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CounterPunch
March 18,
2003
A Vietnam Vet Replies to Charlie
Daniels
by DAVID BOJE
Dear Charlie Daniels,
A student sent me the Charlie Daniel's
letter (see below) and said it would convince me to stop putting
daisies in the cannons in front of ROTC building on the New Mexico
State University campus. I am a professor there, and I am also
a Vietnam War veteran.The letter Charlie Daniels' letter raises
several important points that I think merit reply.
1. The letter makes a link between 9/11
trade towers attack and Iraq. In point of fact, none of the hi-jackers
were Iraqi. There is no link that our own CIA or FBI has been
able to find between Iraq and Al Qaeda. This is because the fundamentalist
Al Qaeda and the despot Hussein are enemies.
2. Destroying USA weapons of mass destructions
as as you say "putting daisies in their barrels" would
go a long way to establishing world peace. The USA spends $396.1
billion (FY 2003) on its military, plus $200 billion for phase
one of Iraq war. If we took 85% of the FY 2003 military budget
and put that into education, jobs, health care, and veterans
benefits, then this country would be a lot better off. Consider
that our own New Mexico state University has salaries 20% less
than national average, that each year we cut out journals from
the library, and research tools such as Proquest, and that your
tuition at public universities such as NMSU continues to rise.
In short, WMD cost money that could be better spent on human
services.
3. In my utopian-fantasy, the USA would
be making peace, not war. War is business.I learned this as a
Sergeant in the Vietnam war. USA makes and sells more Weapons
of Mass Destruction than any nation on earth. It is a one trillion
dollar industry. We did this with agent orange in Vietnam; we
do it now with Enriched Uranium weapons sales. This is not just
war, it is Nuclear war. the fantasy being spread in the media
is that this is some kind of surgical, bloodless war. In point
of fact, the USA manufacturers and sells "Enriched"
(not depleted) Uranium. 320 tons of Enriched Uranium were put
into USA munitions, and another 800 tons just dropped onto the
civilian population and battlefield, and get this, onto our own
GI's.
4. You say that lives will be lost if
we pursue peace. What of the lives already lost. The Veteran
Administration statistics for 2002 report that since Gulf War
I:
· 206,861 GIs filed VA medical
claims, and of these · 149,094 VA says are disabled ·
10,324 Deployed Gulf War Vets have died of so-called 'Gulf War
Syndrome'
5. If the USA wants to save lives, it
can start but banning the use and sale of Enriched Uranium weaponry.
This would save not only 10,324 U.S.A. veteran's lives, but save
the lives of some 1.2 million Iraqi civilians.
6. The Geneva Convention has established
guidelines for warfare, if that is what you want to pursue. Those
guidelines say that littering the battle field with toxic waste
is a war crime, that starving a population is a war crime, that
denying a civilian population of medicine is a war crime. I do
not know about you, but I do not want to be part of War Crimes
committed by the USA superpower on a Third World Nation.
7. Last point, your letter says that
Iraq is a threat. The reality is that in 1991 and 1998 the USA
wiped out water treatment and sewage facility, and obliterated
whatever fourth rate military capacity that the despot and tyrant
Saddam Hussein had. The fact is Saddam has only attacked countries
such as Iran and Kuwait want he got permission for the US government
to do so. The fact is that Hans Blix, this week, reports that
all the charges of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq are without
merit, that Iraq is complying with the inspections, and that
we need to let the sanctions work.
I agree with you, please let God Bless
America. But America is not in imminent danger from Iraq. America
is in imminent danger of losing its civil liberties. America
is in imminent danger of continuing the genocide of 1.2 million
people (500,000 are children under 5). America is in imminent
danger of the world finding out that its Nuclear War on the Middle
East has already claimed more lives that Hiroshima and Nagasaki
combined. America is in imminent danger of destroying the UN.
I believe that a decade from now that
this point in history will be seen as the darkest hour. I believe
we will discover that democracy was surrendered to a lynch mob
mentality. This mentality is fueled by ignorance. That ignorance
comes from a media that recirculates propaganda and disinformation.
