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October 22, 2001
Hani
Shukrallah
Capital
Strikes Back
October 21, 2001
Donald
Rumsfeld
The
al-Jazeera Interview
Mark
Scaramella
Nuclear
Anxiety
October 19, 2001
Mohammed
Sid-Ahmed
Bush's
Palestinian State
Michael
Colby
A
Mailroom Manifesto
October 18, 2001
Mahajan
and Jensen
Avoiding
a New Cold War
Patrick
Cockburn
US
Planes Pound Taliban
Jamey Hecht
Gerald Ford
and the CIA
Mokhiber
and Weisman
3
Arguments
Against This War
October 17, 2001
Ballinger
and Marsh
Music
and War Resistance
Steve
Perry
The
Anthrax Chronicles
Chris
Kromm
Operation
Infinite Disaster
Susan
Block
Sex
Not Bombs
David Vest
Osama Speaks
October 16, 2001
Steve
Perry
War
Without Frontiers
Douglas
Valentine
The
CIA and Anthrax
Patrick
Cockburn
The
Battle of Mazar-i-Sharif
John
Troyer
Return
to Normal?
Moji Agha
A
Jihad Against Ignorance
October
15, 2001
Tariq
Ali
Alternatives
to War
John
Pilger
War
American Style
Umberto
Eco
The
Roots of Conflict
Marwan
Bishara
Clash
of Civilizations? Hardly
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Diary
Ashcroft's Onslaught
on
Civil Liberties
Ridge Long Groomed
for
Cheney's Job
Those CIA Killing
Bids
Never Stopped
The Not-So-Great
Mayor Giuliani
Crop Duster
Ban
Will Save Lives
Madeleine Albright's
Deadly Legacy
How the Bin
Laden Women
Fled Bel Air
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Whiteout:
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Press
by Alexander
Cockburn
and Jeffrey St. Clair
A Pocket Guide to
Environmental Bad Guys
by James
Ridgeway
and Jeffrey St. Clair
The
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by Douglas
Valentine
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October
22, 2001
Advice from a Vietnam Vet to Young
Men (and Women) of Fighting Age
By Dr. Shepherd Bliss
I come from a fighting family. We gave our name
to Ft. Bliss, Texas. I enlisted and became on officer in the
U.S. Army during Vietnam.
When you kill someone, it is forever.
They die, but the killing continues--inside you. When your nation
kills people, especially innocent women and children, it is forever.
The killing can continue, within you, when it is done in your
name.
Our nation is still not over Vietnam,
the war of my generation, or Iraq, the war of another generation.
Now your generation, those of you of fighting age, has its own
war.
You will be defined by that war and what
you do during it, as my entire life was defined by the Vietnam
War, and what I did during it. What you do in the days to come
in response to this war will determine who you will become.
You can support the war, try to deny
it, or work for peace with justice. Whatever you do, you will
live with it for the rest of your life--your choice.
I implore you not to make the same mistake
that I made and enlist in a war that kills innocent civilians.
Don't get caught up in a war hysteria that you could regret for
the rest of your life. War trauma creates guilt, shame, and post
traumatic stress syndrome.
At my vets group I listen to combat vets,
which I am not. 30 years later, they are still trying to heal
from the people they killed, still haunted by those they murdered.
War wounds go deeply.
Since Sept. 11 we Americans have felt
vulnerable, helpless, fearful, and angry. But America's appropriate
grief after the Sept. 11 attack was transformed into a war frenzy.
I have no sympathy for the unjustifiable
Sept. 11 suicide attack, nor for the ruthless Taliban, nor for
any terrorism. But I am concerned about killing innocent people.
I think our focus should be on finding the perpetrators of the
Sept. 11 crime and bringing them to justice.
As a young man, testosterone pumping
through my body, the thought of war was exciting. It was a challenge--something
big enough for my big energy. I'm an old man now, as are those
who would send you into war. War is no longer exciting to me.
My main message to you is simple--War is Hell.
I will be forever grateful to the Student
Peace Union that finally reached this young soldier. The SPU
organized me out of the army. They saved my soul, before I killed
anyone, but I came so close. Don't lose your soul.
During Vietnam the enemy was "the
communists." Now it is "Terrorism." But terrorism
is a symptom. Terrorism has no country. You cannot wage war on
terrorism, because it is a methodology. Terrorism is transnational
and global. You cannot use terrorism to end terrorism.
The U.S. did not win the Vietnam War
and will probably not win in Afghanistan. Most scenarios would
probably not lead to a moral or political victory for the U.S.
The U.S. military attack on foreign soil
that has killed civilians will worsen rather than improve our
national security, uniting more people against us. What we need
is real defense. Our Department of Defense has too often been
a War Deptartment on other people's soil.
Lets focus on defending ourselves. Our
security system failed. It is focused too much out there, rather
than here at home. We need protection, not provocation.
May we mourn the innocent dead, wounded,
and homeless and see beyond our borders to develop a species-wide
identity that transcends narrow nationalism.
May the innocent people who happen to
live in Afghanistan and the Middle East not be punished for the
crimes of others.
May this tragedy open our eyes to our
larger international context and our responsibilities as U.S.
citizens to work for peace. May we condemn without reservation
all terrorism, including that used by governments.
May this tragedy not shut us down, which
terrorism too often does. A broken heart can be an open heart.
I would like to close with two brief
poems--the first from Deena Metzger-- "There are those who
are trying to set fire to the world,/ we are in danger,/ there
is time only to work slowly,/ there is no time not to love."
The second is from Rumi, a Muslim poet
who was born in what is today Afghanistan, "Out beyond ideas
of wrongdoing and rightdoing,/ there is a field./ I'll meet your
there."
And as the old book says, "Thou
shalt not kill." CP
Shepherd Bliss
is a Vietnam Era vet and peace activist. He taught college for
20 years, is now an organic farmer, and can be reached at sb3@pon.net.
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