FUSF Service – October 28, 2007: The Occupation of Iraq and UU Values
GATHERING
IN
MUSIC TO AWAKEN THE SPIRIT: “We Utter Our Cry” Hymn #137
SOUNDING A CALL TO WORSHIP
LIGHTING OF THE PEACE CANDLE
PRELUDE
OPENING WORDS #429 David Kassay
SINGING TOGETHER “Morning has Broken” Hymn #38
CONNECTING
CANDLES OF JOY AND SORROW Laura Cerier and Candy Schoenwolf
SING “Go Now in Peace” Hymn #413
CENTERING
ENTERING INTO A TIME OF SILENCE
WORDS OF CONNECTION Words of Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. S. Derdiarian
MUSIC RESPONSE “O Light of Life” Hymn #117
OFFERTORY
READING from “What was Asked of Us” S. Derdiarian
MUSIC “We Utter Our Cry” Hymn #137
REFLECTING
SERMON “How the Occupation of Iraq has Touched Us and Informed Our Values as UU’s”
Stephen Derdiarian and Donna Morrissey
WORDS OF CONNECTION readings from Judit Gellerd S. Derdiarian
RESPONSE FROM THE CONGREGATION
MUSIC “Imagine” by John Lennon sung by Michele Kelly
CLOSING
WORDS OF CONNECTION
Words of Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.
“We are here this evening for
serious business. We are here in a
general sense because, first and foremost, we are American citizens and we are
determined to apply our citizenship to the fullness of its meaning. We are here also because of our love for
democracy which, when transformed from thin paper to thick action, is the
greatest form of government on earth.
We are not afraid of what we are
doing, because we are doing it within the law.
There is never a time in our American democracy that we must ever think
we’re wrong when we protest. We
reserve that right.
I want to tell you this evening
that it is not enough for us to talk about love. Love is one of the pivotal points of Christian faith. There is another side called justice.
Standing beside love is always
justice, and we are only using the tools of justice. Not only is this thing a process of education but of legislation.”
_______________________________________________________________________
READING from “What
Was Asked of Us”, a collection of interviews compiled by Trish Wood of
Americans who have served in Iraq.
“I Didn’t Pray for the Iraqis”
Ken Davis
– 372nd Military Police Company Sept.-Dec. 2003 – Abu Ghraib Prison
Every morning I would go up on the roof and pray before a
mission, to put my request before God, to make sure we made it home safely, and
that morning I forgot, with all the chaos.
I just didn’t do it. I didn’t
pray.
We had fourteen prisoners in the back of the Deuce, which is
a two-and-a-half ton truck with benched in the back. It’s a troop transport, and normally we ran with the cover off
because we wanted the insurgents to see these were Iraqis in back there, so
they might not attack us. For some
reason we left the cover on the back of the truck this day.
Pretty soon, cars are starting to flash their lights behind
us and zip past us through this stretch of road, which suggested there could be
trouble coming. At the same time, it
hit me that I didn’t pray this morning.
Oh, man, so I started praying with my eyes open, driving, saying, “God,
I’m sorry I forgot to pray. Please keep
us safe.”
Our Humvee was about eleven or twelve feet from our truck
with the prisoners in it, and I had just said “Amen” after my prayers when
everything went black. The explosion
was so loud that I’ve got about a 30% hearing loss, and the smell, it was like
TNT; it just burned into my lungs. All
I could think of was my gunner: God,
no, not Smitty! So I reach up, and
I yank as hard as I can on him, and he pulls back against me, letting me know
he’s alive. Then he’s firing in case
this is an ambush.
I remembered my training to just keep going, and just as I’m
driving through the black smoke, I see the Deuce careen off to my left. It was coming to a stop, so I slam on my
brakes, and I angle off so I could offer them some cover, and I see a rifle
coming out of the Deuce. It was
Sergeant Cook, carrying an M16/203. He
was shell-shocked and had blood coming out of his ears.
As I’m looking in the back, I see blood, and I remember
before the explosion seeing everybody, all the prisoners sitting, and then
there was the explosion, and I saw things go flying, and now there was no one
sitting on the benches.
I remember as we are pulling the wounded off the truck that
they were still handcuffed from behind, so they couldn’t defend or help
themselves. It was the biggest letdown
of my heart, because I remember thinking that these guys trusted me to help
them. They trusted me to get them where
they were going safely. I just kept
thinking that my prayers in the Humvee just before it happened had been for the
soldiers” “God, help me get my soldiers back home.: I didn’t pray for the Iraqis…It wasn’t to get the Iraqis home
safely and I felt guilty.
