[Peace-discuss] Library Forum Speech

[Paul M. King]

The forum went well last night. I spent a wonderful afternoon with Rosemary 
yesterday. She is the mother whose son was killed in Iraq in November. She 
delivered a very moving speech. When I left her last night after the forum I could 
see that she was very impressed with AWARE. I think we really touched her and 
helped her in a lot of different ways. We really have a fantastic organization.

WILL and Channel 15 were there and they did some interviews with Rosemary 
and Joe Miller. The forum made the front page of the school paper today too.

I've pasted a copy of the speech that I gave below for anyone who is interested.

I would like to thank AWARE for the opportunity to do this. You are all amazing 
people.

..:: Paul King

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At 18 years of age most of us are still children in a society such as ours. 
Physically we are grown, but emotionally, morally, ethically and spiritually we 
are not fully formed. Many of our children are lured or compelled into the 
military when they turn 18 and this is wrong.

Looking back at how I was manipulated and indoctrinated by the military, I feel a 
profound sense of personal violation. And I can never forgive my country for 
this. Although I never personally took another life, I was involved with an 
organization whose business is murder. I was successfully indoctrinated. I 
actually believed that there is nothing wrong with taking the life of another 
human being. Not only was I instructed in the task of taking life 
indiscriminately, but mindlessly and with empty rage. I was taught to hate. I 
learned how to stab people, shoot people, blow them up, maim and slaughter 
them in great quantities. And I was taught that this is not wrong. That it is not 
wrong to drop bombs on people, starve populations, and decimate their 
environment because I am an American.

This indoctrination taught me never to question my squad leader, my platoon 
sergeant or the the company captain. The battalion commander, his generals 
and the president were always right. Even if they were wrong, we were fighting 
for something better, something called "freedom". Furthermore, I was taught 
that America is strong and that this is simply enough to make us right.

No one is born a murderer. No one naturally believes that killing is right. This 
does not require debate. It is viscerally known deep inside and is a part of what 
makes us human. When the state takes our children and young adults from us 
and teaches them hatred and murder, this constitutes an ultimate violation of 
the person, his family and her community. It is a violation of a fundamental life 
principle. On a personal level, the intellect has been compromised and genuine 
emotions are subdued. The person as a whole is made into something less than 
human.

This is rape. Morally, ethically and spiritually.

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A lot of young people are not in the armed services because they want to be 
soldiers. They are looking for college money. I received a $25,000 college fund 
in addition to a tuition and fee waver for my four years. Many of them believe 
that the American military is an instrument of peace and they desire to help 
other people. A lot of them are attempting to escape from a background of 
poverty and a future that holds no possibility for improvement. Some are simply 
looking for adventure. Thrills. They want to travel, jump out of planes, rappel 
buildings and scuba dive. Others are so starved for love that they seek 
admiration and respect through the military. A lot of 18 year old kids are 
looking to be challenged to their physical and emotional limits. To be all that 
they can be. These are all reasons why I joined.

Perhaps what I am most upset about is that these desires can be better met 
through other programs that would not only serve these young adults better, 
but American citizens and people of other countries as well. But we do not fund 
them. Why not? Why don't we expand AmeriCorps, the Peace Corps, the Citizen 
Corps and the Freedom Corps so that young people can meet their needs for 
respect, adventure and money as well as their altruistic aspirations to help 
others?

Every dollar spent on the military produces fewer jobs than every dollar spent on 
a social program. This is a documented fact. Not only that, but the stuff that our 
money buys for the military is just complete shit as far as my own experience 
goes. The equipment that I used was defective, poorly made, broke a lot and 
simply failed to work properly. I was told that I would be working with the latest 
and best equipment and technology when I enlisted for the job that I did. Yet, 
my vehicle broke down routinely (monthly, in fact). My equipment malfunctioned 
almost daily. And the computers and communications equipment that I used 
was made very poorly. This equipment was, in some cases, actually dangerous 
to use. It made our jobs much more difficult than it needed to be.

Domestic programs are being dramatically cut. Our schools are buckling under 
debt. We are ranked 37th for healthcare by the World Health Organization 
(between Costa Rica and Nicaragua.) We are the only industrialized country in 
the world without national healthcare. People can no longer afford to live on 
minimum wage working two jobs, let alone one. And we spend half of our 
national wealth on the military. And they are not even equipped properly. Where 
is this money going?

We could be doing so much more. Rather than teaching our young people 
hatred and murder, we could be teaching them the skills of toleration, 
understanding and peacemaking. We could be paying them to create domestic, 
common wealth. They could be building bridges with the international 
community through aid programs that would accomplish more towards 
thwarting terrorism than any number of bombs can ever do. And we have the 
money for this. A strong economy does not need to be based on the military-
industrial model.

