Dissident Voice

March 24, 2003

“To sin by silence when they should protest makes cowards of men.”

-- Abraham Lincoln

Iraq has been illegally and immorally aggressed by an invading army sent from six thousand miles away. This travesty has taken place not for any reason having even remotely justifiable basis, but for oil, defacto colonialism, and global hegemony.

Throughout their country, terrified Iraqi parents are frantically trying to keep their precious children alive as U.S. bombs, shells, rockets, missiles, airborne Gatling guns, and new weapons that defy old categories are raining death on the cradle of civilization. "Shock and awe" is the blitzkrieg of today, only even more horrific.

“Do not partake in any barren works of darkness, instead expose them.”

-- Ephesians 5:11

We can fervently wish that all of our troops return safely from Iraq.

We can also join in campaigns to send them mail, and packages bearing welcome gifts.

But our “support” mustn’t be manifested in a way that sanctions Bush’s horrendous policy.

Since this war violates the UN Charter, international law, and the U.S. Constitution by treaty-signatory extension, we have to be very careful to draw clear distinctions between giving loving comfort to our friends and family caught up in war...and backing the stark illegitimacy which forced them into harm's way.

Perhaps you saw TV coverage of how the father of one of our first soldiers killed responded. As he thrust a photo of his boy toward the camera, he angrily said: “Take a good look, George Bush! You took my only son!”

Our service people just want to get home alive, not build the Dick Cheney Empire, with its ultimate goal of a global, low-wage manufacturing base that would steal good jobs from American workers.

Proper support calls for demanding an end to this criminal war, now.

As writer Harry Browne so aptly put it in an Antiwar.com opinion piece called “Support Our Boys in Uniform,” we “should be united against the idea of attacking a virtually defenseless nation on the unverified say-so of a known liar.”

Keep faith in our populist power. We are many religions and secular beliefs, both genders, all orientations and races, diverse walks of life...unified in principled opposition to a tiny, reactionary cabal's selfish folly. Their subjective desire, however stubborn, can't withstand our collective will, rooted in objective reality.

"Men who have no respect for human life or for freedom or justice have taken over this beautiful country of ours. It will be up to the American people to take it back." -- Historian Howard Zinn

We will prevail!

Dennis Rahkonen, from Superior, Wisconsin, has been writing commentary and verse for various progressive outlets since the '60s He can be reached at dennisr@cp.duluth.mn.us