Waging Peace (linncodems)

Credits

Banner photograph provided by Tony Hayden's Aloha Studio, Lebanon, Oregon.

Additional photographs provided by Rob Drake.

Waging Peace

posted Dec 31, 2008 5:25 PM by Robert Heald

Quotations:

Peace is not the absence of war; it is a virtue; a state of mind; a disposition for benevolence; confidence; and justice.
- Spinoza

A time will come when a politician who has willfully made war and promoted international dissension will be...surer of the noose than a private homicide.
- H. G. Wells

The greatest purveyor of violence in the world today is my own country - Martin Luther King

Because I do it with one small ship, I am called a terrorist. You do it with a whole fleet and are called an emperor.
- A pirate, from St. Augustine's "City of God"

In a world of war, waging peace is perhaps the
noblest act. Without peace, the ideals of this country simply cannot be met.

Our best hope is to recognize the contribution of our own foreign policy to the reasons "why they hate us." Then we can begin to reverse some pernicious trends, the "fruits" of which were apparent on 9-11.

NO ONE accepts the manner in which our attackers showed their hate. Their reasons, however, have been purposefully misrepresented by the Bush administration. The president claims that world terrorists "hate us because of our freedoms." But read the statement of a Viet Nam combat pilot, addressed to then President Clinton. Statement of Robert Bowman

Mr Bowman states: "We are the target of terrorists because, in much of the world, our government stands for dictatorship, bondage and human exploitation. We are the target of terrorists because we are hated. And we are hated because our government has done hateful things."

So we are hated because, while we operate from the unassailable mandate of our freedom, our international actions all too frequently delay or destroy freedom for many around the globe. We are not hated because of our freedoms. We are hated because we vigorously advertise our freedoms BUT prevent others from achieving the same for themselves.

This section is an introduction to the disturbing truth of our chronic and frequent intrusions into the affairs of other sovereign nations across the world. Unless we learn the difficult history we will be unable and unmotivated to prevent its repetition.

As a nation we must disentangle the terms "national defense" and "national security." The first is about secure borders the second is ever more blatantly being used to rationalize deadly adventures to secure cheap raw materials and labor. Of course, we must fight to defend ourselves but we also hope that fighting to exploit others be rejected as an accepted American value.

As the nation with the largest military (by far), and too many "resolutions" to use it, we are the world's very best chance to lead the process toward peace. US military troops are loyal, brave, obediant and skilled in their service to America. All too often, however, they are given unwise and unjustifiable missions that increase our risk rather than diminish it.

Much grief has been delivered in your name, paid by your tax dollar, probably, entirely without your knowledge.

This may be a difficult section to accept. But please try. Who else but you, really, can do anything about it?

Contact information for local peace-waging practitioners:

Albany Peace Seekers:
Don Rea--donlizrea@peak.org

Institute for Peace and Justice at LBCC:
Doug.Clark@linnbenton.edu
phone: 917-4557

The Friendship Force

Oregon Peace Works

How Do We Respond To...

"The United States should not have invaded Iraq, but now that we are there, aren't we responsible to clean it up and ensure that there is no bloodbath when we leave"

Six arguments against the war

Ten arguments against the war