All at one time, it starts flooding in as we’re getting the
wounded off. There’s one laying on the
floor, not moving, and there’s a guy who’s got his hands handcuffed behind him,
and he looks at me, and he says, “Help my friend.” Actually, his friend was already dead. I remember just feeling like, what use am I? You know, where’s my place here? Where do I fit in anymore, because I can’t
even help those that are helpless? I
can’t even protect those that need my protection.
I remember putting on my Oakleys, my sunglasses, and I
started bawling. I just started crying,
and I said, “God, you picked the wrong guy for this job. You picked the wrong guy to be in this country,
because if I’ve got to deal with this, I can’t take this. I can’t take losing like this.”
There were six wounded Iraqis medevaced out to CASH 28, and
I remember the seven other detainees sitting on the sidewalk, and they said
“Sergeant Davis, we don’t want to go to court today. Take us back home.” I know they were affected because they
called Abu Ghraib home. They just
wanted to go back where they were at least halfway safe.
What makes us always right?
That’s what I always ask myself:
America, what makes us always right?
In the Christian tradition, it is very clear that if you’ve sinned,
acknowledge your sin. And even if
that’s not enough, you go to your brothers and sisters, and they help lift you
up. But if you will not admit your sin,
God will shine his light on it and show you.
Someone’s got to stand up and take the blame for this war and say…we’re
sorry.
As for what I saw in Abu Ghraib, I don’t believe it was just
a few bad apples, I’m not that gullible.
I am not going to be lied to by a government that I would have given my
life for in Iraq.
________________________________________________________________
SERMON: “How the Occupation of Iraq has Touched Us and
Informed Our Values as UU’s”
Stephen Derdiarian and Donna Morrissey
PART 1 - How did we get to where we are
today? (S. Derdiarian)
Before
speaking of the current occupation of Iraq I feel it is of value to revisit the
train of events which our were allowed to lead our nation there. Too often events happen in a seemingly
singular manner only to quickly recede from our memories. However, when these events are placed
together in their entirety there is power in the story that they tell.
For myself
this string of events began when the Florida recount in the 2000 presidential
election was shut down by the Supreme Court.
They did so by cynically reinterpreting “Voting Rights Act” legislation,
intended to protect the rights of
minorities to vote, instead to mean the rights of George W. Bush were somehow
being violated by a recount of a vote in which Al Gore won the national popular
election.
This in a
state where the election was rife with fraud:
African Americans deprived of their vote by being miscast as felons,
Jewish voting districts claimed to have voted overwhelmingly for Buchanon, a
key polling station recount shut down by “outraged citizens” (in fact paid GOP
operatives) pounding on its doors.
Those who felt the election had been stolen were told “get over
it”.
Ten days after taking office Cheney, our backdoor president,
launched a secretive Energy Task Force comprised of leaders of energy companies
who were also major donors to their campaign.
When asked for names and topics of discussion, Cheney stonewalled
Congress. Judicial Watch subsequently
forced release of documents from Task Force meetings relating to Iraq’s oil
resources and their controlling interests.
The Bush
administration subsequently ignored warnings by Richard Clarke and others that
a terrorist attack using planes as bombs was likely, even as late as weeks
before 9/11. Inexplicably to this day
jet interceptors did not scramble in sufficient time to intercept the
off-course passenger planes even given far more than sufficient warning
time.
Several
days after the attack Bush initiated bombing of Afghanistan, declaring he
wanted “Osama Bin Laden dead or alive”.
Upon Bin Laden’s later embarrassing escape from Tora Bora, Bush went on
to say he wasn’t a priority, the first in many unabashed changes in the
administrations story without further explanation. He’s still at large.
The
ironically labeled “Patriot Act”, launched on a wave of fear and paranoia, used
9/11 as a pretext to strip away liberties and protections long guaranteed in
the Bill of Rights and Constitution.
Sowing of fear became the order of the day with yellow, orange and red
security level declarations curiously linked to elections and votes by
Congress.
“We don’t
want the next thing we see to be a mushroom cloud,” Cheney and Rice alluding to
uranium tubes from Nigeria. When former
Ambassador Joseph Wilson exposed this as misinformation, the administration
outed his wife, Valerie Plame, as a CIA agent and proceeded to lie about their
involvement. When Scooter Libby was
convicted for his part in the exposure he was pardoned, protecting the
administration.
