Remembering the Fallen; Standing for Peace

"Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God." -Matthew 5:9

The number of American casualties from the latest war in Iraq has topped 2000 dead. This is striking, especially with Veteran's Day being commemorated on November 11th. I am unashamedly and unapolagetically a pacifist. However, I deeply respect the tremendous dedication and courage that the fine men and women of our armed forces have shown in answering the call to duty.

Still, sadly, military veterans and their families are seriously neglected, and marginalized, not only by much of our society, but also by our government. This must change. Veterans need to be guaranteed proper medical care and benefits for them and their families, as well as respect for their service.

At a larger level, though, I think we need to hold our nation's leaders accountable at the highest level for this ill-conceived war of choice. Was Sadam Hussein a despot? Of course. But this whole war was propagated on a series of lies coming straight from Mr. Bush's oval office. First it was alleged secret meetings Sadam had with Bin Laden- no evidence ever materialized to support that claim.

Second was the "weapons of mass destruction" claims- Colin Powell paraded a series of satellite images, elaborate charts, and supposed intelligence claiming Iraq had these weapons. The inspections were progressing, yet apparently not fast enough for Mr. Bush, who decided it was time to invade Iraq no matter what the inspections found (or didn't find).

Third we have the infamous 16 words in the 2003 State of the Union address. That Iraq had secretly tried to acquire yellow cake uranium from Niger. A claim that Ambassador Joe Wilson and others who made a trip to investigate the claims found no evidence to support. Beyond that, the Bush administration not only took our nation to war based on phony evidence and false claims, but his staff also lied about it. Repeatedly.

Mr. Cheney made allegations of secret meetings between Sadam and Bin Laden that he knew (or at the very least should have known) were false. Mr. Rove gave Mr. Libby classified information about Mr. Wilson's wife, a covert CIA operative, which they both then leaked to the press, conveniently before their Sunday propaganda sessions on the morning talk shows.

In his own simplistic, fundamentalist way, Mr. Bush considers himself a person of deep faith. He and his speech writers even quote (out of context unfortunately), key phrases from hymns and scripture verses. Perhaps Mr. Bush should read, or re-read the Sermon on the Mount. In it Jesus raises the bar for loving our neighbors, and pursuing peace:

-"blessed are the peacemakers"
-"love your enemies, pray for those who persecute you"
-"let your yes be yes and your no be no"

Instead he clings to his deceit of our nation, and even more sadly, deceit of himself.
I pray for Mr. Bush and all our leaders. I respect the offices they hold. I believe strongly, though, that much greater accountability and justice needs to be brought back to our nation's leadership.

How many more thousands of American troops, and tens of thousands of innocent Iraqis must die before Mr. Bush brings home the brave men and women putting their lives on the line for a nation that does not want them there in the first place?

Join me in praying for peace, and for honesty and truth from our leaders.

Peace be with you,

John