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"We are a peaceful people." I hear this statement sometimes connected to us, 
Americans. This is a racist statement. All people love peace. I found out as a 
soldier that the Russians love peace more than us in the early 90s.

As Americans, we actually live in a very warlike culture. It's true, people here are 
just like people everywhere, peaceful and compassionate. But we are surrounded 
by a war culture and our economy is sustained by violence. This is difficult to 
see because it's often just beneath the surface.

Why do we spend more than half of our national budget on the military?

The Pentagon does not even publish large parts of its budget. Congress just 
rubberstamps billions of dollars for them to spend in whatever way they see fit 
with no oversight whatsoever. Research that consistently receives adequate 
funding in our universities tends to be for military purposes.

As far as our war culture goes, just consider what we consume. Most of us 
persist in eating animals even though it is no longer necessary to hunt and 
forage for our survival. And these animals are now factory farmed. They are 
raised and slaughtered in massive quantities in a cruel and miserable 
environment.

The nutrients in our fruits and vegetables have been coated with ever increasing 
levels of pesticides.

Perhaps most telling is our choice of inebrients. We tend to consume toxic ones 
such as nicotine and alcohol that kill us and deaden the spirit. And we are 
persecuted from partaking of any genuine sacrament such as marijuana, 
mushrooms, ayahuasca, LSD or peyote which invoke the divine spirit within us. 
Our ecstatic religious practices have been eliminated.

================

The spectacle of the soldier as a person of valor is bullshit. There is no more 
valor or ethics among soldiers than there is among any other group of people, 
such as librarians, school teachers or Walmart clerks. They are just trying to get 
by like everyone else. The difference is that, one, they are placed in 
extraordinary circumstances more often and, two, they have the power of 
propaganda behind them in the form of advertising: "Be All That You Can Be". 
The truth is, as I said before, that we often end up with is someone who is less 
than human.

The soldier is not a warrior these days. Most of them are bureaucrats, 
administrators, mechanics, doctors, engineers and technicians. We should 
challenge the notion that the soldier is a hero. Because they aren't. We have no 
more authority in matters of war and peace than any of you. We should not be 
blind, however, to heroic acts performed by soldiers. We should not ignore 
those soldiers who disagree with war, but agree to participate. These people are 
capable of doing much good. They are capable of lessening misery and cruelty 
in the battlefield. They are necessary for keeping humanity alive in the midst of 
our darkest moments. Heroes come in all shapes and forms. Sometimes they 
wear a uniform and sometimes they carry a gun.

However, we should not confuse admiration for the work of these good people 
with admiration for the work of the industry of killing. Some of us are lucky 
enough to choose this way of life mindfully, aware of all requirements and 
consequences and with intentions aligned with our higher potentials and ideals. 
Most 18 year olds are not capable of this. I was not such a person. I believed in 
war. And I am ashamed of that.

================

It has been recently published that approximately half of the children born to 
veterans of the first Gulf invasion have deformities. Our country has poisoned an 
entire generation of our own people. And perhaps the worst crime of all is that 
we never look beyond this. Iraq has been bombed and terrorized by the United 
States for 12 years. We dropped 1,000 bombs on them on the third day of the 
invasion. Each one cost $1 million dollars. A large number of these were tipped 
with depleted uranium. Consequently, we have deposited tons of depleted 
uranium dust in their deserts. Tons. The cancer rates among the people there 
are extraordinary.

While I was in the military, I was discouraged from asking the natural question 
that arises in any sane person's mind. Why? Why would we do this? Why would I 
participate in this? Why would I pay for this? Why are people back home proud of 
me for this?

America perpetuates holocausts across the globe with impunity. And our people 
are blind.

Kathy Kelly states that "democracy is based on information". Without knowing 
the activities of our government, there can be no hope of exercising democracy 
with any degree of competence in changing our culture of war. Ironically, the 
most important lesson that I learned while I was in the military was from the 
Russians. "Glasnost" is a word that means truthfulness, openness and 
transparency.

I had a top secret security clearance while I was in the military. In the interest of 
glasnost and in deference to our old nemesis that turned out to be nothing but 
a chimera for increasing the budgets of war profiteers, I would like to officially 
and publicly announce that I no longer intend to keep secrets for the 
government. I will disclose everything I know to anyone who is interested.

You must realize, however, that most of the secrets I know are useless. There is 
nothing I know that you don't already know or suspect. Nevertheless, I no longer 
intend to rhetorically or symbolically contribute to the shroud of secrecy that 
keeps our people ignorant, democracy at bay and, perhaps worst of all, 
separates and divides us from one another. Ask me anything you wish and I will 
answer truthfully, fully and to the best of my ability.