Questions on global security for US candidates

“I will heal my people and let them enjoy abundant peace and security.” Jeremiah 33:6

Cathy, a former Maryknoll lay missioner, has visited Iraq and neighboring Jordan several times during the past few years. Refugees in Amman and her friends in Baghdad tell her about what it is like for the people of Iraq to live in extreme hardship for long periods of time.

Asked about the harshness of the summer heat and lack of water and electricity, one Iraqi told Cathy, “There are nights when no sleep was possible because of the sound of low-flying aircraft, of explosions and mortars.”

Another said, “Believe me when I tell you we did not feel the heat this summer as in years past. We had so many other problems to face.” Near desperation was evident in the comment, “Do you know what people are saying now? We don't need to eat or drink or sleep anymore! We just want to be safe. That is all we want….”

Meanwhile, Fatima, a 40-year-old mother from Wassit Province in Iraq, feels more confident these days. Since a literacy campaign for women began in her area, Fatima has attended every class, motivated by hopes of a more promising future and of being a better parent.

The women’s literacy campaign is a community action program, funded by USAID but run by Iraqis with training and support from U.S.-based non-governmental organizations. Thousands of Iraqi women have taken advantage of the program. Beyond the obvious benefit of empowering women with literacy and knowledge, it provides job opportunities for hundreds of previously unemployed teachers and brings together different sectors of Iraqi society.

With a very small investment, community action programs like this and small-scale, local peacebuilding efforts have helped provide stability in different parts of Iraq, mitigating somewhat the enormous frustration that is often a recruiting tool for insurgents.

The National Security Strategy of the United States describes the U.S. military as a co-equal partner with our diplomatic corps, our development agency and our homeland security department. Official policy is to “pursue national security by championing aspirations for human dignity, strengthening alliances, defusing regional conflicts and expanding development.”

But the military budget absorbs more than eight times the money spent on all non-military security tools together, including diplomacy, foreign aid, nonproliferation and homeland security, even though these other areas are likely to be more effective.

Despite the sacrifice of thousands of lives in Iraq and Afghanistan and mammoth expenditures on war, far too many in the U.S. and around the world, especially women and children, continue to be insecure. Some live in war zones without access to basics like housing, health care and education. Others live with the violences of poverty and racism, with little to look forward to besides unemployment, displacement and humiliation.

Unless all people have basic needs met and are protected from harm, we will never be secure. Unless we respect each other as neighbors, though we live on different sides of the world or come from different cultures, we will never really be secure.

Those seeking election in 2008 should redefine U.S. priorities from national security to sustainable human and community security. This would guarantee access to food, clean water, healthcare, education and meaningful work for all people everywhere, the right of all women and men to participate in important decisions that affect their lives and a sustainable future for human beings and the Earth.

Sustainable security would emphasize international cooperation to build understanding, to prevent or resolve conflict before it becomes violent and to diminish violence where it is already ra