Saddam, Bill, wgert and me
gerry armstrong
Because Scientology is using my 1990-91 writings about the Middle
East crisis of those years in recent black PR posts a la wgert, I
am making this post so that the record is complete and
understandable.
This post also belongs wherever the world is communicating about
the present Middle East crisis, which has made these writings
again timely.
E.g., 1/27/98, wgert writes in msg "Re: The Conspiracy, that's
Who (Was Re: RVY Tries to Out him.)":
[Quote]
Gerry continues to exhibit a personality disorder....
Then came his letter to Saddam Hussein, offering himself up to
end the war.
"The writer of this letter hereby volunteers to replace all your
hostages... My only claim to fame my be that I am the least known
philosopher in America... If our side failed to perform any part
of the agreement reached with you I would be executed. I would be
available for torturde if you desired... such and execution might
provide sufficient satisfaction to make war uncessary. I have
plenty of lawyers to work out the details."
[End Quote]
In attacks on Robert Vaughn Young, e.g., 1/27/98, "ARS:
Young/Armstrong (was Re: A word for Gerry Armstrong)," wgert
writes:
[Quote]
Are you going to offer yourself up in the next Iraqi war a la
Gerry?
[End Quote]
These 1990-91 writings, as is obvious, have nothing really to do with
Scientology. The organization originally made them relevant for
my production of documents in the bogus "fraudulent conveyance"
case the cult filed in 1993 against me and some of my friends.
Now Scientology makes these writings relevant to ars by mixing them
with the pall of dirt and lies pumped by the wgert person from
the black PR bag.
I believe that the Scientology lawyers' giving wgert these writings to
be used as they're used; i.e., in black PR attacks on RVY and me,
is legally improper, and I can envision this impropriety becoming
a paragraph in a novel-length complaint in the near future.
[Quote]
November 1, 1990
Saddam Hussein
President, Iraq
C/O The Tribune, Oakland, CA
Dear Mr. President:
We the people do not get to negotiate for this country, just
as your people do not get to negotiate for Iraq. If we could,
however, here's an offer.
1. We will immediately reduce our nuclear arsenal by 50%.
2. We will immediately begin the elimination of our chemical
weapons.
3. We will immediately cease our troop and armament buildup
in the Middle East.
4. We will immediately allow passage into Iraq of food and
medical supplies.
5. We hereby apologize for the silly things our leaders have
said about you. That is the nature of all leaders with armies.
6. You must withdraw your army from Kuwait.
7. Upon your withdrawal from Kuwait we will support U.N.
supervised free elections in that country. No people should be
oppressed by either dictators or playboys.
8. Upon your withdrawal from Kuwait we will support a U.N.
supervised program of reparations.
9. We will immediately initiate a program to send engineers,
technicians, teachers and philosophers to Iraq, Iran, Jordan and
Kuwait to assist in the peaceful and ecologically wise
development of those countries. We will not send money because it
has no value, and because we don't have any. We have lots of
engineers, technicians, teachers and so forth. We have expertise
and we have time.
10. We will immediately make a similar offer to Israel
regarding the territories its army now occupies.
In our school of thought we call a holy war oxymoronic. You
should not, as we also say, take that personally. We know our own
leader, who claims to be losing it when patience is infinite and
unloseable, to be an occidental moron, and that doesn't bother
him.
It is true that God is on your side. It is also true that He
is on ours. He does not, however, engage in war. His answer to
war is peace. War is the stupidest of human activities, since
stupidity can be quantified. Peace is wise beyond words.
The wise know that anger, aggression, hatred and war are
merely cries for peace and help. You did what you did to get our
attention, and you succeeded admirably. For the first time in
modern history, since we have only just entered the Age of Wisdom
and can understand what it is, you have provided us with a global
opportunity to respond to anger, aggression and hatred with the
help they call out for.
You have not threatened peace because it cannot be
threatened. Peace will be around long after the wars of man have
ended forever.
Anyone who made a penny of profit off this crisis is no
better than you. Of course anyone who lost money in the matter is
no worse. And that is simply another way of saying that the only
possible difference between you and me is that I know we're both
the same.
Asking your people to die for a cause, or a country or for
anything is silly. It is silly because it is impossible. It is
impossible because no one can die. That is why the wise have
rarely been heard from and thus far do not govern the world's
nations. The silly, who do the governing, insist that their
people die. But that is just a matter of time.
