Two Victims of War

In our faith sharing this morning we were asked if we had a good life so far. Everyone answered yes but there was many ‘buts’ and qualifications. After the gathering, for some reasons I recalled my posting of April 28th where Mohamed ElBaradei, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), called for a full investigation of the deception that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction that led to the Iraq war and what he called the “pulverizing of nearly a million human lives”.

I guess what you call a ‘good life’ depends where you live and what is happening in your country.

Veterans of wars, who really know the ‘hell’ of war, are usually the most fervent opponents of war. We called soldiers “brave and courageous” but do we listen to them. A friend send me tonight a YouTube video from the Iraqi Veterans Against the War, IVAW. This is a growing group of Iraqi veterans who are telling us about the death and destruction this war based on ‘deception’ is causing. It is horrifying to watch this video and others about Iraqi and Afghanistan veterans like the Frontline video on the Wounded Platoon. If we respect veterans so much why don’t we listen to them?

Yes the ‘good life’ is relative to middle class adult like myself, to a central city youth or to a persons living in war torn country like Iraq and Afghanistan. If you are poor, a victim of discrimination or war there may no longer be a “good life”.

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