was the type of information that should become public. I once read and used a quote on open diplomacy…how the world would be a better place if states would avoid making secret pacts and deals with and against each other.”

To be continued…

Kathie Malley-Morrison, Professor of Psychology

Crimson soil: A forgotten struggle (Part 1)

Posted on February 28, 2013February 27, 2013 by kathiemm

By guest author, San’aa Sultan

Between the folds of two nuclear states lies a valley of forsaken people whose struggle is yet to be told beyond its borders. Kashmir. A place where the crimson soil is still screaming to be heard.

Barbed wire in Kashmir — Hazratbal Srinagar Kashmir. Photo by Abdul Basit, used by permission.

Although the land is shared amongst India, Pakistan, and China, regions of peace and war are easy to identify. The Indian occupied Kashmir comprising the Kashmir Valley, Ladakh, and Jammu, is home to the world’s highest concentration of troops. There are more Indian troops positioned here than NATO troops in Iraq and Afghanistan combined.

At the hands of this brutal presence, the people of Kashmir have suffered oppression for many decades, spreading far beyond the separation of India. In the name of national security and what may be described as India’s self-prescribed “War of Terror,” the worlds’ largest democracy has continued to perpetrate unimaginable human rights abuses in Kashmir.

The names of Aasiya and Neelofar, two ill-fated young Kashmiri women who were gang raped and murdered are known across the valley. The families of eight year old Sameer Ahmed Rah who was beaten to death by Indian forces and 17 year-old Tufail Matoo who was killed after being hit by a tear gas canister have not yet tasted justice. Mass graves are still being uncovered, but the glimmer of hope in the homes of the disappeared lives on despite its painful embrace.

Torturous memories are left lingering in the mind of every Kashmiri and there is no household which has not been subject to abuse. As tensions rise along the Line of Control and the world anticipates a nuclear war, I wish to narrate to you the story of Kashmir.