Bodies can be hacked or shot, burned or buried. What the
silly call killing is really just a matter of littering. That
which people are, which any philosopher or prophet or real
scientist knows, does not die and goes nowhere. Mohammed, you can
bet, is still with us all. Nevertheless, because of the anguish
the silliness of killing engenders, and because of all the effort
wasted in doing essentially nothing, it makes good sense to stop
trying.
The motive behind killing is an attempt to prove ourselves
unworthy of God's love. We have come up with ever more heinous
crimes and instruments of destruction, individually, racially and
globally, to prove we are unloved and unlovable. And we have done
nothing. God remains unchanged and infinitely loving, and peace
is unshaken. Therefore be of good cheer and do something which is
not nothing--be an instrument of peace.
There is still the matter of hostages. Actually we should be
very heartened by the many planeloads of foreign nationals you
have allowed to leave Iraq. Unfortunately we in this country have
been taught to see only the emptiness in our glasses. So we
propose the following.
The writer of this letter hereby volunteers to replace all
your hostages. I made a similar offer to the captors in Lebanon a
couple of years back, although I'm uncertain if they even
received my communication. I suppose I would be a more desirable
hostage if I was more celebrious, but celebrity is something over
which we have almost no control. In fact my only claim to fame
may be that I am the least known philosopher in America. I would
go wherever you want and suffer in whatever conditions you deem
appropriate. If our side failed to perform any part of the
agreement reached with you I would be executed. I would be
available for torture if you desired.
I could perhaps serve as a hostage for both sides,
sequestered somewhere on neutral ground, in Geneva or Beirut for
example. If either side failed to perform any part of the
agreement the other side could execute me. Such an execution
might provide sufficient satisfaction to make war uncessary. I
have plenty of lawyers to work out the details.
Please give our offer some thought and let us know. This is
a matter of some urgency for all of us.
Very truly yours,
Gerald Armstrong
(c) [1990] The Gerald Armstrong Corporation
P.O. Box 751
San Anselmo, CA 94960
(415)456-8450
[(c) (1998) Gerald Armstrong]
*****
November 7, 1990
Thomas R. Pickering
US Representative to the UN
US Mission to the UN
799 United Nations Plaza
New York, NY 10017
Dear Mr. Ambassador:
I have today sent this letter and the accompanying copy of
my letter of November 1 to the President of Iraq to each of the
addressees on the also accompanying addressees list.
The first six addressees are in a position to do something
serious, and if not serious at least funny, with our offer.
Richard Behar at Time gets a pack because he's the only contact I
have in the media who owes me a meal. In his copy of this letter
I have changed the pronouns where applicable.
On November 2 I delivered a copy of our offer to The Tribune
in Oakland and I have given copies to a dozen or so friends. The
offer, I, and I know others, believe to be worthy and worth
communicating. The outcome is inevitable; the form is in God's
hands.
I ask that you consider our offer, and if you find in your
heart any reason to pass it on to Saddam Hussein, or to anyone
anywhere, you do so, and if you find any desire to communicate
with me, you feel free.
Peace to you.
Gerald Armstrong
707 Fawn Drive
Sleepy Hollow, CA 94960
(c) [1990] The Gerald Armstrong Corporation
[(c) (1998) Gerald Armstrong]
Javier Perez de Cuellar
Secretary-General
United Nations
New York, NY 10017
George Bush
President of the United States
White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue
Washington, D.C. 20500
Thomas R. Pickering
US Representative to the UN
US Mission to the UN
799 United Nations Plaza
New York, NY 10017
Abdul Amir Al-Anbari
Ambassador of Iraq to the UN
14 East 79th St
New York, NY 10021
James A. Baker III
Secretary of State
The Department of State
2201 C street NW
Washington, D.C. 20520
Ambassador of Iraq to the US
1801 P St. NW
Washington, D.C. 20036
Richard Behar
Correspondent
Time
Time & Life Building
New York, NY 10020
*****
THE GULF
If ever there was a time for humans to come together it is
now. Of course we have never been apart so the task is not that
difficult. What appears to be a gulf may not be. If it isn't
funny it isn't true, and that, if one truly looks at it, is
excruciatingly funny.