Colin Powell went to the UN and misrepresented intelligence
in an unsuccessful attempt to have them sanction war. Aerial photos of common trailers were characterized as “mobile
chemical warfare labs”. Statements
described as coming from official British intelligence sources were in fact
quotes taken out of context from a British students thesis.
During the
summer of 2002 Bush commences a massive troop build-up on the borders of Iraq
coinciding with repeated allusions to “WMD’s” never found by Hans Blix or
others, and a link between 9/11 and Iraq, this in spite of Sadam Hussein being
a secular leader disdainful of zealots like Bin Laden. The press fails to
investigate and a majority of Americans swallow the bait.
In an
attempt to cloak his actions in an air of credibility, Bush claims the support
of a “Coalition of the Willing”, in reality the US and Britain with a retinue
of small third world nations looking for favors. France, Germany and Moslem nations bowed out.
In March of
2003 Bush launches our nation’s first “pre-emptive” aggressor war against
another nation. “Shock and Awe” is
presented on television as though it were a fireworks display, while on the
ground civilians were dying, museums looted, and water, sanitary and electric
services destroyed with health consequences still seen today.
Profiteering
commences by a new breed of businesses aimed at privatizing the functions of
the military. Halliburton becomes
synonymous with non-compete contracts resulting in price gouging, shoddy
construction, lying about food provided to soldiers, and over 16 billion in
revenue accrued since the start of the war.
Cheney declares no conflict of interest, while still controlling 433,000
stock options valued at upwards of $20 million.
Blackwater,
which means “sewage” in engineering circles, went from $200,000 revenue in 2000
to over $1 billion in revenue today, the vast majority received via no-bid
contracts. The company charges the
government on average $450,000 per year for their consultants, who in turn
receive about 6 times the salary of an American soldier. They are responsible to no one but their
employer and can literally get away with murder.
Author
Jeremy Scahill states “There are 170 mercenary companies in Iraq today – a
looting of the US treasury and accountable to no one, never charged. Part of the most massive privatization
scheme in US history”. 53 Senators
voted against independent committee hearings into contractor fraud in Iraq, all
Republicans.
Massive
amounts of US money has simply disappeared through fraud in Iraq, one Iraqi
official alone being believed to have siphoned off over a billion dollars. American guns and munitions have also
disappeared in startling quantities, many likely sold for profit.
Bush, the
onetime National Guard airman of questionable service, declared “Mission
Accomplished” upon landing on the aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln in a flight
suit on May 1, 2003, seemingly planned as a publicly paid for commercial for
his next campaign. This later backfires
as the war grinds on.
Propaganda
also began to backfire, first in the case of Jessica Lynch’s portrayal as a
heroic fighter resisting capture, a fabricated tale Jessica herself
exposes. Football player Pat Tillman’s
portrayal as having died valiantly fighting the enemy was also exposed as a lie
perpetrated upon the public and his own family, Tillman having died instead in
an incident of friendly fire still shrouded
in mystery.
Our nations
name increasingly became sullied by incidents contrary to the Geneva Convention
and our own traditions of transparent justice.
Gitmo, our prison in Guantanamo Bay, was created to hold Moslems picked
up in Afghanistan without trial, many whose only crime was being turned in for
reward money. Most have now been held
for years without any formal accusations being brought against them and without
access to legal recourse.
Abu Ghraib,
Hussein’s notorious torture prison, was exposed on the internet with
shameful photographs of torture this
time at the hands of Americans, severely damaging US credibility in the Moslem
world. The administrations response? The Geneva conventions no longer apply to
us.
All the
while casualties continued to mount, the dead flown back in secrecy, those who
dare to photograph a planeload of flag draped coffins fired from their
jobs. This is to be a war where
casualties are to be kept from sight, a war where costs in lives and money are
to be concealed lest they sow doubt.
New words
are introduced into our lexicon to cloak their real meaning.
“Extraordinary
rendition”, a new name for illegally abducting people and flying them to
foreign prisons where they can be tortured – now called “enhanced interrogation”
in this administration’s “new speak.”.
“Redaction”,
which means the extensive blacking out of lines in books and articles ascribed
to protecting national security while in fact masking the truth. Example:
global warming papers and whole sections of Valerie Plame’s new expose.
