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.
Monday, March 17, 2003
Thursday, October 11, 2001
One Month "Anniversary"
Mom is flying to San Diego this morning. Life in many ways is "back to normal." It just proves how we can mentally adjust ourselves to almost anything. We in Kansas City are not personally affected like people in New York or in Kabul. Those of us not in the reserves don't even think about being called to active duty. Even those who fly just have to pack differently and arrive for check-in an hour earlier.
Will this whole episode even be a "learning experience" for most of us? I am afraid that the potential lessons of being attacked by extremists who hate our "system" and/or our values and/or our behavior will be lost in the shuffle. Our main attention is on self-defense, closely followed by apprehending the culprits and accomplices, and finally by simple revenge.
Understanding what could drive people to hate us so much is barely attempted.
Tomorrow, October 12, will be the first Friday prayers for Muslims since we launched our military response against Afghanistan. There is much concern that Pakistani Muslims, sympathetic to the Taliban and to Osama Ben Laden, will institute violent protests in Pakistan against the recent positioning of US troops in their country. We can't just write these protestors off as "extremists" or as "demented." We should try to understand their sentiments and examine our motives.
If we just operate out of self-defense with a narrow definition, we will resort to the old tried-and-true method of proving to the "world" that might makes right. We have the most might, and what we say is right.
A broader definition of self-defense would include changing our behavior and our policies that provoke violent reactions from other people in the world. If we don't take these additional steps, we will undoubtedly face a resurgence of anti-US violence in the future.
Will this whole episode even be a "learning experience" for most of us? I am afraid that the potential lessons of being attacked by extremists who hate our "system" and/or our values and/or our behavior will be lost in the shuffle. Our main attention is on self-defense, closely followed by apprehending the culprits and accomplices, and finally by simple revenge.
Understanding what could drive people to hate us so much is barely attempted.
Tomorrow, October 12, will be the first Friday prayers for Muslims since we launched our military response against Afghanistan. There is much concern that Pakistani Muslims, sympathetic to the Taliban and to Osama Ben Laden, will institute violent protests in Pakistan against the recent positioning of US troops in their country. We can't just write these protestors off as "extremists" or as "demented." We should try to understand their sentiments and examine our motives.
If we just operate out of self-defense with a narrow definition, we will resort to the old tried-and-true method of proving to the "world" that might makes right. We have the most might, and what we say is right.
A broader definition of self-defense would include changing our behavior and our policies that provoke violent reactions from other people in the world. If we don't take these additional steps, we will undoubtedly face a resurgence of anti-US violence in the future.
Monday, October 8, 2001
The Day After our Bombing of Afghanistan
We should have known it would happen sooner or later, but news came as a shock after church on Sunday. Bombing started at 11:30 AM Kansas City time, just while we were celebrating World Wide Communion Sunday. What can I say?
Instant polls show that 90% of Americans approve of the bombing. I am in the bottom (or top?) 10%. Osama Ben Laden calls us "infidels," supposedly because we are not Muslim. But as Christians can we say that we are really respecting the Sabbath to choose this day to drop our bombs? Maybe it had more to do with our capitalism than our Christianity, to choose Sunday rather than Monday to disrupt American life with hours of news broadcasts and press conferences and commentaries. Today we can get back to work to keep the economy humming.
Already we are being prepared (propagandized) that if there is a terrorist action, it won't really be in response to our attack: it must have already been in the works, planned weeks and months, even years, ago. As if that will make us feel more secure!
News photos of Sunday's football games show spectators holding "revenge" signs. How much can that sentiment go to explain our decision to bomb? There is a very prevalent attitude in American culture that is unchristian, that believes in the principle of an eye-for-an-eye, that ignores Christ's teachings to "Love thy neighbor" and "Love thine enemies." The fact that we have abandoned almost entirely one of the Ten Commandments to rest on the Sabbath seems so much more trivial than this.
Are we then Infidels? Is it really our punishment to feel insecurity? Are the terrorists merely delivering God's message to us?
Instant polls show that 90% of Americans approve of the bombing. I am in the bottom (or top?) 10%. Osama Ben Laden calls us "infidels," supposedly because we are not Muslim. But as Christians can we say that we are really respecting the Sabbath to choose this day to drop our bombs? Maybe it had more to do with our capitalism than our Christianity, to choose Sunday rather than Monday to disrupt American life with hours of news broadcasts and press conferences and commentaries. Today we can get back to work to keep the economy humming.
Already we are being prepared (propagandized) that if there is a terrorist action, it won't really be in response to our attack: it must have already been in the works, planned weeks and months, even years, ago. As if that will make us feel more secure!
News photos of Sunday's football games show spectators holding "revenge" signs. How much can that sentiment go to explain our decision to bomb? There is a very prevalent attitude in American culture that is unchristian, that believes in the principle of an eye-for-an-eye, that ignores Christ's teachings to "Love thy neighbor" and "Love thine enemies." The fact that we have abandoned almost entirely one of the Ten Commandments to rest on the Sabbath seems so much more trivial than this.
Are we then Infidels? Is it really our punishment to feel insecurity? Are the terrorists merely delivering God's message to us?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)