To My Daughter, on the Fifth Anniversary of the US Invasion of Iraq
Dear Kalila,
It has been five years since you, as a 12-year-old 7th grader, joined your classmates in a walk-out at your school in protest of the impending invasion of Iraq.
You are now a 17-year-old high school senior just months from graduating, and the war - which we were told would only involve U.S. combat forces for a few months - is still going on. As you enter college in the fall, some of your classmates whom you have known since childhood could be entering Iraq to fight in a war that should never have been fought.
As a consequence of this war of aggression, you are entering adulthood with the United States despised throughout the world and the threat of mega-terrorism from extremist groups higher than ever. Furthermore, it appears that this war will end up costing more than 3 trillion dollars, money that you will be paying, with interest, for decades to come. This money could instead have gone to health care, education, the environment, housing, public transportation, and other human needs that could have made your life and the lives of others of your generation safer, healthier, and happier. Already, the economic impact of the war is becoming apparent in your life. Your long-promised graduation present of a European trip is looking less affordable as the dollar plummets in value and your parents are scrambling - as a result of cutbacks in federal assistance - to figure out a way to pay your college tuition next year.
As you remember, your mother and I worked very hard to try to stop this war. We so very much wish you could have avoided experiencing, as we did during our adolescence, our country engaged in a brutal counter-insurgency war in a foreign land.
I remember how much you missed me as I traveled around the country giving speeches and interviews to try to convince the public and elected officials that Iraq was not a threat to our national security and that a U.S. invasion of Iraq would be a disaster. I remember your tears as you heard me denounced on national television as a “supporter of Saddam Hussein” and claims that my research “was funded by terrorists.” And you no doubt remember the negative impact the stress and exhaustion from that period had on my health as well as my relations with you, your siblings, and your mother.
Yet I also remember your pride in seeing me speak before half a million people in San Francisco at the anti-war march, your excitement in getting to use my backstage pass to meet Bonnie Raitt, and your appreciation of being a part of history that sunny February afternoon. I have seen you attend subsequent marches on your own, still convinced that, while unable to prevent the war, you could still try to end it.
You were born in October 1990 on the eve of the first U.S. war with Iraq. We gave you an Arabic name - meaning “beloved” - in part to honor the rich cultural traditions of a people whom our government is willing kill in order to control their natural resources. In certain respects, the United States has been killing Iraqis for almost your entire life. Meanwhile, a whole generation of your peers in that unhappy land has grown up knowing nothing but war, sanctions, and related hardships.
I think about the impact the invasion has had on you and how it has affected the way you see your country and its government. You figure that if a total idiot like your dad could figure out that Saddam Hussein could not have possibly reconstructed his capability of producing “weapons of mass destruction,” you logically assume that the president, vice-president, top cabinet officials, and congressional leaders of both political parties were lying when they said that he had. As a result, instead of coming of age with a healthy skepticism about your government, I’ve seen how you and many of your peers have developed a bitter cynicism, assuming that both Republicans and Democrats are willing to lie to their constituents in order to justify imperial conquest.
Despite this, your youthful idealism has not been completely squashed. I have seen your enthusiasm as you and your friends have found hope in the presidential campaign of Barack Obama, who recognized five years ago that Iraq was not a threat and actively opposed the invasion. Indeed, it brings back memories of the hope I felt when I was your age by George McGovern’s 1972 campaign, only your candidate has a stronger likelihood of victory. It would be so nice for you to be able to cast your first vote for someone you actually believe in. Though, in reality, an Obama presidency would likely disappoint you in certain respects. I hate to imagine the crushing blow to you and so many of his young supporters if Hillary Clinton - an outspoken supporter of Bush’s decision to invade that oil-rich country five years ago - is able to successfully rob him of the nomination or damage him to the point he loses in November.
Whoever becomes the next president, however, this war will continue to impact your life for many years to come. Seeing you as a beautiful, smart, and competent young woman - facing an uncertain future in this militarized, divided, and economically weakened society - I wish there was something more I could have somehow done five years ago to prevent this war from happening.
Stephen Zunes is a professor of Politics at the University of San Francisco, where he chairs the Middle East Studies program. A version of this article originally appeared in Foreign Policy in Focus.
“Firth” ?
