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The Jonesboro-Iraq Connection by Karen Saari April 1998

This past March in Jonesboro, Arkansas, two boys, 11 and 13, dressed up in military garb, armed themselves with high-powered rifles and opened fire on their school yard. They killed four girls and one teacher because they wanted to "get back" at some classmates who had rejected them.

The nation was appalled and talk shows overflowed with speculating on the reasons for this latest tragedy. Much of this talk focused on the tired old explanations: too many guns and too much TV violence.

In this low-level dialogue, I have yet to hear one of those "experts" make the connection with the recent Iraq conflict. If it is morally correct for the US to bomb the hell out of Iraq because they have not lived up to their agreements, is it not morally correct for a boy to shoot some girls who have betrayed him?

I have not heard one of the media's "experts" discuss the punitive and hateful way non-conforming youth are treated by the schools and the legal system. If it is OK for school authorities and police to impose draconian punishments on wayward youth for minor offenses, is it not OK for two boys to shoot and kill people who piss them off? How can adults expect young people to develop a moral code which honors life when those same adults would like nothing better than to destroy their perceived enemies (i.e. Saddam Hussein and aberrant youth)?

This tragedy should not come as a surprise – it is the natural outcome of policies of hate and retribution advocated by our schools, the police, the legal system and the most powerful governmental officials. As one pundit has remarked, the most spectacular drive-by shooting of all time was George Bush's 1991 bombing of Baghdad.

For info on mistreatment of youth by the Criminal Injustice System click here.

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