Thoughts on Spring Break, 2003

3/17/03 · 10:22 AM (CST)
To Congressman Dennis Moore,
Third district, Kansas

Dear Dennis,

I write to you today as my congressman and my friend since 1976. (I know you remember coming to my wedding to Marsha Myers in November, 1977).

Today my heart is very heavy that our government is about to launch missiles and bombs at Iraq, and attempt our first pre-emptive war.

I ask you to do all you can to oppose this action, and to support all efforts to stop it.

If a bill is introduced to impeach the president, I urge you to co-sponsor such a bill, to support it and to explain to the 3rd district constituents why this drastic step is necessary.

Please come to the peace rallies in our district and in Kansas City, Missouri. Hold town meetings to let experts and common citizens speak out about the illegality of this war. Let historians give us the context of pre-emptive violence and war, and the high ideals of America which are being eroded by this action.

Sincerely,

Phil Rhoads
March 17, 2003

All news broadcasts point to an imminent invasion of Iraq by US.

Here in Eugene, Oregon, we are scheduled to meet with the admissions director for "Duck Days" for Freddy to explore the possibility of enrolling at U of O for next year.

It seems almost surreal to have life continue as "business as usual" with talk of war so imminent.

I know that all communities have contingency plans for rallies and vigils on the day of the attack, and for the days following. But I know that some spontaneous actions will also occur - possibly student strikes, labor union strikes, civil disobedience of various types. And I hope there will be lawsuits filed with US courts to force the Executive Branch to get authority from the Legislative Branch (official declaration of war). And I hope that lawsuits will be filed with the World Court regarding war crimes against the US. And I hope that momentum will build for the impeachment of the president.

But the suffering of innocents in Iraq (caused by US forces), and possibly of innocents in America (caused by terrorists) will be on the conscience of all Americans who have been attending anti-war rallies all these months. Also the suffering of "enemy combatants" and US combatants will be a heavy weight on all of us, to the extent Jesus commanded us to "love our enemies."

My generation lived through the Viet Nam war as young adults, and learned to distrust our government and our "liberal" instincts to use force in defense of "democracy" against communism. Our fears of a world-wide conspiracy to take over the world on the part of communism led us to attempt to defeat an ideology with force in SE Asia. This was pre-emptive in the sense that communism was half a world away and not threatening our borders, but only our "interests."

Now we are afraid of terrorists, especially Muslim fundamentalists, who have been blamed for the suicide attacks on 9/11. And our fear has extended to Iraq who might supply such terrorists with weapons of mass destruction, even though only box cutters were used by the suicide terrorists.

Our fears, in short, have continued from Viet Nam until now, and our resort to force is our only respected method of response.

That we also like to call ourselves a Christian nation is so ironic, from a Christian pacifist's perspective, because we can find no parallel in Jesus life or teachings in relation to the Jewish people subjugated by the Roman Empire. Jesus specifically repudiated the Zealots of his day, and admonished Peter who used a sword to cut off the ear of a Roman soldier who was in the group that arrested Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane. Jesus healed the soldier's ear, as his last miracle before his crucifixion.

Janis Joplin's famous song, "Me and Bobby McGee" has a line about freedom meaning not having anything left to lose may be a lesson to us. We have so much material wealth as a nation that we can't contemplate not getting our way in the world. We don't have the freedom to be weak. It is dangerous to our souls to be so wealthy and powerful. We are like the Roman Empire of Jesus time, with very much to lose.