Not My Father's War

During World War II, my father joined the Navy right out of high school… he didn’t even wait to attend his own graduation. He was the youngest son of Sicilian immigrants. He had not been in service long when he volunteered for a secret mission that I never knew of until near the end of his life. Haltingly, he told me the story. Under cover of night, he and another sailor helped row Navy frogmen to a small German U-boat that had been discovered off the New Jersey coastline. (I have not been able to find any information concerning this event, so I can only guess at the accuracy of details.) With explosives it was blown up. They watched the explosion from a safe distance, but in the oily debris that floated to the surface, they also saw the human body parts and personal belongings of those whom had died… family photos and letters… it was a sight my father never forgot. He realized that those German sailors had wives, and children, and parents who would grieve for them, the same as for any American family. After my father’s death, I found his Bible. On the front page he had written these words, “Aug. 15, 1943 - May God forgive us for what we had to do today.” But this was World War II… he knew he was fighting for a just cause, and he served his country proudly.

It was pride in my father and other men like him that always brought tears to my eyes when I heard the drumbeat cadence and watched a color guard as it passed by during parades. My right hand instinctively covered my heart, and I felt the same pride in country as my father had before me. In the intervening years since World War II, we have been involved in a number of conflicts, none of which can claim the moral high ground of World War II. The pre-emptive invasion of Iraq was completely unjustified… a unilateral act of aggression. There was nothing noble or honorable about it. Even before the Iraq invasion began, there were well-documented predictions of what the likely outcome would be. A 2002 report published by PSR (Physicians for Social Responsibility) warned that the aftermath of a US-led attack could include civil war, famine, epidemics, millions of refugees and economic collapse. The report went on to state that, a 'pre-emptive' attack would exacerbate the disastrous levels of death, disease, disability and despair already present in Iraq. At the same time, it would weaken the United Nations, weaken international law, weaken efforts to reduce terrorism and weaken the United States itself.

I knew none of the 2,752 people who died in the tragic attack on September 11, 2001, at the World Trade Center. But I know that on that same day, and every day since, 35,600 children around the world have died as a result of hunger and starvation. I know that my niece’s military husband has missed the births of his children and all their “first time” moments. My niece will find that the man who comes home to her will not be the same as the one who left, and there is always the risk that he will not come home at all. I know that approximately 4,000 American troops have been killed since the start of the war, between 23,000 to 100,000 injured. , there have been a minimum of 151,000 Iraqi civilian deaths by violence (many sources say that number is in the millions), and many millions displaced.

(AP Photo/Anja Niedringhaus)

Five years after the US-led invasion, Iraq faces a major humanitarian crisis. The International Committee of the Red Cross highlighted the plight of millions of Iraqis who still have little or no access to clean water, sanitation or health care. “The humanitarian situation in most of the country is among the most critical in the world,” the Swiss-based agency said in a report issued yesterday. Add to that, the destruction of archeological sites and antiquities, destabilization of the region, and unprecedented environmental damage. And for what? To fatten the pockets of war profiteers like Haliburton, KBR, Blackwater, Shell, and BP? World domination? Christian Fundamentalist’s efforts to bring about Biblical prophecies of the Rapture and the End Times? Donald Rumsfeld described the Iraq invasion as a “catastrophic success.” U.S. Vice-President Dick Cheney, during a surprise visit to Iraq on Monday declared the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq a “successful endeavor”. With “enduring” U.S. military bases established in Iraq, and an embassy in Baghdad the size of the Vatican City, there appears to be no end in sight for the U.S. occupation of Iraq.

We are no longer the ‘good guys.’ In recent polls conducted around the globe, when asked to name the country that represents the most danger to world peace, the United States is listed as number one. I am glad that my father did not live to see the loss of honor that has befallen the country he risked his life to defend. When I see the American flag draped over the coffins of young soldiers, I feel grief and anger at the heedless waste of their lives. What have they died for? To the rest of the world, the flag that is folded and placed in the hands of grieving loved ones, represents lies, torture, aggression, greed, corruption and the abuse of executive power. How can we be proud of that? Now when I hear a drumbeat cadence and see our star-spangled banner, the tears that fall are tears of shame.

We must impeach Bush and Cheney. And we must move forward to embrace peace. The preamble to the Earth Charter states, “To move forward we must recognize that in the midst of a magnificent diversity of cultures and life forms we are one human family and one Earth community with a common destiny. We must join together to bring forth a sustainable global society founded on respect for nature, universal human rights, economic justice, and a culture of peace. Towards this end, it is imperative that we, the peoples of Earth, declare our responsibility to one another, to the greater community of life, and to future generations.”

... P. L. Morningstar