As the daughter of a PeaceKeeper (my father did one tour in Egypt for a year, and two tours in Cyprus for six months each), I am keenly aware of where this America/Iraq affair will lead. I think people are very myopic if they think it is as cut and dried as Cowboy Bush would have us believe. He’s all hat, that boy, and no cattle. And he doesn’t run the risk of losing a son!

I really didn’t think I’d live long enough to see America do Vietnam all over again. But I think I am about to witness, along with the rest of the world, another manufactured war.

Everywhere I look and read I see and hear the sounds of ‘warriors’ readying for battle. In the midst of all of this war mongering, the world’s attention has been diverted from our attempt to eliminate terrorism.

The rest of the world seems a bit unwilling to get into line behind the Americans on this new and improved war. And is it any wonder? After witnessing the dragging of dead American soldiers through the streets in Somalia, are we ready to watch our countrymen and women abused in such a manner? No, I do not think the world or even America has the stomach for that.

Under the guise of patriotism, the cheerleaders of anti-Iraqi sentiment, are busying themselves in making a case to justify taking a huge and powerful western flyswatter to that pesky Saddam. Unfortunately, it may end up being more like “sept a coup”, and the innocent Iraqi citizen and over zealous young soldiers of America may very well find themselves in another conflict that will end up in killing them and creating a political quagmire that neither side may be able to exit well.

How many times do we have to go through this exercise before we realize the futility of the sabre rattling and threatening gestures especially when our children are returned to us in caskets draped in the colours of flags. When they hand that folded flag to the weeping mother whose child is no more, who will cry the loudest? She or the nation?

When I watched the Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry (PPCLI for short) perform the “Drumhead” Ceremony over the deaths of four of the regiment’s infantrymen who were killed by ‘friendly fire’ in Afghanistan, I wondered how we would handle the deaths of thousands of our servicemen and women in a real prolonged and savagely fought war. Believe me, in real wars, so many people die that there isn’t time for all this fanfare of farewell to the dead.

I am not sure if Canadians realize this or not, but traditionally we do not bring our soldier’s bodies home. That is an American tradition. We tend to follow the British example and bury our dead soldiers in the lands where they fell. Not much of a comfort to the parents who will never have their child’s remains returned to the land that nurtured them. Can we stomach this? I know I wouldn’t want my son or daughter to be buried on foreign soil.

I have watched as men and women from my generation; the generation of make love not war, free love, and making the peace sign, turn into everything they rankled against in the 1960’s. The anti-establishment mentality is now engaged in brutally subjugating their fellow man by force in ways I would have never believed. Never mind a war on the streets of Baghdad, but we can testify to one right here on our own streets. My generation is entrenched in a political mindset that harbours no quarter for anyone who is homeless, disabled, single parenting, old and feeble, and young and susceptible. And now they cry from the battlements, “kill, kill, kill”!

I’ve heard the rhetoric about the Iraqi weaponry. It’s funny though, I haven’t seen the proof. And yet we stand alert and waiting for the American whistle to blow signifying our march into hell with them. Well, not for my children, and not on my ‘Watch’!

I have told both my children that if they want to fight to protect Canada, the fight is here and against those who would turn back the clock and return us to feudal time. The world has shrunk considerably in the last 30 years but Canada should not engage in wars they neither have the armaments nor manpower to facilitate.

We are being distracted from the real dangers that face us all today by those whose goal, in this manufactured war, is to line their own pockets. Greed is the name of the game, not patriotism, not weapons of mass destruction, and definitely not terrorism. And those who stand to profit the most will pay the least in human misery, mayhem and death.

Kathleen Williams

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About Kathleen Williams:
Kathleen is legally blind, on a Federal Disability Pension, since 1986.

Responses

There are always casualties in war. But consider that if we don't act. Saddam, or the next one, will, in fact, be emboldened by the lack of fortitude on the part of the UN. Continual vacillation will result in the further erosion of credibility in an organization whose credibility is its ONLY derivation of authority.

