Community Speak-Out Against the War crowd overflows

Intermountain Catholic

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Diocesan Government Liaison Dee Rowland (left) listens as Anwar Arafat, University of Utah Muslim Student Association president, talks about the frustration and fear felt by Muslims in the U.S. during the Community Speak-Out Against the War Jan. 27. IC photo by Barbara S. Lee

SALT LAKE CITY — More and more Utahns who object to the war in Iraq are taking their opinions and feelings to the public forum. At an anti-war Community Speak-Out Jan. 27 at the Downtown Salt Lake City Library, veterans of the war in Vietnam were joined by recently returned Iraq war veterans, families of soldiers fighting in Iraq, and other peace activists filling the library auditorium to overflowing.

Diocesan government liaison Dee Rowland read from statements made by Catholic leaders in response to President Bush’s proposed change of course in Iraq.

"Prior increases in troop numbers have not led to increased peace or security, but rather an increase in violence and death for U.S. soldiers and Iraqi civilians," Rowland said.

"We respond in the context of Jesus’ call to us in the Beatitudes to be people of peace (Matt 5:9), and to love our enemies (Luke 6:27) as well as the November 2006 statement by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. In that statement, the bishops note that the pain and destruction of the war in Iraq is measured in lives lost and many more injured, in widespread sectarian strife, civil insurgency, and terrorist attacks, and in the daily struggles of Iraqis to build a decent future for their devastated nation. They note further that the way forward is bleak and state that the Holy See and our conference now support broad and necessary engagement to promote stability and reconstruction in Iraq.

"We are keenly aware that the members of the U.S. military and their families are shouldering the heavy burdens of extended service in Iraq. They risk death and injury of both body and spirit. However, it is crucial to recognize that political and economic concerns, not military issues, are fueling the continuing strife. Therefore, only solutions that combine the political, diplomatic, economic, and religious issues Iraqis face will effectively resolve the underlying conflict and bring peace to Iraq. As the last three years have demonstrated, increasing the U.S. troop presence in Iraq will neither address the root causes of civil strife nor quell the violence. Increasing U.S. military action will needlessly endanger our troops and detract from effective action to achieve a cease-fire and create peace. Therefore, the escalation of military presence in Iraq is detrimental to our men and women in the armed forces."

Rowland also remarked that the escalation will be far more harmful to Iraqi citizens "who are paying the ultimate price in ever-increasing numbers, through violence, hunger, and lack of ordinary services."

Cory Bushman, moderator of the Speak-Out, in her opening remarks, said, "working class kids are fighting this war. We must support them. But we also must also be aware of the cost of the blood of our children and of innocent Iraqis."

University of Utah Sociology Professor Theresa Martinez shared her memories of growing up in a family in which her brothers fought in the war in Vietnam and the tremendous hardships that war inflicted on her family. Their service brought back memories of the service of their uncles in World War II.

"My mom and I would say a rosary together during the day. My mom found some solace in her tremendous faith. But her own memories held her – her own beloved brother, Quirino Chávez, had died in World War II. Of her eight brothers who served in the Second World War, he was the only one to fall, and the closest of her brothers. She would spend a lot of time on her knees, my Mom.

"…I tell you this story, so that you will understand that my family is deeply acquainted with war, so that you will know that I respect and honor those who have served and who serve today in the Armed Forces, those who serve in Iraq and Afghanistan…"

Martinez shared a letter she wrote to her nephew, James, as he was making the decision to join the military and help fight the war in Iraq.

"…You know that Michael and I do not support this war. The shades of Vietnam come to mind when I see the news reports and read about this war. I wonder if we are ‘over there’ for the right reasons… But there is something I don’t ever want you to forget. We support you. We believe in you, whatever may happen. Your Mom and Dad, your family, have made you of some pretty amazing stuff… Your Mom and Dad and your brothers and sisters love you very much. Keep that thought close at all times. Your grandparents, your aunts and uncles, and your friends love you as well… Together, we ask God to bless you as you take this major step in life."

Kim Spangrude of Utah Military Families Speak Out said military families are not known to be pacifists. They are "families giving their all. They care about and desire peace, and in many ways they give the greatest sacrifice."

Spangrude questioned President Bush’s right to even use the word "sacrifice," when it is the military families and the military men and women who are doing all the sacrificing.

"Our children are not your children," Spangrude said, quoting remarks by MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann. "Bush has heard everyone and listened to none… What right does he have to use the word ‘sacrifice?’ The president had no idea what he is doing, and that other Americans will have to die for that reason."

Rick Miller of Veterans for Peace and Soldiers for Peace, told his story of service in Vietnam. "I have crossed the line," Miller said. "I have pulled the trigger on human life."

Miller carries in his wallet a photograph of the first man he killed, "and I apologize to him every day."

Marshall Thompson went to Iraq as a military journalist, and when he came home, he walked 500 miles, the length of Utah, to express his distaste for the war in Iraq.

"It is time for honest men to rebel," he said, drawing words from Henry David Thoreau’s objections to the Mexican War. "The time is now to protest, to demonstrate, to commit civil disobedience. That is the first step in taking action. It is a logical step in following in the footsteps of Mahatma Gandhi and Dr. Martin Luther King... I have to say, President Bush no longer represents me or my government."

Larry Cannon, another Iraq veteran, decried President Bush for using the American Military as a tool. "The military is a tool that is breaking. I can say we are feeling frustrated and isolated from the rest of the real world. Our government had a choice, and it did not make the right choice. Now, we are dealing with an insurgency that no one has wanted to call an insurgency. We are losing men and women for no purpose. I have to live with this war, and I don’t want other people to have to make the choices I have made."

Anwar Arafat, president of the University of Utah Muslim Student Association, spoke of the fear and frustration among American Muslims. "We feel for you. But we feel we can’t do anything about this war. What our government is doing does not make any sense. It is not a democracy any more, and there is no cause for all the killing."

Utah poet and activist Terry Tempest Williams said ending the war in Iraq "must be our priority… Why have we, the people, allowed this? We, the people, with love and sacred outrage, must say, ‘Enough.’"

The Speak-Out closed with a showing of Michael Franti’s film, "I Know I’m Not Alone," which reveals the thoughts of an American soldier fighting in Iraq who no longer believes in the mission there.