Kalila — Proudly Persevere,
and never doubt the truth and freedom that you hold in your heart, our Country is in desperate need of principled and committed leaders, as you’ve so well known since childhood.
Bless you,
Namaste
… … … … … Mahatma Gandhi … & … ML King … … Inspiration … … … … …
« We must be the change we wish to see in the world »
« There is a sufficiency in the world for man’s need but not for man’s greed »
« We adopt the means of nonviolence because our end is a community at peace with itself » — MLK
I have a daughter who was born Jan 28 of 2001 and her ENTIRE LIFE has now been spent under Bush and her first memories if a 7 month old could retain them would be the 2nd plane banking into the WTC. Perhaps a more recent memory would be her at 3 yrs handing out Kerry literature and throughout this time marching at rallies, and presently her parents voting for Obama. She does not know a world without war and without Bush and I fear the future that Bush/Cheney are laying out for children like her to inherit.
Great piece, Prof. Zunes.
The quote above is from Gandhi, not MLK.
Unfotunately, our political system is broken. People are, on the whole, badly educated. There is no counter to the corporate media, except Pacifica and the wonderful work of Democary Now, and a few sites like this.
Our elections are not worthy of a third-world junta. Between the money that flows into these elections, the ridiculous electoral college, the crazy primary system, the “super” delegates, and the lack of a verifiable record, we are an embarrasment in our soo-called “democracy”!
It is heartbreaking for your daughter, I’m sure.
It is for me!
The America that Kalila should be inheriting was destroyed long before our current batch of political whores bought their offices. America is a thing of the past. We are now an empire and our current political environment is a sick joke. The Constitution has been sold to corporations who can use it to legalize their stealing of resources and their obscene profits. Kalila is inheriting inherit a country that is leading an empire in decline. She will have to survive the coming fascism.
Hoa binh
My daughter received for her 16th birthday the Trade Center Towers. She was 16 Oct 8, 2001. When she was just barely six, her brother served in the Marines in the first Gulf War Conflict.
What is wrong with the decision makers here? Importantly, how do we fix it?
If Bush attacks Iran and the ensuing depression hits, our sons and daughters are going to fully understand what post-war Europe and Japan were like. Only there won’t be a Marshall Plan, or a benelovent governor like a Douglas McCarther here to help us rebuild. America will be the first forth rate nation that has thousands of atomic weapons and a madman in control of the what’s left military and an air force who’s officers are mostly born again Christians.
I see RIVERMAN 101 has posted the identical, ignorant post on several threads. I do believe the River-nut may be Dougwagner in disguise. River don’t agree with me, I don’t have any logic, I failed his logic test. ___ Thank goodness.
What a great…sad post
All empires end. Here in the USA, the rich don’t pay taxes , won’t serve in the military and the leadership is foolish–just like rome, the ottomans, the dutch and on and on.
On the other hand, when our propertied founders steered the country between monarchy and democracy–guess what? they choose oligarchy and we still have it! They feared democracy–mob rule, they called it. So it goes.
I say let’s go democratic/Polulist, kick the corporations and lobbyists out of the temple!
Why can’t Zunes post an article asking us to give Ralph Nader a chance. It’s not as if the Democrats are going to stop the GOP as they too voted for the war and/or more funding of its current occupation.
“Give Nader a chance”? How about the same for a Kucinich, a John Edwards, or a Cindy Sheehan?
When Hitler took over Germany, one of the first things he assured, was to control the press and media. Until that very serious problem is corrected here in America, the Naders won’t have ANY chance.
Whenever any of us were born, the truth will never change that we came on this land and slaughtered, enslaved, and imprisoned the native people who were here first. That wasn’t enough so we imported people of dark skin from another continent and brought them here to be our slaves.
SHAME. Our country was founded on SHAME and continues to thrive in SHAME denigrating those in the world who are different from the ‘great almight’ “us”.
It was our karma that all this shame is coming to the surface in our acts of continued arrogance to the world. The world is seeing the “true” America. This giant blimp is crossing the world’s sky with the scrolling words, “Shame on America”. I’ve wiped the propaganda from my eyes, and I see it for what it is. We have as many faults — and more — than other countries. We are no better than anyone. Everyone else knows this — but we don’t.