“Signing
statements” - a ploy whereby laws voted in by Congress are ostensibly signed
into effect by Bush, but with the proviso that they do not apply to him. The Globe revealed hundreds of cases of
this, more than all prior presidents combined, showing a well documented
disdain for the rule of law.
“Wartime
President”, a term which provides cover
for using executive privilege to avoid
control by Congress and established law.
“Stop-loss
orders” requiring unprecedented extended lengths of service by regular army and
National Guardsman alike, now averaging 15 months.
“IED’s”, an
acronym for deadly “improvised explosive devices”, in more innocent times
simply called bombs.
“Transport
Tubes”, sounding like something out of Star Trek, this is the intentionally
innocuous sounding new name for body bags.
More Bush “new speak”.
And
statements such as “You go to war with the army you have, not the army you wish
you had”, Rumsfeld’s statement to a soldier asking why they were sent to war
with such insufficient body armor that their own families had to buy it and
send it to them. And why unarmored
Humvees had to have steel plate jury rigged to them by soldiers as protection
from IED’s.
And
finally, “patriotic”, a word recast by this administration to mean blind
allegiance, whereby all dissent is characterized as suspect and harmful to our
nations war effort and security. In the
past such a stance would be assumed to be that of an unelected dictatorship,
not that of a democracy.
Today, as
U.S. military actions in Iraq grind into a fifth year, a majority of the people
in the United States disapprove of the way President Bush is handling the Iraq
war. And according to a BBC/ABC News poll 82 percent of the Iraqi people lack
confidence in coalition forces, and 69 percent think they have made the
situation worse. The humanitarian crisis continues to grow as more than 4
million Iraqi citizens are now displaced by the war, and 2 million of those
have left the country as refugees.
The long
shroud of deceptions, half truths and bold lies has now resulted in 3838
American soldiers dead, 70,000 wounded,
and over 600,000 Iraqi civilian deaths (John Hopkins study published last year
in the Lancet). And a cost to our
future generations that currently stands at $400 billion dollars with an
additional $196 billion being asked for, over $4000 for every current
taxpayer. The ultimate cost including
future care for those wounded?
Estimated at $2 trillion dollars.
I’m old
enough to recall talk of a “peace dividend” after the fall of the Soviet
empire. We instead bear witness to the
largest military budget build-up in modern history. As one who grew up during the Vietnam War, had you told me our
nation could so easily be led astray like this again, and that those who led it
there could escape without consequences, I would have said you were delusional.
Unfortunately
this is no delusion. Rather, it remains
an ongoing nightmare until enough voices speak out to bring it to a stop.
________________________________________________________________________
PART II: Steven’s Story (Donna
Morrissey, Steven’s mother)
Many of you have asked to hear “Steven’s Story” again.
I hesitated, because Steven has
always asked us not to make a big deal about what he went through. He felt he was doing his job. He will never be the same physically or
mentally & never know exactly what we went through as a family, nor will we
ever know exactly what he went through.
So, once again, here is his story.
May 10, 2005
It was a beautiful spring day and I was out shopping for our
annual front porch flower baskets. We’d been trying to live as normal a life as
possible since Steven left for Iraq & I wanted everything to look just
right when he came home for his mid-term leave in July. I hadn’t heard from him in a couple of
weeks, which wasn’t unusual. As I
wandered around my cell phone rang. It was Steven and I immediately went to my
car for some privacy. He sounded good;
we talked for a few minutes (which is about all he ever had), then as we said
our goodbyes, I told him I loved him, which I always do with both of my kids,
but this time I had a very uneasy feeling.
I couldn’t explain it at the time and never mentioned it to anyone else.
May 12, 2005 (2 days
later)
I’d been out doing errands only to come home and find a
message on the answering machine from the Dept. of Defense saying they had some
news about my son. I sat down, took a
deep breath, and proceeded to call back, only to hear the person who had called
me originally was at lunch and would call me back within ˝ hour. That didn’t
happen. At that point I called Steve at work and told him about the call. He wanted to come home immediately, to which
I told him not to until I knew something more conclusive.
I didn’t want to talk with anyone else, especially my
daughter, Kristina, because I knew she’d “freak out”. In retrospect, I think I
needed time to deal with it all and be strong for everyone else. That’s just
me. So I paced the floor for 2 ˝ hours
before I was able to speak with anyone who knew what was going on. Those were the longest 2 ˝ hours of my
life!!