We have been history's witness to this erosion as the Balkan's descended unmercifully into anarchy while men of good conscience were forced to stand by. Consider the 800,000 men, women and children hacked into pieces by their fellow countrymen with our own watching helplessly with nonexistent protective mandates from the international community at large.

If you tell a child that certain behaviours will manifest unfortunate repercussions, and you fail to implement, that child will only learn one thing; your words are not relevant. Would you be surprised to find that child's behaviour unmodified? Worse, would that behaviour not push the envelope even further to test the veracity of your resolution?

This is what we have been subjected to by the forces of Saddam. Even as late as today he has denied that the missiles he has violate the requisite range specified by Hans Blick and has refused to destroy them as required under previous UN resolution. It's a silly game and only buys him time. Time for what?? Too scary to contemplate.

Hitler had absolute contempt for the democratic nations. Their lack of fortitude in the face of potential war only served to foster his belief that he could unleash Blitzkrieg with little or no opposition. He was right. Had we only acted with total commitment to the Versailles Treaty's moratorium on German weapons and relaxed it's punitive monetary resolutions, he would not have been in a position to implement Mien Kampf. What was our response? Appeasement. The same response the U.S. has had in it's dealings with North Korea. We have a big stick. Let's use it where required to minimize the potential loss of life; on our terms and at our time of choosing.

Smart bombs in Afghanistan were used effectively with minimal civilian loss of life to remove the malevolent Taliban regime. Far better than the carpet bombing of Hamburg or Dresden. And strikes into Iraq would be just as surgical. It is my belief that we we'll see a repeat of G W 1, the Iraqi opposition will collapse in the face of superior forces and, with the full backing of the U.S.,(this time) serve to oust Saddam in short order. Remember when the Allies invaded Italy? German resistance was furious; Italian resistance was nonexistent.

Let's consider this alternative. We do nothing. We continue to send inspectors to find these weapons and their facilities without true Iraqi cooperation. For HOW LONG? Until Saddam realizes the follies of his ways and no longer wants weapons of mass destruction? Do you think that is in his nature? Then, once the pressure is gone, will we have to do it again in another ten years? How much longer do we want to impose sanctions which have been devastating to the children of Iraq only because Saddam refuses to provide for his own people and free up the funds he has going towards subverting the UN inspections and the appropriation and manufacture of these weapons material? Are you willing to bet on Saddam's word, that of a megalomaniac whose own family has been the focus of his wrath.

What happened to the war on terrorism you ask? This whole "let's get Saddam" is in furtherance of this policy as stated by George Bush in his State of the Union address. Terrorists and those states which harbour them. Lets go further. What is the difference between states that sponsor terrorism: Iran, Iraq, Libya, Saudi Arabia(whether it is through overt government policy or through sanctioned educational institutions, i.e.. Madras's) or states which terrorise their own populace.

This policy of a pre-emptive strike against Iraq was first proposed by the same republicans who are now in the seat of power behind George W. Bush after the 1st Gulf War. But since September 11, all bets are off. Are we willing to watch those pictures or worse again? Should those 3,000 mothers, fathers, bothers, sisters, be joined by thousands more in the name of Peace. Peace at what price and for how long?

Are our soldiers not in the business of war? Is that not why we have a military? To protect us from our enemies. Don't kid yourself either, we have enemies. People from many parts of the world who are have nots and never will nots, who treat their populations little better than Stalin with continuing human rights violations, from torture to censure, subjugate and manacle their women, propend abstinence in public while enjoying the fruit of the vine behind closed doors and lining their own pockets by not differentiating between state wealth and their own. Do you honestly believe that by circulating letters on the internet among like minded individuals admonishing these regimes that they will by some miracle rectify their errant ways? Did the Taliban fall before the abhorrence of the west or before our determinant actions?

If the casualties in Iraq are higher than expected due to nerve agents or chemical assaults, is this not a price worth paying rather than finding horror in our own subways and cities unleashed by pseudo religious fanatics against our families?

Andrew Tutty

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