We’re still waiting for our fellow citizens living in San Francisco to start building the bridge between themselves and the rest of the country, to unite the class war victims against the class war aggressors. Or is it that all San Franciscans are in the aggressors’ camp? Mr. Zunes? It’s time to walk the walk out of San Francisco and across America.
Peoople, please be careful not to throw away the baby with the bathwater. When we lump each other into categories and decide to hate those we disagree with, we alienate good people who could be our friends and allies.
Tell me, for instance, what category you think I belong to: I believe that less government is better, so I am personally a conservative tending toward anarchism; Yet I believe that I am my brother’s keeper, so I believe we have a responsibility to provide social services; I am a feminist, but I don’t believe women are necessarily better than men–in fact most of them are horrible; I would never, ever have an abortion, and if I knew someone else who was having one, I would do everything in my power to convince them otherwise, including offering to adopt the baby myself–but I believe women should be free to make that choice for themselves; I hate guns, but I will not try to take yours away; I am a born-again Christian who refuses to proselytize and encourages atheists and skeptics to exercise their right to not only disagree with my beliefs at every opportunity, but to live their lives according the dictates of their own conscience.
Not that anyone cares about these details of my character, but my point is this–if you knew me you would not be able to classify me. I suspect that is true of most people. If we so narrowly define our expectations of others, we will each of us have only ourselves on our “side.” Then all of our causes will be lost and we will be doomed to hate our own lives as much as we hate what the world has become.
We have a choice to make the world a better place by letting the American dream live, if not in our government, then at least in our hearts. Let’s join together, with all our differences, and see if we can’t come to some consensus on these issues, without tearing each other down.
I talk w/ friends in other countries and they ask me to pass on a message: “Don’t come here (wherever “here”) is - we don’t want you!” How about staying home and fixing things here. Start on a scale that is manageable. If you are a parent, raise nonviolent children (it can be done). Talk w/ children about nonviolence and responsibility and the criticality of being educated.
I highly recommend Caroline Myss (www.myss.com) and her book and CDs “Sacred Contract of America.”
(river*man* - the 60s were good to you weren’t they? How very progressive of you to suggest tossing people out of the voting booths.)
Then again I remember a ltr to the editor of Time magazine YEARS ago - writer said, “So what if this flying mud ball blows up?” Does it really make a difference? Most days I do wonder.
Signed,
Feminist since birth
You exhibit a large amount of sense to me my2sense.
Please do get out in public more, so other’s can see for themselves what being a responsible adult can potentially be.
Bless You. I feel better just knowing this little bit more about you.
Namaste
Waste of time. Who really cares. Should use this space for something more than junk such as this. If he wants to write his daughter, o.K. but why expect other people to really care? I do not. Want information, not junk sentiments.
josephmorton March 14th, 2008 5:45 pm:
It’s symbolic moron. Jeeze.
For fear of getting slightly off topic, I posed on ICH this question and would like to pose it to you at CD…
I have a VERY hard time understanding the mindset of the “average american”… the complacency with the criminal government, the militaristic nature, the hyper-patriotism… all that. Would someone like to take a crack at explaining this to me?
elmysterio — I’ve explained in dozens of posts over the last few days how psychopaths brought Russia and Germany (twice) down, and how America balances on the same precipice today.
Filter for or CD_google my posts for an abundance of reasons, read the quite scientific and definitive references. Have a not so hard of a time, lighten up as it’s not the end of the world, yet
P O G O was a optimist
Namaste
To josephmorton–
I struggle with that question too–what are we trying to preserve? Where is the humanity I used to love? I have the pat explanations of human nature provided by the christian doctrine of my childhood–but I am looking for a deeper understanding–and solution–to that question. It has lately become such an important question for me, with such huge implications, that I can hardly function. I don’t know if I want to go about in mourning, praying and fasting, or go away to live a life of seclusion in the mountains and just say f it all. I feel like we are on the brink of something huge–either total destruction or a breakthrough that could reboot the whole planet–or maybe both. It feels a lot like the transitional stage of childbirth, the feeling of panic that makes you want to run away at that split second before the baby is born. Maybe the earth is going through transition too. I have nightmares every night wondering if this child of the earth will be a godsend or a monster.
elmysterio–
Good question. I don’t understand it myself, and I’m an American. Americans should have become so outraged that they literally dragged Bush out of the office and placed him under arrest. Why didn’t they do this? Well, from what I can see most Americans have become less and less literate. They watch TV and don’t read. They have become apathetic collecting things in their house, drinking beer, and watching sports. They believe the TV, because they don’t read anything. The TV tells them all they need to know. Most folks’ vocabularies have deteriorated to a frightening level. Hope that helps. Maybe if the gas pumps go dry, and the criminal banks throw people out of their houses with their sofa and TV, they might begin to care about something.