I join with the 11 million people around
the world who on February 15th called upon President Bush to
bring peace to the world.
Yes, I will be the first to put a daisy
in the end of a Nuclear cannon.
Thank you for your letter.
Sincerely,
David Boje
David Boje
is Professor at New Mexico State University at Solano. He is
Vietnam War Veteran and works with www.PeaceAware.com
. He can be reached at: dboje@nmsu.edu
An Open Letter To The Hollywood Bunch:
Ok let's just say for a moment you bunch
of pampered, overpaid, unrealistic children had your way and
the U.S.A. didn't go into Iraq. Let's say that you really get
your way and we destroy all our nuclear weapons and stick daisies
in our gun barrels and sit around with some white wine and cheese
and pat ourselves on the back, so proud of what we've done for
world peace. Let's say that we cut the military budget to just
enough to keep the National Guard on hand to help out with floods
and fires. Let's say that we close down our military bases all
over the world and bring the troops home, increase our foreign
aid and drop all the trade sanctions against everybody.
I suppose that in your fantasy world
this would create a utopian world where everybody would live
in peace. After all, the great monster, the United States of
America, the cause of all the world's trouble would have disbanded
it's horrible military and certainly all the other countries
of the world would follow suit. After all, they only arm themselves
to defend their countries from the mean old U.S.A. Why you bunch
of pitiful, hypocritical, idiotic, spoiled mugwumps.
Get your head out of the sand and smell
the Trade Towers burning. Do you think that a trip to Iraq by
Sean Penn did anything but encourage a wanton murderer to think
that the people of the U.S.A. didn't have the nerve or the guts
to fight him?
Barbra Streisand's fanatical and hateful
rankings about George Bush makes about as much sense as Michael
Jackson hanging a baby over a railing. You people need to get
out of Hollywood once in a while and get out into the real world.
You'd be surprised at the hostility you would find out here.
Stop in at a truck stop and tell an overworked, long-distance
truck driver that you don't think Saddam Hussein is doing anything
wrong. Tell a farmer with a couple of sons in the military that
you think the United States has no right to defend itself. Go
down to Baxley, Georgia and hold an anti-war rally and see what
the folks down there think about you.
You people are some of the most disgusting
examples of a waste of protoplasm I've ever had the displeasure
to hear about. Sean Penn, you're a traitor to the United States
of America. You gave aid and comfort to the enemy. How many American
lives will your little, "fact finding trip" to Iraq
cost? You encouraged Saddam to think that we didn't have the
stomach for war. You people protect one of the most evil men
on the face of this earth and won't lift a finger to save the
life of an unborn baby. Freedom of choice you say? Well I'm going
to exercise some freedom of choice of my own. If I see any of
your names on a marquee, I'm going to boycott the movie. I will
completely stop going to movies if I have to. In most cases it
certainly wouldn't be much of a loss. You scoff at our military
who's boots you're not even worthy to shine. They go to battle
and risk their lives so ingrates like you can live in luxury.
The day of reckoning is coming when you will be faced with the
undeniable truth that the war against Saddam Hussein is the war
on terrorism. America is in imminent danger.
You're either for her or against her.
There is no middle ground. I think we all know where you stand.
What do you think? God Bless America!
Charlie Daniels
Yesterday's
Features
Gore Vidal
The
Erosion of the American Dream (Interview)
Jason Leopold
Rumsfeld and Bush Sr. Opposed 1989 UN Investigation of Saddam
for Human Rights Violations
Josh Ruebner
An
Open Letter to My Former Dean, Paul Wolfowitz (and Other "Court"
Jews)
Mitchel Cohen
The
Gulf War 12 Years Later: Why Class Matters
Carlos Fuentes
The Insulting Insinuations of the Bush Regime
Fareed Marjaee
The Road to Jerusalem Goes Through Baghdad
Rick Giombetti
The Savagely Soft Underbelly
of the Anti-War Movement: Misquided Faith in the UN
Rich Procter
Rove Memo: How to Launch a War
Ritt Goldstein
Oil
War: the Smoking Guns
Website of the Day
Give
War a Chance: the Anti-Peace Anthem
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