At long last, I spoke with a very kind gentleman who told me
Steven had been seriously injured in an explosion and would be on his way to
Germany once he was stabilized. That was all the information he had at the
time. Strangely enough, I was
relieved. It was a phone call and not a
knock on the door. At least he was alive and that’s all that mattered. I didn’t
care what his injuries were; we’d deal with it.
I called Steve back and told him about the call. He was out the door on his way home. He called me from the road saying he’d heard
a report of Steven’s attack on NPR. It
was the only report we were to hear or see anywhere; it went completely
unreported in the Globe and on the evening news, this despite the death of
their driver, 20 year old Ken Ziegler.
A bit later, the Dept. of Defense called me back asking for
our personal information just in case things took a turn for the worse, in
which case we would be flown to Germany immediately. Little did I know at the time, Steven was fighting for his life
due to a massive loss of blood. Without
my realizing it, this fight went on for several days as he was held over in
Baghdad. I learned later they were
waiting for sufficient casualties to occur to fill up a flight to Germany where
better care and facilities were available.
Steven later described the flight as “hellish” in a plane filled with
other gravely injured soldiers.
In the meantime I needed to connect with someone, anyone at
that point, outside of my family, so I put a message out to the FUSF list. Well, what a response I received!! I couldn’t believe there were so many caring
people out there!! I was never a church
going person, so this blew my mind. I
was awestruck at the caring and concern of this congregation.
Steve told me later he could only watch as I kept pacing the
floor, too nerved up to stay still.
Every so often I’d return to the computer and check the emails just to
have something to keep me busy. The
emails from concerned church members just kept pouring in, another 10 or so
each time I checked, all of them sending thoughts of concern and support. Steve later said it was like they were giving
me loving hugs over the computer, it was so healing and struck me so deeply.
That first night after receiving the news was a night from
Hell. I didn’t sleep and Steve kept his
arms around me all night. I don’t know
what I would have done without him!!
We woke up the next morning to a phone call telling us that
Steven had been upgraded overnight from serious to stable. A relief, but I still needed to talk to my
son to hear it for myself.
It wasn’t until the next evening, that I received a call from
Steven, massively medicated, and only for a minute or two, just telling me he
was ok. At that point, it didn’t
matter; just hearing his voice was the best gift ever!! In the middle of all this, we had a college
graduation party for Kristina we had to get through, which we did, but needless
to say, it wasn’t the happiest of occasions.
The following weekend Steve, Kristina & I flew to
Georgia to visit Steven at Eisenhower Medical Center. Kristina and I talked about things before we arrived and agreed we
must steel ourselves so as not to show our emotional pain in front of Steven
since this would not help him. In
looking back I know we were all still in a state of shock.
We were kept busy finding our lodging and then the
hospital. While together, we all worked
to keep things light.
The first time I saw Steven in his hospital bed I was struck
that he looked like a little old man.
When last I saw him he had been a young, incredibly fit young man; now
he was dependant on everyone but himself.
His condition took me aback.. He was hooked up to an intravenous drip of painkillers and was covered in
dressings. He was still very much out of
it as we first spoke with him and quickly became too tired for us to
remain. So we settled into a routine
where we’d visit for awhile, then go off and occupy ourselves outside the
hospital and off the base. We all gave
each other support and tried to make each other laugh so as not to sink
emotionally. Fortunately we all care
deeply for each other, which helped get us through this journey.
As we visited more, Steven began to show us his
injuries. His arm was heavily bandaged
due to the extent of injury, so this we could not see. But his leg, which had been blown open
almost for its length, could be seen, other than his shattered knee. It was jaggedly sutured both along the main
injury as well as at the numerous locations where shrapnel had torn into
it. Shrapnel wounds were also stitched
up on his other leg and his torso, basically over much of his body. Thank god he’d had protective face gear on.
On the second day of our visit they allowed us to take
Steven outside briefly in a wheelchair.
We had to juggle his IV bottle as we pushed him, and the slightest
jarring sent him into extreme pain. But
at least we got him into the outdoors for his first breath of fresh air since
the bombing.
I gradually learned also of the hell Steven went through
following the explosion, of his crying out for help from the mangled Humvee and
no one hearing him. He managed to free
himself and stumbled outside where a quick minded soldier came to his aid by
placing a tourniquet on his leg to stop the pouring out of his blood. This is what certainly saved his life.
By the final day of our visit Steve managed to get Steven
onto some lighter thoughts talking about, what else, cars. Guys!
They also moved one of his friends also injured in his Humvee into his
room so they could keep each other company.
