“I hate war as only a soldier who has lived it can, only as one who has seen its brutality, its futility, its stupidity.”
--Dwight David Eisenhower
“I am a war president.”
--George W. Bush, 2/8/04
“Nobody wants to be the war president. I want to be the peace president.”
--George W. Bush, 7/20/04
Have you noticed how American casualties in the continuing war in Iraq are no longer front-page news? Though the total number of U.S. troops killed in Operation Iraqi Freedom and the post-war occupation creeps inexorably toward 1,000, many of us have turned our attention elsewhere or have just become indifferent. I didn’t watch a lot of the Republican National Convention in New York City this past week, but the speakers I heard certainly didn’t spend much time talking about the total American, allied and Iraqi deaths in our nation’s “catastrophic success” in the Middle East.
On October 12, 2002, I wrote about the unconvincing arguments then being provided by the Bush administration to support their proposed preemptive strike against Iraq:
1. Iraq’s “capabilities in the field of chemical and biological agents” and “aggressive nuclear weapons program.” (Vice President Dick Cheney, 8/29/02).
2. “... contacts between al Qaeda and Iraq that can be documented...” (National Security Adviser Condoleeza Rice, 9/25/02)
3. Iraqi involvement in the 9/11 attacks on the U.S. (Vice President Dick Cheney on numerous occasions)
4. A war that against the Iraqis would be a “cakewalk” (Kenneth Adelman, former assistant to Donald Rumsfeld and Defense Policy Board member, 12/6/01)
Of course, the Senate Intelligence Committee Report, the 9/11 Commission Report and experience have exposed all four of these administration arguments as figments of someone’s imagination. Most likely bogus intelligence from Iraqi exile Ahmed Chalabi and his minions, a group that had everything to win and nothing to lose by feeding the White House what the neocons wanted to hear.
In the final paragraph of my October 12, 2002 column, I wrote, “Our president has said that we must protect our nation by eradicating the designated evil ones of the world who threaten our safety and security. The real evil that must be confronted, however, is any human’s willingness to put the life of man, woman, or child in harm’s way without exhausting every conceivable avenue for reconciliation.”
And putting the young men and women of our armed forces needlessly at risk is exactly what this administration has done. We have now lost 978 American lives. At last count 6,916 more have been wounded, some so severely that normal lives will be impossible. And according to Iraqi Body Count, more than 11,000 Iraqi civilians have been killed.
Having lost the initial rationale for his war of choice, President Bush belatedly claims that the liberation of the Iraqi people was worth the cost we have paid and continue to pay in American lives. Is the world a better place with Saddam Hussein behind bars? No doubt about it. Was this endeavor worth the lives of our young men and women? A number of the families whose loved ones have died in Iraq say absolutely not!
I have had the opportunity to communicate with a few of these families by telephone and e-mail over the past few weeks. Below are some of their comments.
Jane Bright, West Hills, California, mother of Army SGT Evan Ashcraft, who was killed in action in Iraq when his Humvee was hit by enemy fire on July 24, 2003:
“There are no words in the English language that can adequately describe the pain that the loss of my son has caused. The world has lost a citizen of high intelligence, a gifted musician, a kind, perceptive loving young man. The loss of Evan and so many young men and women like him is a loss to our country and the world. They are our future and we are standing by and watching our young die....
“Several months ago when George Bush was performing his skit for the media in which he was looking under his desk and under chairs for weapons of mass destruction, I was horrified by the insensitivity of his performance. I thought to myself, here is the president of the United States making a joke out of a pre-emptive war and laughing about WMDs (weapons of mass destruction), the basis for going to war, a war in which my dear son died, over 1,000 coalition troops have died and thousands of Iraqi civilians have died. How dare he! I would like George Bush to perform that skit in front of the parents and other loved ones of those who have been killed, and we will let him know how funny his skit is.”
Sue Niederer, Pennington, New Jersey, mother of 1st LT Seth Dvorin who was killed in action in Iraq on February 3, 2004:
“I feel that Mr. Bush and his administration have been deceitful, have lied to us, have total arrogance about them. And my feeling is that Bush is an absolute coward. He is disgrace to this country because he cannot take the time because of guilt to face the parents and relatives of the fallen soldiers. I think this shows a total disrespect for the fallen soldiers....
“Donald Rumsfeld said that the troops are fungible, fungible meaning you lose one life, you get another one and put them in there. Lose one, throw another in. My son is not fungible. I asked Congressman Rush Holt (D-NJ), how many wives, husbands and children of U.S. congressmen and senators actually are in a war zone in Iraq. You know what he told me? None. Let the president and senators and congressmen send their children over there to fight this war and see how they feel then. Nothing will ever ease my pain.”
Jean Prewitt, Birmingham, Alabama, mother of PVT Kelley Prewitt who was killed in action in Iraq by enemy fire on April 6, 2003:
“I saw the two soldiers in the hall where I worked. ‘Please tell me he’s just wounded,’ I cried. ‘Please tell me he’s wounded.’ They took me to our district manager’s conference room and said that Kelley was hit by shrapnel and must have bled to death. After that one of the hardest things was telling my mother. She saw me and said, ‘What’s wrong?” And I told her it was about Kelley. She asked, ’Did he get hurt?’ And I said, ‘Yes, ma’am, but he didn’t make it; he died.’ She said, ‘Oh, God, not my baby. I wish it had been me.’ And she really meant it.
“One of the worst things after that was seeing Kelley for the first time. But I’m so glad I did; at least he didn’t get blown to pieces.... He was such a handsome man, but it didn’t even look like him except for his head and his short hair.... Time does take care of a lot of wounds, but it’ll never take away the pain that I feel.
“I visit Kelley every day. A friend of mine from Georgia and I went over there today. And I talked to him and cleaned his grave off. I take a brush and paper towel and water and clean the marker. At first I didn’t speak out against the war because I believed President Bush. But after Thanksgiving (2003), I began to learn that the information Bush gave us was not correct and that that country (Iraq) was not an imminent threat to us.... TV announcers casually say there were two more soldiers killed over there. And you think, ‘Well, there’s two more families going through what we’re going through.’ And their lives will be changed forever for no reason except President Bush’s ego.”
“The ultimate weakness of violence is that it is a descending spiral, begetting the very thing it seeks to destroy.... Returning violence for violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars.”
--Dr. Martin Luther King
[To be continued]
Resources
Bring Them Home Now, www.bringthemhomenow.org. A campaign of military families, veterans, active duty personnel, reservists and others opposed to the ongoing war in Iraq.
Eyes Wide Open, http://afsc.org/eyes/. The Eyes Wide Open exhibition is a multimedia journey through the words, images, and sounds of the Iraq war.
Military Families Speak Out, www.mfso.org. An organization of people who are opposed to war in Iraq and who have relatives or loved ones in the military.
Tragedy Assistance Programs for Survivors, www.taps.org. TAPS provides a wide variety of programs and information to survivors, military and casualty personnel and others.
Veterans for Peace, www.veteransforpeace.org. Veterans working together for peace and justice through non-violence.
