A Matter of Freedom: Sitting In
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by Carol Glenn
Published on Tuesday, July 1, 2003 by CommonDreams.org
In the summer of 1971, my husband was killed while on active military duty. In a turbulent time he was a patriot, a military man and a teacher. Witty and charming, with sandy-red hair, blue eyes and an infectious boyish grin, he was a passionate environmentalist, a hunter, an avid birder and a dedicated advocate of historic preservation. He loved good cars, fast planes and teaching. He left two small children, 5 and 2. He was 31.
On behalf of the ideals we shared, of my own beliefs, and in honor of his memory, I have actively protested the war with Iraq and the Bush Administration's lack of true international diplomacy and of a valid coalition in this endeavor. While some agree with my stand, many other people do not. That is fine. The freedom to disagree with our politicians is one of the freedoms which we, as Americans, believe in and cherish.
What disturbs me beyond words is the concept that protest in time of conflict is anti-American. Nothing could be further from the truth! Our nation was founded in protest and upon the right of free speech. It is a vital part of our Constitution and our democracy, the very democracy we claim we wish to share with the people of Iraq.
I believe that the doctrine of pre-emptive war is fraught with danger and moral ambiguity. Iraq did not attack us on 9/11, nor was Iraq linked to 9/11, but the Administration has tacitly and actively encouraged the American people to conclude that Iraq attacked us. (The terrorists who attacked us were predominantly Saudi Arabian, and their funding was primarily through Saudi Arabian interests). Any links between Iraq and al Qaeda have been to date tenuous at best.
Although Saddam and his sons were evil beyond telling, was there a better way to remove them or negate their power? Were all options explored? The moral question becomes this: how many Iraqis do we kill in war and, indirectly, how many do we cause to die in the aftermath of the war to save them from their dictator?
What were the true complexities behind the decision to wage this war? It is a fact that this war was in the planning stages as early as 1998, well before 9/11. Donald Rumsfeld, Richard Perle, Paul Wolfowitz, Dick Cheney, William Bennett and other members of the think-tank The Project for the New American Century outlined it as the first step in recreating governments compatible to American and Israeli interests throughout the Middle East. They stated that a Pearl Harbor-like event could be used to trigger an attack on Iraq. (Syria and Iran were to follow, according to their early position papers.)
Will this war harden the anti-American sentiments prevalent throughout the Middle East and provide the Bin Ladens of the world with their most effective recruiting tool to date? How will we react if the people of Iraq choose to replace their dictatorship with a fundamentalist theocracy?
Initially my protests were in desperate (and I knew futile) hope that our troops would not be sent to Iraq and put in harm's way. Not only did they risk injury or death; war requires soldiers to commit acts and experience events that can scar them for the rest of their lives.
What is more patriotic than striving to prevent such an engagement? Yet when the war began how could I not, while continuing to oppose the war, support our men and women fighting abroad? They did not institute the policies, nor did they invent the dubious rationale that we were fighting in Iraq for "our freedom."
I know what it is like to receive the "knock on the door," the knock which changes life forever. I have been solemnly presented the American flag, held above the grave as it is folded into a neat triangle to remain forever enshrined in its custom-fitting triangular plastic case. I was left to explain to my child after the burial that, no, we could not walk back down to the cemetery, dig up his adored Daddy and bring him home.
The war in Iraq was quick, as predicted. But winning the peace is an endeavor that will require extraordinary wisdom, statesmanship, and may well prove to be a long, costly and potentially dangerous undertaking.
Meanwhile, as our soldiers were risking their lives in the desert sands of Iraq, the Administration, while hailing them as heroes, quietly slashed their Veterans benefits in its budget proposal, an act that was both unpatriotic and immoral. (Not to mention that the Administration initially neglected to include funds in the budget for Afghanistan, a country that we invaded, "rescued" and then promptly forgot.) Holding steadfast to extravagant tax cuts which primarily benefit the wealthiest of Americans in a time of staggering budget deficits, the Administration will be paying teachers' salaries in Iraq while we are forced to cut teaching positions for our schools here at home.
While Attorney General Ashcroft strives to limit our freedoms in America in the name of security, Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld smiles and says freedom is "untidy" as people loot, trash and burn Iraq's national library and the national museum in Baghdad. A cultural catastrophe for the people of Iraq, the Arab world and, in fact, for the world as a whole, the destruction of the national museum and library was entirely preventable. Prior to the war, archaeologists and art historians from around the globe pleaded with the Defense Department to protect Iraq's museums and archaeologically significant sites, priceless treasures from the very cradle of civilization as we know it. However, the museum and library were not priorities on a par with protecting the Oil Ministry, and opportunistic art thieves moved in with alacrity, followed by the frenzied trashing of the looters.
As vital services are restored to Iraq, and the process of rebuilding begins in earnest (by companies well-connected to this Administration, the contracts awarded in a secret process behind closed doors), the Iraqi people will come to realize the magnitude of the cultural destruction visited upon them. This destruction, which America permitted to happen, will not help in winning hearts and minds.
And so, I must continue to protest the international and economic policies of this Administration. To speak my conscience is my patriotic duty as an American. Freedom of Speech is one of the cherished freedoms we must strive, not only to export to Iraq, but also to protect here at home. It is one of the venerated freedoms for which my husband was willing to give his life.
Carol Glenn (cglenn@seacoast.com) lives in Amesbury, Massachusetts.
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