This young man, Nelson, who was even more severely injured than Steven,
was amazing in his ability to somehow keep his sense of humor while throwing
friendly jabs at Steven. Such good men!
We also had to stand by as he went through excruciating skin
grafts on his arm, which had been blown open to the bone. He told us you could see through it, so
little skin had been left. This was
every mother’s worst nightmare.
Upon finally leaving to return home I felt relieved to have
finally seen my son alive, but weighed down by apprehension over the long trial
of his healing. My greatest concern was
not Steven’s physical injuries, but his mental well being. He was filled with anger.
After countless surgeries to rebuild his arm and leg, he was
transferred to the VA hospital for what would be months of rehab. Once the doctors had everything under
control he was able to come home for a month.
We set up what we called a hospital room on the first floor, as he
couldn’t go upstairs due to his leg injuries.
Kristina’s “Welcome Home” banner was kept up over our front door for the
duration of his visit.
I helped him change his bandages and clean his wounds
several times each day. The medications
he had to take seemed endless, many of them powerful painkillers. In spite of it all he was very relieved just
to be out of the hospital and able to have friends come by and visit. He was still a 20 year old young man, after
all, in spite of all he’d been through.
Steven was officially retired from the Army on October 1,
2006. He moved to Indiana in May to
share an apartment with his hospital roommate and is now working full time.
My only hope for my son is that he finds some peace and
genuine happiness. He so deserves it!
________________________________________________________________________
PART III: How Our UU values relate to the war
and what we can do.
(Stephen Derdiarian)
I have long felt our primal mission is to care for our
earth, our home, the parent of all future generations of our children. To respect and care for our brothers and
sisters of diverse cultural and religious backgrounds. To spread the word of Peace in all of our
dealings with others.
Faced instead with forces bent upon driving us inexorably
towards divisiveness and destruction, I feel it is our mission as UU’s to give
voice to the threats they pose. Like the
canary in the coal mine, it is our heritage and trust to speak clearly and with
the force of truth. In this case, to
speak out to those who would intimidate us into accepting the present course of
war and cutting away of our constitutional rights as a fait accompli.
This is important, for it is nothing less than the not so
subtle slide from democracy to darkness.
It is also nothing new.
As Judit Gellerd so eloquently described to our congregation, this has
all been seen before in the build up to the last world war. Unfortunately human memory is startlingly
brief.
There are no guarantees that goodness will inevitably
prevail against evil, this is the stuff of children’s stories. It is only through courageous work, of
speaking bravely against what are made to appear omnipotent forces, that these
recurrent tides of a flawed humanity can be turned back.
This has never been easy.
It makes people uncomfortable.
But this work must be done, for silence and acquiescence are the gravest
dangers to our democracy.
If we continue to quietly accept this war, are we not
betraying our most basic faith, our core value as UU’s in speaking truth to
evil whatever the forces arrayed to stifle this flame? To meekly go along muttering complaints
under our breath is to risk becoming irrelevant. As Martin Luther King Jr. once stated, “silence is betrayal.”
We must aim higher.
We must show resolve. We must
speak out so others may understand the values we as UU’s stand for. We must actively work to stop this unjust
war now and bring the perpetrators of to justice. Lies and the fanning of fears as a pretext for war must be
revealed for what they are: heinous
crimes precipitating murder.
We must re-form the message our media has made so
pervasive: the watering down of truth,
the clouding of responsibilities, the repetition rather than investigation of
propaganda. We must cut through this
fog like a knife, speaking truth to fabricated lies.
We must get at it.
Or others will continue to die or be maimed for nothing more
than an ill-fated oil grab. While we at
home continue to shirk our responsibilities by not challenging cynical
misrepresentations of the truth wrapped in the guise of the flag.
We have a responsibility, for in spite of casualties being
quietly relegated to back pages of our press, when they bother to report them
at all, there is in fact a war going on.
It is very real. And while it
may seem far away, it is in fact as close as your neighbors doorstep.
Just ask Donna, ask Steven, ask his sister Kristina, ask
Steven’s dad, Bobby. Ask the families
of the new casualties each and every day.
Tragedies unfolding like a recurrent nightmare with a knock on the door,
a message left on the phone. Another
family devastated and destroyed, never to be the same.
Steven was enough for Donna and I. This ongoing tragedy built upon lies must be stopped.
_______________________________________________________________________________
So, what to do?
