Between a Bullet and a Target
Warrick Kemp (b 1968)
Between a Bullet and a Target
Bronze - Edition of 6
Height: 57 cm
R49 000
Uncle Sam runs as the ‘fast bullets fly’ - a phrase coined by Bob Dylan in his 1963 song entitled ‘Masters of War’.
After entering the Korean War in 1950, the US has continuously been at war, with one country or another, for the past 59 years. The United States of America continues to put itself in a precarious position through its ‘War on Terror’, first introduced by Regan in 1981. Illustrated by its biased position on Israel; imposing its foreign economic system in Chile in the 1970’s; supporting or installing oppressive regimes or dictators, like Castelo Branco in Brazil in 1964, and Saddam Hussein in Iraq in the 1980’s; and most recently, by the invasion and occupation of Iraq. US policy has dictated the ‘imperative of military supremacy, maintained in perpetuity and projected globally.’
The US, that is the state and not its people, knowingly walk this tight-rope in order to secure natural resources, impose their economic ideologies and develop strategic allies.
The New York Times, on 10 April 2003, reported that after the attacks in the US on September 11, 2001, Vice President Cheney, Mr. Rumsfeld, and Condoleezza Rice, pressed President Bush to make key refinements to the National Security Strategy - it was left to Ms. Rice to compose the new strategy.
‘The National Security Strategy of the United States’ published in mid-September, 2002, used the ‘War on Terror’ to justify the invasion of Iraq. The US declared the right to undertake unprovoked ‘preventive war’ at will, as opposed to taking pre-emptive action. Washington made it clear that it intends to do all it can to maintain its pre-eminence, then announced that it would ignore the UN Security Council over Iraq and declared more broadly that it would no longer be bound by the [UN] Charter’s rules governing the use of force. QED. Accordingly, the rules have collapsed and the entire edifice came crashing down. This, Glennon concludes, is a good thing, since the US is the leader of the enlightened states and therefore must resist any effort to curb its use of force.’