MY 2 Sense: Interesting posting. You raise a good point about the failure of categorization. AS per your 2nd post, many prophecies concur that Earth has come to a cycle of accelerated transition. I am not sure if those prophetic sources were aware of such things as global warming and depleted uranium and/or methane gas releases… but a diverse array of prophetic information sites this time phase as one of rebirth and intensive changes.
Clearly global corporate capitalism that acts like a cannibal to people, resources and ecosystems cannot be sustained, not with 6 billion people plus being influenced by advertising to visualize a “good” life based on yet more consumption. Critical mass is reached person by person… so the best things you can do include living simply, being kind and practicing the golden rule, sharing of your gifts/knowledge/talents, being an example and yes, by all means, praying. To those of us who believe in Divine order, no GOD would make human beings the top of the cosmic food chain… many spiritual sources speak of various kinds of hierarchies of beings. I like to think they watch over, but are allowing mankind enormous leverage in this make war and destroy civilization of at long last rise above it. Consciousness, as in a belief in the fundamental relatedness and unity of all human tribes, is as the heart of this ascension.
sorry… my final line should have read OR at long last rise above…
Shankari25–I’m a skeptic when it comes to most conspiracy thinking, but I am wondering if there is some merit to the Bilderberg theories. I think it’s possible that Bush and his cronies are untouchable because of some masterplan with an Ace of Trump up its sleeve–and it is fear in the face of that insidious power that prevents anyone from removing these evildoers from office. Fear immobilizes our defenders; the masses are duped into complacency with physical debilitation due to poor diets and lack of exercise; we are anesthetized by vice and distracted by our own backbiting and pointless entertainment; the planet is allowed to accelerate to some catastophic collapse so the masses can be exterminated–leaving the Bilerberg group and its ilk to survive and inherit the earth.
Of course, this would only be a surface explanation for why things are the way they are.
If I read her correctly, Siouxrose has her finger on the larger point. Maybe it is merely the earth– or the galaxy, or all of creation–Gaia– clearing its throat to spit us out. How egotistical we are to think that the survival or demise of humanity matter at all in the larger scheme of things.
Gaia (the earth) was born from Chaos, and will return to be reborn again. It is an ancient cycle, common to all cultures in some form. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaia_hypothesis
To ALL the Children of the world:
I wrote the following reflection for them just a few days after the USA bombed Baghdad and published it in my first book:
“KEEP HOPE ALIVE”
CATS AND COMPASSION
Terese absentmindedly caressed the pristine one hundred sheet Official Mead Composition notebook during breakfast. Terese had been writing poetry for years, but refused to let anyone read any of it. She even refused Jake and had a secret ritual. The first full moon after she completed a book, she would light a fire at 1 a.m. in the fire pit where Jake barbequed. She would read her words one last time by the light of the moon, then toss in the Official Mead Composition notebook. She would walk in circles as it burned, and only after the embers died did her ritual circular walk.
After breakfast, she brushed her teeth, grabbed her backpack, and set off into the woods, pondering, “I have been wrestling with this idea for a book for too long. Will this try end up in the fire, too? As always, I do not know; I never know anything before I begin, and as long as I stay open to learn as I go, it will be okay, okay. Christ have mercy on me and help me, please! How do I explain concrete walls to little children, and why men choose violence? How do you explain irrational adult behavior to little ones? Why do men choose hatred, injury, discord, error, and darkness to love, pardon, unity, truth, and light? Why is that? Christ have mercy on us all!”
Terese sighed deeply and immediately became aware of the sun’s rays filtered through the thickly canopied trail, and sensed the scurrying of small creatures around her, who were camouflaged beneath the thick carpet of leaves she tread upon. At the end of the trail, a gazebo had been erected in memory of a fallen soldier in a long ago war. Terese blessed herself as she entered, then opened her backpack, removed three gel pens and the one hundred sheet Official Mead Composition notebook, and groaned, “Okay, okay.”
