Kuwait Diary 27 Mar'03: The Costs of War -- "dharma-nashtE"

[Guest guest]

Dear friends in Kuwait,

 

We here in Kuwait are now well into the 7th day of the War that has

descended upon neigbouring Iraq. No one really knows how much longer

this will go on. Some say it might take 6 weeks; others fear it will

take 6 months. And those who said, in the beginning, that it would

take only 6 short days are now strangely silent...

 

********************

 

As the War lengthens in duration, everyone is slowly turning to face

the looming, daunting question: What will be the "costs of this war"?

What is the price of a 6-week war? And what is the price of a 6-month

war?

 

The exercise of "damage assessment" has now begun all over the world.

Every country and every individual around the world, like it or not,

must now sit down to ascertain and prepare to meet the estimated

costs and consequences of "Operation Iraqi Freedom". We do not have a

choice now.

 

Economists are warning us of the following costs:

 

* global economic slow-down, if not a mega-recession

* widespread joblessness; low consumer and investor confidence

* higher prices of oil and gasoline

* more terrorism and political instability

 

Now these 'costs' above are purely economic. They are probably the

most obvious and easy to calculate. Unfortunately, War has other

not-so-obvious price-tags that none really knows how to assess. Who

can calculate, for example, the amount of carcinogens and noxious

elements that have been injected into the environment around us as a

result of the huge amount of military ordnance dropped in Iraq in the

past 7 days? Who can assess the damage on ecology caused by the

torching of oil-fields a few days ago in the Fau peninsula of Iraq?

Who can price the damage to marine life in the Arabian Gulf caused by

explosive mines we know have been laid on the ocean-floor?

 

**************************

 

Even more incalculably damaging than economic and environmental costs

of War are the costs that we may term as "cultural" or "human".

 

What are these "human" or "cultural" costs? There are 4 principal

costs of War and Arjuna recounted them very eloquently indeed in the

opening chapter of the Bhagavath-Gita:

 

 

kulakshaye praNashyanti kuladharmaaH sanaatanaaH .

dharme nashhTe kula.n kR^its{}namadharmo.abhibhavatyuta .. 1\.40..

 

adharmaabhibhavaatkR^ishhNa pradushhyanti kulastriyaH .

striishhu dushhTaasu vaarshhNeya jaayate varNasaN^karaH .. 1\.41..

 

saN^karo narakaayaiva kulagh{}naanaaM kulasya cha .

patanti pitaro hyeshhaaM lup{}tapiNDodakakriyaaH .. 1\.42..

 

doshhairetaiH kulagh{}naanaaM varNasaN^karakaarakaiH .

utsaadyante jaatidharmaaH kuladharmaashcha shaashvataaH .. 1\.43..

 

 

When Arjuna was consumed by the horror of war on the eve of battle at

Kurukshetra it was not the prospect of world-wide recession or the

fall of the Dow Jones index that weighed heavily upon his mind. His

horror of war was occasioned principally by 4 profoundly human or

cultural costs which he listed in the above 4 'shlOka-s' as:

 

(1) "dharma-nashtE" -- the loss of social order

(2) "pranashyanti kula-dharma: sanAtana" -- the destruction of

social culture

(3) "

 

 

 

 

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