Veterans

I won't forget either. I have spoken against the wars in Kuwait, Iraq and Afghanistan. I agree with Wilfred Owen that Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori -- "It is sweet and right to die for your country" can only be called a lie.

I made myself very unpopular during the Iraq war, when someone in a meeting of the parish council in my Church called the soldiers in Iraq "defenders of American freedom". I asked, "Please explain to me how they are defending American freedom in any way." What made it worse was that no one there could give me a meaningful answer. I was accused of being a coward, but my offer to go home to get my medals -- which include both a Bronze Star and two Purple Hearts -- was not taken up. I was accused of betraying those who died in 9/11, but I reminded them that Iraq had not attacked the US on 9/11, that the Bushmen's implication that Iraq was involved was a lie, and that the attackers were almost all Saudis. I was accused of actual treason, but I quoted the US Constitution, "Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying war against them, or in adhering to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort", and that under that definition my statements were certainly not treason; moreover, disagreeing with the President was most assuredly not treason. (Incidentally, a major reason that the framers of the Constitution were explicit in their definition of treason stemmed from an incident during the reign of Henry VIII of England. One of Henry's political enemies was arrested and told the charge was treason. He said, "I have committed no treason." The arresting officer replied, "Treason is what the king says it is." The framers knew their history, and did not want treason to be whatever some governmental official said it was.)