Accompanying this note is my proposal of November 1, 1990
which I believe was serious enough to make even Saddam Hussein
smile. The media said he blinked when he freed the foreign
nationals. I bet he laughed. I sent my proposal to the Oakland
Tribune, the Los Angeles Times, and the individuals on the
accompanying addressees list, all of whom received my letter of
November 7, a copy of which also accompanies this note. My
contact at Time magazine laughed. I have no idea if any of the
others did. And I still don't know if President Hussein received
my proposal. I did see him on TV smiling, and as we know he did
free the hostages.
Some people believe the proposal has merit. If a whole bunch
of people in this country believed, the few non-believers who
believe they run it wouldn't. Believe it or not there is wisdom.
I am handing out 20 copies of this note and the accompanying
materials at the meeting of the Fairfax Town Council to consider
a resolution opposing US military offensive action in the Persian
Gulf. If you believe the proposal has merit, or if you crack the
tiniest smile, don't be dismayed by the copyright, copy it and
pass it on.
And peace to you too.
G. Armstrong
(c) [1990] The Gerald Armstrong Corporation
December 10, 1990
(415)456-8450
[(c) (1998) Gerald Armstrong]
*****
January 10, 1991
To the American People
Please find herewith:
1. 11-1-90 letter to Saddam Hussein
2. 11-7-90 letter to the Secretary-General of the UN
3. Addressees list for the 11-7 letter
4. 12-10-90 cover letter to 1-3 above entitled "Gulf."
I believe that if they thought about it for very few seconds
a majority of Americans anywhere in America would say "Let's give
the Armstrong Proposal a chance." And I believe that a majority
of Americans have a few seconds to spare for such a thought. And
for the life of me I can't see why the proposal shouldn't be
offered.
It would have to be admitted that the proposal is a lot more
fun than war. It should be given a chance, even if only to see if
Saddam laughs. We still have time to get it to him before January
15 and he still would have time to laugh or not laugh before that
date. I mean, what if he said, "I accept the Armstrong
Proposal!"?
In the instant crisis war means unprecedented violence,
murder, terror and disaster. Same thing once it's done. The guilt
the US will build out of its imagined terrible national stupidity
will threaten the nation. Peace, on the other hand, means that
that unprecedented violence, murder, terror and disaster and that
massive stupid guilt don't happen.
Peacemakers save war makers from their worst nightmares.
Only wimps send men to war. Others fight for peace. That Saddam
thought Iraqis were not the same as Iranians, and then Kuwaitis,
does not mean we need make the same mistake. Now that we really
do understand that the Iraqis are not only our brothers, they are
us, war is not only ridiculous it is murder. The good thing is
that murder is merely silly.
I didn't hear back from any of the addressees on the list.
The Oakland Tribune sent back the letter and some other writings
without comment. I sent the package to a friendly journalist at
the LA Times and it got buried under his stack. I gave the
proposal, some of my significant press, one of my recent books
and some other writings to a San Francisco Examiner writer in a
box and she returned it all, also without comment a month later.
So somebody please pass the proposal on to Saddam Hussein.
Somebody else tell President Bush to hold off until the people
have considered the proposal and Saddam has had that chance to
laugh. Some other comedian organize something. For the love of
God!
Gerald Armstrong
P.O. Box 751
San Anselmo, CA 94960
(415)456-8450
(c) [1990] The Gerald Armstrong Corporation
[(c) (1998) Gerald Armstrong]
[End Quote]
Neither the PO Box nor the Sleepy Hollow address nor the phone
number are valid for me.
As everyone knows, my proposal was not accepted. The US blitzed
and routed the Iraqi cannon fodder. Estimates say 200,000 were
killed in the "war," and perhaps as many since.
Now we're set to bomb that poor benighted people again. We've
grown so confused we have trouble caring if the bombing is linked
to an actual military threat, to a weapons systems test, or to a
Monica Lewinsky.
But we can know with certainty that when President Clinton tells
us that the US has exhausted diplomatic efforts it has not. When
he says that a peaceful resolution is impossible, it is not.
President Clinton's resolution of his and his country's problems
is inarguably arguably not war. That's why more time is needed,
and why time works in Clinton's and the US's favor. The best thing is
that all this time need not be unjoyous.
Saddam may not be very wise, but he's getting old. War is getting
old. Killing is getting old. Peace has worked every time it has
been tried.
And until it next gets tried at least talk about trying it.
Gerry