Too often I sense an awkward
silence in our community on the war. Perhaps its out of a sense of
helplessness, or perhaps simply that many are not directly effected by
it. This for me is tragic, as innocent blood is spilled every day while
we go about our everyday lives.
This occupation of Iraq has been so tragic in its consequences and was founded
upon such a carefully planned program of deceit that I feel we cannot just
stand by. I feel we as a congregation should be doing more to actively work to
peacefully resolve this tragedy.
I contacted Susan Leslie of the UUA’s SAC and she
provided me with information on what any other UU church’s have done in this
regard. Some excerpts of her response:
Before the war even started the NorthEast District took a public stand, as did several congregations including Oakland CA, Bloomington IN, Bowling Green KY, Portland OR, Amherst MA, Peterborough NH. I don't have an actual list - but I can tell you that either by congregational resolution or by letting the congregational peace task force or social justice committee take the stand - many of our congregations have spoken out against the war. Dozens participated last Jan. in the “No to the Surge” events organized by Win Without War and Move-On. Most recently we collected over 13,000 signatures at our congregations on two Sundays saying not one more life or one more dollar on this war.
The North Andover and Andover MA congregations have sponsored the “Where is the Rage” project. It specifically encourages our congregations to work with veterans groups and military families, as you are.
The San Francisco congregation put a huge ribbon around the church and had a big rally on Mother's Day - see slide show and links to article (they are a big church right downtown)
The First Parish Bedford MA put up a Support the Troops: Bring them Home banner. Prominent member of town Brian Hart was enraged - son in military and actually got the town to make them take down the banner. Then his son John was killed (insufficiently armored tank). He apologized to the minister, spoke to the congregation, and now they work together to stop this war. Scroll down to Cost of the War on their site
On June 5th, U.S. Cong. Martin Meehan spoke at First Parish Bedford about the war in Iraq, encouraged by his conversations with Brian Hart who, since the death of his son John in Iraq, has made truth-telling his life's work. Meehan and Hart have made common cause in exposing unwelcome truths about the war and dissenting from both pro and anti-war orthodoxies.
The UU's in Peterborough, NH host a monthly nondenominational Service of Recognition and Remembrance for those Americans killed and wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan. The name, rank, age and hometown of each American soldier killed during the previous month is read out followed by the tolling of the church bell. Because of the church's central location in Peterborough, the gathering outside the church is a public statement.
The Social Action Committee of People's Church in Ludington, MI is spearheading a series of peace activities in support of the "Where is the Rage" Project. The Unitarian Universalist Association and several major Peace organizations have also partnered with Veterans for Peace to launch the national outreach project, “Where is the Rage” to stimulate and intensify opposition to the War in Iraq.
And then there are the actions of UUA President Bill Sinkford including the petition many of us signed several weeks ago to stop the war. In a letter to Congress earlier this year, Reverend Sinkford wrote:
“The United States has spent at least $400 billion on
the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The astronomical cost of these
operations is exceeded only by the staggering human toll, and both counts are
far beyond what any of us could have imagined when we invaded Iraq in the spring
of 2003. Now, four years later, the administration is asking you to
approve $100 billion to prolong this disastrous conflict and to return
exhausted soldiers to a dangerous and embittered land.
While this money would allow our nation to send more
brave citizens into harm’s way, it would do little to guarantee that they will
be fully trained and equipped, or that our wounded veterans will receive
adequate medical treatment once they return home. And the increased
funding does nothing to ensure a speedy end to the carnage in Iraq.
We have already failed our troops in so many tragic ways. The best way to
support them now is to bring them home and to ensure that they and their
families are given all of the respect, compensation, and care they deserve.
Rather than a surge of troops, we American taxpayers
deserve a surge of truth.
Because citizens of all faiths and political
persuasions are being asked to pay to prolong the violence, it is our moral
obligation to reckon the true cost of the war before we agree to continue
it. To give a true reckoning, we must honestly confront what we have done
in Iraq, and we also must acknowledge the many vital needs we have left
unfunded because we chose to put our money toward war.
Until we can adequately prepare and protect our
troops, until we can provide them with premium medical services when they
return home, and until we can guarantee a speedy and just end to the Iraq
conflict, I urge you not to spend another American dollar on this war. I
hope you will take a moment to review the enclosed balance sheet.
These concerns are neither Republican nor Democratic. They transcend
partisan differences.
They are moral concerns that affect all of us.”
