s a child growing up un the era of World War II, I accepted the norm (propaganda) pf the day that there are enemies out to destroy the good people of the US. The propaganda has us believe that because “they” hate us and intend to destroy us, we must hate them and destroy them first. I acted this out by entering the U.S. Air Force, prepared to use nuclear weapons to protect the good people (us). Fortunately, a wise God led me to follow a path of “peace and good”, the path of Francis and Clare and their disciples.
I became convinced that war was a great human and moral evil. All creatures are our brothers and sisters and we must protect all life. I have spent my subsequent half century zealous to end all war. This carried me through the Vietnam War and the Gulf War and keeps me embedded in the struggle to end the Iraq War and avoid interim flare-ups and pending Armageddons.
But a new emergent had impaled my heart. Now we are being led to believe that to really be masters of our destiny we must dominate those with whom we share this planet. To dominate we must subjugate others to our will and corporate plans. To do this we must hate them. Bombs don’t do this well, an ineffective model of control. But Hate works! We have discovered an old secret among enemies –TORTURE! It allows the intimate closeness that devastates the body and the soul. It locks us in the embrace of mutual hatred. It destroys the victims and the tortures and all who prepare the way. It reduces us to “less than humans”, purveyors of the inhumane.
All creatures are our brothers and sisters and we must protect all life. I have spent my subsequent half century zealous to end all war.
I joined delegation last summer to Washington, DC to convince Congress of the urgency to use all means possible to end this horribly costly war. While in DC, he heard Congress adopt the Military Com-missions Act of 2006, an interpretation by the President’s advi-sors that he could define what torture is and his adjuncts put into practice very inhumane means of torture. Our delegation then traveled to Jordan following our efforts to reach members of congress. We met with members of the Iraq Parliament as well as survivors of Abu Ghraib. We became more convinced then ever of the need to shut down the School of the Americas and all forms of torture presented by our military.
In our efforts to get to the root of this torture we discovered Fort Huachuca in southern Arizona. This is the School of Interrogators –those who obtain the information and prescribe the treatment. We discovered that the commanding general of the School of the Interrogators was the present commander of the prison at Abu Ghraib. We have also been told that the direction of the treatment at Abu Ghraib is set by Fort Huachuca. Some of us were moved to protest and even to get arrested to expose this abuse. We now extend our campaign to the site of this dehumanized treatment.
We are also now more conscious of torture elsewhere. Recently we have been very concerned about the struggle of the people in Oaxaca, a state in Mexico. There are educator, union members, students who have been struggling for better human rights treatment and better conditions. Many are suffering abuse there now. We can only hope for a transformation of our hearts.
Furthermore, we must make public witness of our resistance and efforts at transformation. Now is the time. We must reestablish our humanity. It is our only hope for peace.
(From Contatto - MISNA)