“ … “ - We Americans on the plight of Iraq’s displaced, today Dear citizens, a few years ago, as I was working to get our military forces out of Iraq, I asked a very dear and very brilliant friend to review an essay I had just written. She kindly applauded my efforts at describing the imperative of withdrawal before chiding me mildly for ignoring the Iraqi people and all humanitarian concerns. As you can ... Read More
"We have shed blood together and that is a bond that no man can break." - U.S. General Ray Odierno in remarks to British troops working toward an end to their six-year occupation of Iraq (“U.S. Takes Control of Basra Base,” Sudarsan Raghavan, Washington Post, April 1, 2009) “I am going to drink their blood.” - Khalil Ibrahim al-Sammarai describing his plans for his son’s killers (“A Quiet Filled With Wariness,” Sudarsan Raghavan, Washington Post, February 26, 2009) Four thousand, three hundred and twenty-one. ... Read More
"When I said no negotiations I meant no negotiations. We know he's guilty. Turn him over. There's no need to discuss innocence or guilt." - U.S. President George W. Bush (“Bush rejects Taliban offer to surrender bin Laden,” The Independent, October 15, 2001.) Dear citizens, I came across a rather disturbing report yesterday—disturbing in part because I believe I was unaware of the information and disturbing largely because it reveals some brutally painful truths that shock the conscience. I was appalled to see the ... Read More
Looking out my window, I can see clearly the Air Force Memorial. It looms over the Pentagon, bordering the vast expanse of sacrifice-filled Arlington National Cemetery. I returned to this area as the memorial was being constructed and watched its completion in rapt fascination. I passed by almost daily on a bus that runs from my home to the Pentagon terminal, coming within a hundred yards or so of the base of the arcs that soar overhead. I had passed countless times ... Read More
A heartless cold has settled over this ground. I am wearing a shirt, a sweater, and have the collar of my field jacket turned up against the wind. Yet, when I am inactive in body or mind for more than a moment, the oppressive cold attacks me. I am forced to be inactive repeatedly, and the cold seems each time to reach inside my protections and directly squeeze my heart. Perhaps you felt it, too. The vista before me is one of small ... Read More
“It was a week when U.S. forces had engaged in combat in Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan—a string of countries stretching from the Mediterranean Sea to the Indian Ocean—following the footsteps of Alexander the Great, the Romans, and the British. For thousands of years, it has been the fate of the West’s great powers to become involved in the region’s politics. Since the Suez Crisis of 1956, when British and French influence suffered a major reduction, it has been the United States’ ... Read More
The gulf between a nation at war and its soldiers in combat can hardly have ever been larger than it is now in our country. The disparity in experiences between an American civilian and a member of our armed forces fighting or preparing to fight in Afghanistan or Iraq is unfathomable and untenable. Even here, in our nation’s capitol, reminders that our fellow Americans are fighting, killing, and dying, either because we wish them to do so or because we fail to ... Read More
While nearly three thousand innocent Americans died seven years and a day ago, and hundreds of additional American troops and thousands of Afghanis have died in the retaliation that followed, that is only one of two simultaneous tragedies. It is, in fact, when measured in absolute terms—human lives, the smaller of the two. Today marks the seven-year anniversary of the effective start of the other. On September 12, 2001, a day after an attack known to have been conducted by Osama bin Laden ... Read More
“I believe if we walk away, no matter how we got there, rightly or wrongly, if we walk away, what I see happening, from my experience in Iraq in 1993 after the first gulf war and before this one, as a medical missionary, here is what I see happening: If we do what the Senator from Wisconsin wants us to do, and we effectively carry this out, I see an unstable northern Iraq. I see a war between Iran, Turkey, and Kurdistan. ... Read More
“What is an insurrection? It is the people in arms. What is the people? It is that in a nation which refuses ever to bend its knee.” - Albert Camus, “They Shall Not Pass” Combat, August 23, 1944 Dear citizens, I write on a matter of great and urgent importance and trust you will approach this matter with the serious thought and concerted action it requires. We are faced with a choice between good ends and evil. We must ... Read More
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