“Ethical export policy is a myth,” states the WPF. Of the 32 wars of this century that the WPF analyzed, all of them but one received weapons from the leading arms exporting nations–U.S., Russia, France, U.K., China, Germany, Israel, Italy, Netherlands, Ukraine, and Spain–even when serious violations of international humanitarian law and human rights abuses were clearly on display.
Rivers of mostly innocent civilian blood don’t deter the ongoing shipments of instruments of death. Where there’s huge profit and power to be gained, any serious consideration of morality is virtually nonexistent among the arms exporting countries.
If weapons production and subsequent weapons sales were to end, wars and armed conflicts would virtually halt. And think of all the good that could be done if we ever transfer the vast amounts of money spent on weapons to building instruments of peace.
Imagine seeing all that money being used to ensure that every single person on the planet receives basic human services like adequate food, decent housing, clean water and sanitation, health care, education, and life-enhancing jobs with a living wage. With these huge funds, we could totally and quickly move from dirty fossil fuels to clean energy.
At the Second Vatican Council, the world’s Catholic bishops, in union with St. Pope Paul VI, declared: “While extravagant sums are being spent for the furnishing of ever new weapons, an adequate remedy cannot be provided for the multiple miseries afflicting the whole modern world. Disagreements between nations are not really and radically healed; on the contrary, they spread infection to other parts of the earth. New approaches based on reformed attitudes must be taken to remove this trap and emancipate the world from its crushing anxiety by restoring genuine peace. Therefore, we say it again: the arms race is an utterly treacherous trap for humanity, and one which ensnares the poor to an intolerable degree.”
As dioceses, parishes, and individuals, we need to tirelessly urge national leaders to finally move away from the sin of war preparation and war-making and toward nonviolent peacemaking. Humanity is hungry for bread, not bombs.
Who are in any way connected with the arms industry should earnestly pray and think about leaving the business of making weapons. It is truly the morally right thing to do. It is better to have far less money and more peace of soul.