During the recent E.U. summit in Berlin as part of the C.F.S.P. Taoiseach Bertie Ahern put his name alongside that of other E.U. leaders to a declaration of support for N.A.T.O.'s bombing of Yugoslavia . That E.U. leaders have the development of a pan-European military in their sights is no secret, according to a statement issued jointly by the British and French Governments late last year the E.U." must have the capacity for autonomous action, backed up by credible military forces, the means to decide to use them, and a readiness to do so, in order to respond to international crises."
In February of this year Fine Gael released a policy document with the Orwellian title of 'Advancing Peace' in which they call for the development of a European "rapid reaction corps" . This military machine already exists in embryonic form in the shape of the Western European Union (W.E.U.) and it's 'Eurocorps'. According to the Maastricht Treaty the W.E.U. is an "integral part of the development of the E.U." . W.E.U. forces saw action during the Gulf war and the Irish state currently has observer status at W.E.U. meetings. The aim of the W.E.U. is, we are told, 'humanitarian intervention' just what N.A.T.O. is doing in the Balkans, apparently. If N.A.T.O. is such a humanitarian organization one would wonder why N.A.T.O. states such as Britain, France and the U.S. arm virtually every criminally despotic regime under the sun. For example 52% of U.S. military aid (i.e. freebies not sales) to Latin America goes to the Columbian State forces who, in the words of Human Rights Watch, "organize, encourage and mobilize" right wing death squads who torture, mutilate and murder non-combatants and have slain thousands in the last ten years (and have created about 800,000 refugee's) . Of course Columbia is but one example others could include Turkey, Algeria, Indonesia, Mexico, Israel and many many more. The Turkish state, which is carrying out a vicious campaign of ethnic cleansing against it's Kurdish minority, is not only a member of N.A.T.O. but a participant in the 'humanitarian intervention' against Yugoslavia. When the Croatian state, supported by the U.S. and Germany, expelled 200,000 Serbs from their homes at gun point, killing those too old or weak to go, where were N.A.T.O.'s humanitarians? At the nearest arms fair offering their wares?
As 'humanitarian intervention' is a term which re-occurs again and again in the slick salesman spin used to justify E.U. militarization an understanding of what lies behind those words is central to understanding what the end result of E.U. militarization will be. Someone once said that those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it and with that in mind a look at some recent history reveals the stark reality behind the cozy rhetoric of 'humanitarian intervention'.
The U.N. Somalian occupation six years ago was, if you cast your mind back, billed as 'humanitarian intervention' and portrayed as a rescue mission, the mass media message was there is starvation, war and chaos, we're going to send in the blonde haired blue eyed supermen to teach the poor unfortunate savages the benefits of civilization. Not mentioned was the $579 million dollars worth of American arms delivered to the Somali regime headed by Mohammed Siad Barre during the 1980's, arms without which the civil war would not have been possible. Not mentioned was the 'arms for bases' deal in 1990 by which in return for more weapons Mr. Barre agreed to give the U.S. Government military bases in Somalia. Somalia being a key strategic asset for the American state positioned next to the Red Sea entrance to the Suez canal - one of the world's major shipping lanes as well as being a short distance from oil rich Saudi Arabia and the Persian Gulf. Not mentioned was the fact that U.S. companies held the 'rights' to mine for oil under two thirds of Somali land, a right granted to them by the aforementioned Mr. Barre, this being a horde of oil comprising of an estimated 1 billion barrels. Not mentioned were the seven to ten thousand civilians slain by the occupying force. Not mentioned was the fact that U.S. food aid was withheld for two months prior to U.S. troops landing to rescue Somalia from starvation. Not mentioned was the fact that rival warlords were backed by Western governments. Not mentioned was that which most summed up the Somalian occupation - the location of the Marine Corp H.Q. in Somalia it was in the Mogadishu offices of oil company Conaco. So this is humanitarianism?
Also being marketed as a humanitarian crusade is N.A.T.O.'s Partnership for "Peace" organization which the Irish state is about to join. One might wonder why our wise rulers need two international military bodies to rescue the people of the world from themselves, the fact that there is the P.F.P. established by the American dominated N.A.T.O. alongside the militarization of the E.U. is testament to the divisions between European and American imperialism each shoving forward to get their snout in the trough. Both the Eurocorps/W.E.U. and the P.F.P. have as their real aim not the protection of persecuted minorities but the protection of imperiled profits - i.e. assuring their control of markets and sources of raw material.
Of course you may think this is all paranoid, conspiratorial, ultra-leftist, horseshit. But don't take my word for it. General Smedley D. Butler of the U.S. Marine Corp describes his career thus
"I spent 33 years and four months in active service as a member of our country's most agile military force - the marine corps. And during that time I spent most of my time being a high class muscle man for big business, Wall Street and for the big bankers. In short I was a racketeer for capitalism.
I helped make Mexico safe for American oil interests in 1914 . . .I helped make Haiti and Cuba decent places for the National city bank boys . . .I helped purify Nicaragua for the International Banking House of Brown Brothers . . .I brought light to the Dominican Republic for American sugar interests . . .I helped make Honduras 'right' for American Fruit companies in 1903. In China in 1927 I helped see to it that Standard oil went it's way unmolested. During those years I had, as the boys in the back room would say, a swell racket. I was rewarded with honors, medals, promotion. Looking back on it, I feel I might have given Al Capone a few hints, the best he could do was operate his racket in three city districts we. ..operated on three continents"
Now you might say that was a long time ago and things have changed and well General D. Butler did write that over sixty years ago, but look at what contemporary Marine Corps Commandant General A.M. Gray has to say:
"The underdeveloped world's growing dissatisfaction over the gap between rich and poor nations will create fertile breeding ground for insurgencies. These insurgencies have the potential to jeopardize regional stability and our access to vital economic and military resources. This situation will become more critical as our Nation and allies, as well as potential adversaries, become more and more dependant on these strategic resources. If we are to have stability in these regions, maintain access to their resources, protect our citizens abroad, defend our vital installations, and deter conflict, we must maintain within our active force structure a credible military power projection capability with the flexibility to respond to conflict across the spectrum of violence throughout the globe"
He goes on to say that the U.S. must maintain it's "unimpeded access" to "developing economic markets throughout the world" and "to the resources needed to support our manufacturing requirements" and will need armed forces with sophisticated weaponry capable of going any where in the world quickly in order to do so. (2)
The power of the state, whether it be wielded by Adolph Hitler and Hermann Goering or Joschka Fischer and Gerhard Schroder, is rarely used to further some abstract idea or sentiment but is almost always the subordinate instrument of economic power. Just as at home the state subsidizes businesses and trains their workforce so overseas it acts to hold onto markets and sources of raw materials at the behest of the corporate "elite". It is no surprise then to see that the economic union that is the E.U. take on some aspects of a state. It will soon
(2) Quoted in 'Deterring Democracy' by Noam Chomsky page 30.