UUSC President Charlie Clements has also repeatedly spoken out against the war, most recently at a rally in Kennebunkport, Maine this past August: “You may have read about the young immigrant who enlisted in the Army and was killed in Iraq; it had been his dream to become a U.S. citizen. In 2004 George Bush signed changes into law making it easier for military personnel to gain citizenship. It is one of the reasons there are 60,000 immigrants serving in the U.S. military today.
Doesn’t all of this tell us something about this war? If the sons of hawks like Mitt Romney won’t serve in the military, because, like Dick Cheney during the Vietnam-era, they have “other priorities,” then the strategy boils down to “attract whomever we can by lowering our standards, lowering immigration hurdles, offering desperate young Americans huge amounts of money for a Quick Ship bonus.”
But we, of course, will not be able to see their coffins when they are Quick Shipped back to the United States. We are not allowed to see those images, because those images might make the job of military recruiters more difficult.
Military service should not be about cheap tricks and deceptions by military recruiters to lure the unsuspecting and unqualified into service. How many of our brave men and women serving their third or fourth tour of duty in Iraq with a Guard or Reserve unit understood that’s what they were signing up for?
Iraq Vets against the war is the fastest growing veteran’s organization in the United States, and on September 17th they are launching a national “Truth in Recruiting” campaign. There is something rotten in the air when men and women who have risked their lives for this country have to launch a campaign to demand recruiters tell the truth to those who would follow in their footsteps.
When our commander-in-chief in leads us into a war based upon deception and lies, when our commander-in-chief ignores the reports of his own intelligence apparatus about the realities of that war, when our commander-in-chief continues to send brave men and women into a war that will be not won by military means, then we must protect the military from its own commander-in-chief.”_______________________________________________________________________________ Which brings us back to what might we be doing both as individuals and as a congregation? First and foremost, for the sake of all who are being harmed by this war, get involved in groups organized to bring it to an end. Lend your support to groups such as Veterans for Peace, Military Families Speak Out, Code Pink and Win Without War. Attend protest gatherings to show the world there is another way, the way of peace. And always contact the news media to assure these events get the visibility they deserve. Secondly, work to effect change within the world of politics. Select candidates who best support your views both individually and as a UU and become involved both in their campaigns and with their staff once they are in office. This is so important, for it leverages your vote from that of one individual to throwing out the net and bringing in so many more. We have a great gift in living in this democracy, a gift people in other lands are literally laying down their lives for, but it can only work if we all participate. I’ve also found it to be very accessible to personal involvement. In fact candidates express frustration that they don’t hear often enough from their constituents. Call them, send letters, and simply get plugged in. Again, leverage your vote to support your UU values. Also reexamine your lifestyle and how it may be inadvertently support the very policies you wish to change. Reduce your carbon footprint by choosing a high efficiency car such as a Prius (weighs 2900 pounds, gets 48 mpg, and has 96 cubic feet of passenger volume) instead of large SUV’s (a Tahoe weighs 5500 pounds, gets 14 mpg and has virtually identical passenger volume). In Europe, where gasoline costs $7 per gallon, they use only 70 gallons of gas annually per capita, a stark contrast from the US where we use 400 gallons annually per capita. Miles per gallon and fuel usage are directly related, and oil as we have learned is the root source of too many avoidable conflicts. Finally, set an example by living our principles of Peace as part of the FUSF community. Speak out respectfully on our values and engage dialogue, even when made to feel it’s inconvenient; perhaps this is when it’s most important. Stir the pot. Raising awareness is the first step towards world change. And follow this with activism in support of our beliefs.__________________________________________________________________________
CLOSING
WORDS OF CONNECTION readings from Judit Gellerd
(S. Derdiarian)
Judit Gellerd writes these words in her book “Prisoner of Liberte”. They are from her father’s last sermon, a man who long struggled to speak freedom to a totalitarian: “God does not expect you to save the world. Your mandate is limited to one singl human being, which may be yourself – or your neighbor. God never expects more from us than we are capable of doing. Each word of comfort, each act of compassion, is a small bonfire in the thundering nights. But these tiny flickering flames, the simple gestures of loving hearts, will add up and will eventually save the world. Salvation is not something we have to wait for, but we must do about. Because we can. Because we can, therefore we must.” Imagine
John Lennon
Imagine there's no heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky.
Imagine all the people
Living for today...
Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too.
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace...
You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one,
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will be as one.
Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man.
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world...
You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one,
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will be as one.