Dear Editor in Chief
I’d like to respond to an article published in the December edition of In Motion, titled “The Rally Point – Veterans speak out about the Islamic State.” The article rightly stresses the need to hear from more veterans concerning our country’s involvement in the Mideast.
Combat veterans know things about war the rest of us cannot begin to understand, which is why I suggest we consider the IVAW, Iraqi Veterans Against the War, and what they’re saying about this very important issue.
As much as the article’s author is declaring the need to “finish the fight,” the IVAW is emphasizing the opposite. In regard to the recent attacks in Paris the IVAW’s statement proclaims, among other things, the following:
For these attacks to stop, we must address their root causes and take responsibility for U.S. participation in the destabilization of countries that span the Middle East, North and Western Africa, and South and Central Asia… We must see the rise of terrorism and the attacks in Paris for what they are, blowback for Western intervention in the Middle East and elsewhere around the globe.
There is no excuse for the heinous killing of innocent people anywhere by anyone. However, it behooves us to understand cause and effect. Years of Western powers imposing themselves on non-Western regions of the world, co-opting their natural resources, subjugating and mistreating those people, is at the heart of so many of our current problems.
A piece of this current quagmire that few seem to consider is the occurrence in the early 1960s of hundreds of thousands (millions by some accounts) of Algerians losing their lives in their fight for independence from their French colonizers. It’s worth noting Algeria is a Muslim country in northern Africa colonized by France in the mid-1800s. Additionally, over the ensuing years Muslims living in France have had to bear the brunt of second-class citizenry. Therefore, it should not be too difficult to surmise that these kinds of actions by Western powers, combined with recent atrocities from drone attacks killing innocent people, not to mention the U.S. military invading and occupying countries resulting in hundreds of thousands of lives lost, create a climate of bitterness and revenge.
Albert Einstein said “Peace cannot be kept by force. It can only be achieved by understanding.” It’s a simple statement from a very brilliant person. Shouldn’t we take heed? For the sake of the lives of the young members of our military and the lives of innocent people everywhere, let’s try to achieve more understanding and not succumb to more saber rattling and three-word sound bites imploring us to “finish the fight”.
The above excerpt is a small part of the IVAW’s official statement, for the IVAW’s full statement and other veterans’ opinions and stories go to http://www.ivaw.org/about.
Sincerely,
Robert J. Sullivan
Adjunct Art Appreciation Instructor