City and people of Fallujah
destroyed in the Iraq war.

One of Frank’s military friends in response to his blog, Father At War posting The Recruiter wrote: “One of the blessings we have in this country is that our military has fought and defended this nation to secure the liberty that allows us to have and express different opinions.”

This statement went to the heart of something I have been thinking about for a long time: How can I support the warriors but not the war? While admiring and respecting persons in the military I do not believe, since I came to age in the 60′s, the wars fought by the US military have “defended this nation to secure the liberty that allows us to have and express different opinions.” The wars during this time are Vietnam, Iraq, one and two and Afghanistan. Also there have been many US military interventions during this time into Lebanon, Yemen, Somali, Libya etc. In fact I believe the wars during this time by the USA have more endangered our freedom and liberty.

In the sixties, when I became aware of the war in Vietnam, I was able to listen to both sides of our engagement in the war. We had “Teach Ins’ at the campus where the merits of the war were argued civilly. I saw the war in action on TV and read books about Vietnam before forming my opinion. Nowadays most people are silent about our present wars, and there is not much creative conflicts and talks. Soldiers coming back, although honored, are many times wounded inbody and so. Quite often the find themselves in an “alien” world where there is no sacrifice for the war by most Americans, not even paying for it. Soldiers are honored for fighting for our freedom but do not feel it. The promise of education, a job, adventure, money draws our young men and women into the military but is often a lure to a broken life.

In the fifties and sixties I was proud of my Middle Eastern ancestry and being a Melkite Christian. I did not feel or believe in the people in the Middle East, as one of Frank’s friends stated “hate Americans in general, but they hate YOU as an individual. It doesn’t matter that they have never met you. They hate YOU. No amount of love and kindness is ever going to get them to change.” In the 50′s or 60′s I did not think that was true but now, after the invasions and wars, I do think this is true for many persons in the Middle East.

There is a Melkite Christian priest, Ellias Chacour” who writes in his book “Blood Brothers” about growing up in a small Palestinian village in Galilee. He writes how town people lived in peace with their Jewish neighbors until 1948 when the ‘new’ European Jews came, took his Father and brother away as terrorist, took his Father’s fig orchard and destroyed his village. However his Father taught his family not to fight back and be kind and loving to these enemies.

Christians, a minority in the Middle East often suffered the worst repressions and discrimination and were driven out of their land. That some people of the Middle East hate us for what we and our allies did to them is not justifiable but understandable.

Before the recent war in Iraq there were no reported “al-Quaeda” militants in Iraq. After the war there was. I remember one that was captured thanking the USA for its “preemptive” active on Iraq and how it did more for their cause than they could ever do. Violence on the people of the Middle East is
the best recruiter for ‘terrorist’.

We cannot win the war on terrorism by being terrorist, killing innocent men, woman and children and driving them out of their country. History has shown the violence breeds more violence. I have been happy to hear a few military leaders admit this recently.

I am not a pacifist, although I wish I was. In 1968 with the war in Vietnam and the Selective Service system I was able to strike out against this system that forced men to “kill or be killed” by destroying 1A Selective Service files. It was a symbolic act against the war but as I found out after the action, it allowed many young men to avoid this terrible choice.

Now with the voluntary military drawing young men and woman with the lure of money, education, skills and a job there is no selective service to strike but only institutions like the military training programs built into our education system. Now the media focuses on silly statements by persons running for election and is embarrassed by the returning veterans who suffer so greatly for fighting these wars for oil, power and greed. No singing at baseball games or parades will bring back the dead; ease the pain of those who killed human beings ‘reflexively’, without conscience on orders.

We live in more fear and with less security in this world of dominate USA militarism. We are going broke with these wars and are creating more enemies. Our soldiers are brave but, in my opinion, these wars have not brought us more freedom and liberty. In fact we now have less freedom and liberty.

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