Terese stared at the upper left corner of the virgin leaf of paper in her Official Mead Composition notebook and sighed as she chewed the end of a gel pen. After a few deep breathes, she set the tip down at the uppermost intersection of the red vertical line and the first of twenty-four horizontal blue lines, and watched in amazement as words filled the page:
I am an old crone now, but I once was your age.
I remember, when I was seven years old, I saw a picture in the newspaper of a little naked girl running in terror from a mushroom cloud, and I wondered, why did that girl have to run for her life in her hometown, when in mine, everyone was safe and happy?
That girl in the picture wasn’t safe, and she was not happy. I wondered about her, and me, and my hometown, and America.
I am an old crone now and I still wonder…
When images from Vietnam were on the TV screen, I was a mom of three and seven months pregnant with twins. I went into early labor on that day; a shot rang out in my hometown, and America’s prophet bled on the concrete of Memphis.
Terese sighed, flipped to a clean page, and wondered, “I am getting nowhere. I want to explain why there is war to children, but I don’t know how to go about it.”
She chewed the end of her gel pen and stared into the pistil and stamen of a white and violet day lily that grew next to the gazebo. A gunfire round of riveting from the redheaded woodpecker above her head brought Terese back to her empty page, and she sighed, “Christ, have mercy on me. What’s the deal with me? How could I think I could write a story to explain war to children, when I don’t understand why war has to be?”
She bit her lip and sighed a few more times, before putting the gel pen back to the paper. She lit up like a Christmas tree as the words flew from her fingers:
Have you heard the one about Dorothy and her cats?
Dorothy was about your age when her tiny orange and calico cat named Peachez met with an early demise. You see, little Peachez, barely a year old, got too big for her breeches, and snuck out Dorothy’s front door. Nobody knew except Rikki, the deer dog who lived next door.
Rikki could not resist his nature to hunt, and Peachez was most exotic fare, for in this neighborhood, cats lived inside. Little defenseless Peachez never had a chance, for Rikki bit right through the neck of that tiny orange and calico cat.
Oh, how Dorothy mourned; oh, how she grieved; after a week, her mother could take it no more, and told her, “Girl, you need a new kitty!”
Dorothy agreed.
“Then, I will call the cat league and see what they have in stock, okay, Dorothy?”
“Okay, okay, do it for me, please.”
“Happily,” her mom told her, as she dialed the animal league.
Dorothy could not believe it when she heard her mother say, “Hi, have you got any kitties that need a home?”
Dorothy exploded, “No, not just any kitty, I know exactly what I want. I want a pure white cat with blue eyes the color of the summer sky, and I’ll call him Bob.”
“Okay, okay. Did you hear all that, lady from the animal league?”
“Yes, I did, and, ah–good luck with it. I have a lot of cats that could be Bob; some have pure white fur, but not a one has blue eyes.”
“Okay, thanks, we will continue on,” Dorothy’s mom sighed, as she hung up the phone.
“Girl, I have to pick up the dry cleaning next to the veterinarian’s office. Come with me now, and maybe someone there will be able to help you find your Bob with blue eyes and white fur on.”
For the first time since Peachez demise, Dorothy smiled when she said, “Okay, okay.”
Dorothy and her mom stood in line at the vet’s office for an interminable time before a doe-eyed brunette, as thin as a French-cut string bean, noticed them and inquired, “Hi, can I help you?”
Dorothy replied, “I am looking for the cat of my dreams; he has pure white fur and eyes the color of the summer sky, and his name is Bob.”
“Well, this is most numinous. You see, I have a five-year-old cat back in storage that needs a home. He is very sad, for he has been in a cage for almost seven months. He has licked off all his hair, and he pouts a lot.
“You see, it was Thanksgiving week when his first family dropped him off. They didn’t love him. They tossed him away. They wanted the doctor to give him a shot, to put him to sleep. But I said, ‘No way! I’ll put that cat in storage, and one day, someone will come in here and take him away.”’
Dorothy’s mom interrupted. “There must be a reason that family tossed that cat away.”
