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- “… and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.”
“
… AND OTHER LIVING THINGS”
We were thinking about past wars as once again our bombs fell on another land far away. Snatches of slogans, songs and promises came to mind, especially poignant were these lines from In Flander's Fields, written near the end of the first World War, by John McCrae:
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- “War is not healthy for children and other living things.”
We remembered the slogan of Another Mother for Peace from the Vietnam War:
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Other living things brought our thoughts
back to the birds and what may happen to them “amid the guns.” We found
these mementos from our recent unlamented Gulf War. This one comes from
a chemical-warfare defense pamphlet found near the body of an Iraqi soldier
after the end of the ground war in Kuwait.One
of the signs of a chemical weapon attack is
"The affliction of some animals in the area, especially birds (the
birds’ loss of ability to fly)." http://www.lasvegassun.com/dossier/events/gulfwar/translation.html
And from War and the Environment,
the aftermath of war:Capping the burning oil wells took ten
months. Crude oil released into the sea killed tens of thousands of marine
birds and mammals. Oil from extinguished wells formed huge petrochemical
lakes, destroying the land surface. Toxic smoke and fumes killed migratory
birds and aggravated human chest conditions. A veterinarian at the liberation
of Kuwait said: ‘I saw birds just dropping out of the sky. Later I found
a herd of dead camels covered with dead flies: whatever killed the camels
killed the flies at the same time.’ http://www.ppu.org.uk/new_site/learn/infodocs/st_environment.html
In that rare time of peace before our present
war, environmentalists were involved in A NEW RANGE WAR: The Pentagon
and Public Land “The Bald Eagle also inhabits this area.
Both the wildlife and the fragile ecosystem may be harmed by the increased
level of military activity proposed by the Idaho Training Range. A recent
study by the Idaho Department of Fish and Game found that the California
Bighorn Sheep population in the canyons has already begun to decline. Many
people believe this decline is linked to the increase of low-flying military
jets and super-sonic flights authorized in 1992." http://www.cdi.org/adm/Transcripts/745/
Now we have a brand New War. The environment and “other living things” will again become a casualty, not only in Afghanistan but also in America.
“Environmentalists find it’s not easy being green, especially now when their opponents are wrapping themselves in the red white and blue.”
-- Erin Kelly, Washington, DC. 10/10/01
Senator James Inhofe [R-Okla] tried to attach legislation opening the ANWR to oil drilling, to a popular defense bill. It failed, but this and other efforts to ease clean air restrictions are in the GOP legislative pipeline cloaked in the rhetoric of war and support for the troops.
The following WAR story has a message for all of us. A WAR BETWEEN THE BIRDS AND THE ANIMALS(Seama, a Laguna Pueblo)
Once upon a time all the animals declared war upon the birds. Each held a council of war to talk over what they should do. A tiny black ant slipped into the animals' council and listened to their plans; then he went to the birds and told them: "The fox is to be the war-chief of the animals and his tail is to be their signal. As long as the fox holds his tail up, the animals are to go ahead and fight; but as soon as the fox drops his tail down, the animals are to run away."
The eagle was war-chief of the birds, so he sent a messenger to bring in the bee to their council. "Ms. Bee," said the eagle, "please sting the fox's tail for us so that we may win this war." Then the birds all flew away to meet and fight the animals. The little bee went and found the fox. The fox was leading the animals with his tail held up high. Ms. Bee lit on his tail and began to sting it. She kept stinging and stinging until the fox could stand it no longer. He dropped his tail down and ran away with all of the animals following him. And the birds won the war.
