[Peace-discuss] Re: request for your reflection on war

[C. G. Estabrook]

Reflections at the Beginning of a War

The reflection that occurs to me is fairly basic.  War is a matter of
killing people.  This war is particularly so, if the slaughter to be
carried out in an outburst of anti-Semitism by the government for which we
are responsible can even be called war, given the vast disparity of the
combatants' armaments.  The Irish patriot James Connolly wrote a century
ago, "One great source of the strength of the ruling class has ever been
their willingness to kill in defense of their power and privileges.  Let
their power be once attacked, either by foreign foes or by domestic
revolutionaries, and at once we see the rulers prepared to kill and kill
and kill."  The Bush administration, like those that preceded it, has
shown what Connolly calls "the readiness of the ruling class to order
killing, the small value the ruling class has ever set upon human life."
These killings -- crimes to our shame recognized around the world -- are
perpetrated by same gang of criminals who have been directing US policy on
behalf of an economic elite for more than twenty years.  I am particularly
mortified that these crimes should follow from a constant policy and a
plan that they have declared publicly -- a plan summarized by our client,
the war-criminal who is prime minister of Israel, as "First Iraq, then
Iran."  As Thomas Jefferson wrote, "Indeed I tremble for my country when I
reflect that God is just: that his justice can not sleep forever..."


  ==============================================================
  C. G. Estabrook, Ph.D., Visiting Scholar
  University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign [MC-190]
  109 Observatory, 901 South Mathews Avenue, Urbana IL 61801 USA
  office: 217.244.4105 mobile: 217.369.5471 home: 217.359.9466   
  <www.carlforcongress.org>
  ===============================================================


On Fri, 21 Mar 2003, Sandra Ahten wrote:

> Peaceniks, The Public i has a full issue for April, but as we are
> about to go to press we, the editorial team, know that it lacks
> immediate coverage of the war.  Would you please take time to write
> 250 words or less on "Reflections at the Beginning of a War"? We are
> going to expand the paper to fit as many of these in full as we can.
> You may be excerpted. We may not have room for them all. But we want
> as many voices as possible. Please email your response on or before
> Saturday to print at ucimc.org. Remember that info based opinions will be
> good as many of our readers may still be forming opionions and
> educating themselves. We also welcome ideas about how you intend to
> educate yourself and stay abreast, and how you are coping with daily
> life in the midst of your feelings about the war.