The doe-eyed string bean replied, “Sister, let me tell you, this cat is no more neurotic than any other cat I have known. I will not lie to you, for he is indeed one neurotic cat, who never was a beauty. But he did have white fur when he came in here, and his eyes are still as blue as a summer sky. He is most definitely OC; you see, he licks himself a lot, and so, is now as bald as a bat.
“Oh, by the way, he whines like a banshee and paces about. You see, after his upsetting Thanksgiving holiday, the vet fixed him for Christmas, and no doubt you can imagine why he is naturally still quite upset about that. Oh, by the way, he has claws, and since he is too old for surgery, they must stay. But, sister, I assure you, he’s no more or less neurotic than any other cat around. Follow me into the back room, and you will see that he really is a cool cat; you should take him away.”
“I think Dorothy wants a blue-eyed baby kitty, not one so worn-out,” Dorothy’s mother pleaded, looking hopefully at her daughter.
“I don’t care how old he is, as long as he is my Bob,” Dorothy shouted over the cacophony of barking and yelping, as the doe-eyed string bean stopped in front of the center cage and announced,
“Surely, I told you–this cat has always been called Bob.”
And with that, she turned, and with one smooth motion, unlatched the cage and pulled out a long scrawny cat, with a few patches of white fur, but mostly skin showing. His enormous blue eyes, the color of the summer sky, looked into Dorothy’s, and he moaned like a baby in pain; Dorothy proclaimed, “He’s the one!”
Dorothy took him home on her shoulder as her mom drove the Crossfire, and Bob never moved a muscle, nor made a sound. Dorothy’s mom thought, This won’t be so bad, right?
As soon as Dorothy put Bob down in her room, he wailed and moaned, and Dorothy did not know what to do, until her mom told her, “He’s just like a baby, and you may have to walk the floors holding him all night. Welcome to motherhood.”
Dorothy gleefully picked Bob back up and carried him around on her shoulder, just like you would a little baby. Every single time she put Bob down, he would whine, kvetch, and pace all around, and would stare at her with his blue eyes the color of a summer sky. Dorothy swore she heard him say, “Sister, I’ve got the blues bad, and I can’t calm down unless you carry me around.”
The very next night, the bombs hit Baghdad.
All night, Dorothy walked the floors with Bob, the blue-eyed cat on her shoulder, and a heart breaking, breaking, breaking for all the innocents caught up in the crossfire. She knew she was connected. You are too.
In the 11th century, Hildegard of Bingen knew:
God responds speedily whenever the blood of innocence is being shed. Of this the angel choirs are singing and re-echoing their praise. And yet at the loss of innocence clouds are weeping.
Bob, the blue eyed cat, has now calmed down. He doesn’t want to be held, and he never makes a sound. His hair has grown back, pure white and coarse as grit. Into his summer sky blue eyes, clouds of cataracts have moved in. He moves slowly, slowly, slowly. Bob tucks his front legs under his chest and gently bows as he gets down. What a contemplative Bob has become, for deliberate movement is prayer.
A new kitty has moved into Dorothy’s house, too. A black and white long–haired, green-eyed feline named Oreo. Dorothy found her when she was only a week old and abandoned by her cat mom, who left the litter and never returned. Dorothy fed the baby kitty every three hours for three weeks with an eyedropper, and kept her warm.
Oreo has now grown big and strong, and likes to play, but sometimes can be a pain. Bob always treats her gently, even when she bites his tail; he either plays or he walks away.
Terese stretched and moaned,“That’s as far as I can go today.”
Eileen Fleming,
Reporter and Editor WAWA:
http://www.wearewideawake.org/
Author “Keep Hope Alive” and “Memoirs of a Nice Irish American ‘Girl’s’ Life in Occupied Territory”
Producer “30 Minutes With Vanunu” and “13 Minutes with Vanunu”
shankari25 - How differently you will think and write when you stop thinking in terms of “they.” We are all the “they” you refer to - yes, even you.
As for the constant references on CD to “the mindset of the “average american”… the complacency with the criminal government,…,” why we haven’t dragged GWB from the Oval Office by his EARS (oh how I dream of that), etc. - WHAT ARE ALL OF YOU DOING WHEN YOU AREN’T BLOGGING ON CD? Do you think words equal action?
