War kills people, real people. Sons and daughters, husbands and wives, fathers and mothers. These people are dying, dying everyday. We watch the reports on the television and think we know what's going on. I have had countless discussions (arguments) with people that are so supportive of this war that it scares me. I keep trying to tell them that they aren't getting the whole picture. Some because they just choose not to, others because they believe all the propaganda that is presented to us as facts. So many are so set in their beliefs that America is 'right', and that there is actually some justification to this war. I tell them that they would look at it differently if it were their son/daughter, husband/wife that was being sent to Iraq. Of course, that doesn't really even penetrate their thought process because they bought into all the pre war rhetoric after 9/11. They watch the news at night, see the body count of our soldiers ever increasing and it still doesn't sink in. These are real people dying and these are real families being destroyed. They watch the news, may express some form of regret about the loss of life, then turn the channel to watch American Idol.
What makes the war real is when your doorbell rings at 8:00 pm and you open it to see an Army soldier standing there in his dress uniform, with all his medals on display. And then you know, you know that it is all too real. You know that REAL people die; you know that they have come to rip your heart out. They regretfully inform you that your only child, the center of your universe, is gone. Dead! The word screams in your head over and over. DEAD, DEAD, DEAD!! That is exactly what happened, Dec. 21, here in our own community. Another soldier died, another family was destroyed, I know because he was my soldier, my son and it was my family that was destroyed. He was a 2001 Centennial graduate that had already served the three years that he had signed for, but was kept in the Army under the stop loss program.
Why? Why have we put more than 1,400 American families through this? More than 1,400 families that have had their hearts ripped out. Mothers and fathers that will never again hug their child, husbands and wives that will never again cuddle in each others arms, sons and daughters that will miss the love and support of their lost parent. I read all the reports and listen to all the hype. It amazes me how many Americans have bought into one reason or another for going to war. Whatever the reason; WMD's, evil dictator, fighting terrorism, spreading democracy, or just sending a message, Americans could buy into one or more of those reasons because of 9/11. The Bush administration knew this and used it.
War is nothing but killing and destruction. When are Americans going to stop and ask themselves "At What Cost?" We aren't even willing to acknowledge the number of Iraqi civilians that we have killed. At the very start of the war, we dropped a bunker busting bomb on a restaurant that Saddam was suppose to be at, we found out later that was yet more bad intelligence. I wonder how many Americans bothered to asked themselves how many innocent Iraqis were killed in the six city blocks that that bomb took out. We justify our actions by saying that we are doing it in the name of freedom, or something. But do we even stop to ask ourselves how the families feel of all those Iraqi's that that one bomb destroyed. Do they have justification in calling us terrorists? Now, multiply that by three years and thousands upon thousands of bombs.
I saw a picture online the other day of an Iraqi father crying as he kissed the forehead of his dead son. I understand this man's pain; this man's loss, and again I say AT WHAT COST? Our president took this country to war, a war that I feel too many Americans still are not willing to weigh the consequences of. But then again, for some of us, the consequences are more real.
In loving memory of Jorge & Vickie E. Castro's son Jonathan Castro.
Jorge and Vickie Castro are the parents of Spc. Jonathan Castro, 21, who was one of 22 (14 U.S. soldiers) who were killed in the December 21st explosion at the mess hall tent at Camp Marez, Mosul, Iraq. The Castros are members of Military Families Speak Out (www.mfso.org) and Gold Star Families for Peace (www.gsfp.org). They live in Corona, California.
###