If it weren’t for Siouxrose’s contributions I’d probably never read these responses. Oh and yeah, well, I like MY input, too.
Damn straight.
POGO was also aware, that the enemy is uses.
Riverman101/Dougwagner
I am going to say this as clearly as I can, even though I know you can’t understand: Pro-choice is not necessarily pro-abortion. Your assumption that they are the same thing is illogical. Pro-choice means you believe women should have the right to choose. Pro-abortion means you want them to choose abortion.
Despite what the religious fanatics say, there is probably nobody on the planet who is actually Pro-abortion (which means thinking that everyone should have abortions all the time.) And I think it is safe to safe that everybody on the planet is already Pro-life (thinking that life is a good thing)or they would themselves already be dead by suicide. The conflict is between those who are Pro-choice and those who are Anti-choice. The debate is not about babies at all, it is about whether an individual woman has the god-given, inalienable right to decide what should happen with her own body. Personally, as I stated above, I wish that women would not have abortions (thus I am Pro-life) but I am in favor of women being given the freedom to choose for themselves. And I believe that I am on the side of God and Nature, because both of those entities grant each woman that right. God gives us free-will and nature gives the individual female the ability to conceive, carry, deliver or abort that baby without any help from any of us. It is therefore each woman’s right and responsibility to do what she believes is the right thing in her situation. I hope and pray that women will choose not to abort. If there are women out there reading this who need or want my help, I am willing to help you–email gfabswab@hotmail.com.
my2sense - thank you. Very well said and I agree. I will always be prochoice, and wouldn’t wish an unwanted pregnancy on any woman. I have done volunteer work for Planned Parenthood (working with cancer patients, though I support all aspects of PP), and I’ve also purchased cribs for so-called “prolife” organizations that work with pregnant women who MAKE THE CHOICE to give birth.
If men with “riverman’s” passion would put their energies towards working with young boys and men about their responsibility in preventing unwanted pregnancy, that could bring tremendous meaning to his life - and we would all be better off for it. We’re really off topic on this particular article/blog … but that’s okay.
The government of this country doesn’t represent the people. My generation was not a bunch of lieing murderer’s. Our country has been taken over by a nefarious bunch of lunatic’s. To what country they have allegience to is questionable. Are they foreigner’s? We can follow the money trail to see who is financially benefitting.
To believe all the different types of damage done to this place has not been intentional is being naive. It doesn’t help when you have a significant portion of your population actively cheering on and abetting it’s destruction. [the red staters]
I say that outside and internal forces are acting together with one of their intent’s being to destroy this place.
I have a daughter in the 1991 et seq age group, which means that if she were born in Iraq at that time, there would have been a ~1/8 chance of bot living to reach age 5. Sadly, the 2003 et seq group in Iraq has about the same mortality. Frame this issue around the children, we might turn a few “family values” types to our side. Of course, these would be only those who truly believe in family values.
The level of lethal racism in the US is way to high, and in the US military virtually 100%.
Eileen Fleming: I loved your Cats and Compassion!
Eileen that was a beautiful story. Our cats have a way of drawing us to them and comforting us during the hardest of times. I realize there is so much destruction and death in Iraq, but sometimes I wonder what about the dogs and cats there? I suppose when life becomes a matter of survival, pets are simply abandoned and left to their own devices, frightened of the constant shooting and explosions. Our cats have it very good, far better than most of the people on this planet.
The article really voices the feelings of most people who were against the war from the beginning. It talks about how we could see the wolf in sheeps clothing, the gaps in logic that half of America could not or refused to see. Now that it has all turned out like we thought it would we must sit here along with everybody else and watch the sinking of the ship. Our biggest problem at this point is that portion of Americans who remain loyalists to the criminal cabal known as the Neocons aka George Bush, Cheney, etc. Lie after lie one on top of the other makes for a fuzzy picture and if you prefer to simply contemplate the waving of the American flag then their picture suffices quite nicely. Good luck to your daughter’s generation. Unless they stand up for truth, the criminal and the insane, the likes of whom have almost destroyed this country already, will only be able to listlessly take us into deeper and deeper realms of travesty. May dishonest platitudes be revealed and truth take hold, common sense truth, the kind everybody can know, the kind that made us oppose this war in the first place.