Posted on 11/24/2001 8:52:54 AM PST by TheErnFormerlyKnownAsBig
With the Taliban on the run and Kabul freed, members of the peace movement in Seattle and across the county are confronted with the possibility that their dire forecasts were wrong.
As U.S. bombs began to rain on Afghanistan, peace activists warned that the war would result in millions of Afghan civilians starving to death during an unforgiving winter.
But an argument now can be made that the U.S. bombing achieved what the peace movement wanted — a better chance for food supplies to reach those who desperately need them.
While consequences of the bombing have been different than peace activists imagined, they are not backing down. The values behind their beliefs, they say, still ring true: violence eventually begets more violence and love always overcomes hate. They vow to continue to promote a halt to the bombing even though they acknowledge their message of peace is unpopular.
The Rev. John Boonstra, executive minister of the Washington Association of Churches, which is behind the formation of a local peace coalition, said if fewer people are subject to starvation this winter because bombs were dropped on Afghanistan, then the peace movement celebrates that outcome with everyone else.
"But that doesn't mean we condone the means that brought us there," he said.
Decry 'quick fix' Leaders of Seattle's peace movement also say the political rationale behind opposing the war is just as valid today as it was before Kabul fell on Nov. 13. Short-term success, they explain, does not equate long-term triumph.
"Anyone who at this early stage is willing to say the war has worked is expressing a combination of wishful thinking, an ignorance about what's really going on and a lack of understanding of who the Northern Alliance are," said Howard Gale, of the Seattle 911 Peace Coalition.
Gale and others believe it is their duty to challenge Americans to think about the long-term ramifications of the war in Afghanistan — even if the public appears to not want to hear what they have to say.
"It is part of American culture to look for the quick fix," said Alice Woldt, interim executive director of the Church Council of Greater Seattle, which also wants the bombing stopped.
Even in a liberal city such as Seattle, people with reservations about the bombing are accused of being unpatriotic and impractical. The peace movement's humanitarian message of aiding the welfare of Afghan civilians is being rejected by a public much more concerned about its own safety, Woldt said.
Grief, anger and fear have gripped the country since Sept. 11. The emotions, at times, have been overwhelming. And they seem to some to have overwhelmed any chance to debate whether the U.S. strategy to bomb Afghanistan is the best option in the long run.
"Most people are not thinking long-term at the moment," says U.S. Rep. Jim McDermott, D-Seattle, one of the only members of Congress who questioned the wisdom of the bombing's timing.
McDermott wrote in a brief statement to his Seattle constituents on Oct. 8: "It has been less than a month since the terrorist attacks against our country. A scant four weeks to plan and implement an operation like this doesn't seem like a very long time to me. ... I'm not so sure President Bush, members of his administration or the military have thought this action out completely or fully examined America's cause."
As a lonely voice in Congress expressing any reservations whatsoever, it didn't take long for McDermott to be typecast on the talk-show circuit as the anti-war politician — even though, as he was quick to point out, he was not against the war and enthusiastically supported the troops. But in an atmosphere where politicians were cutting in line to stand behind President Bush, McDermott was as close to a contrarian as the media could find.
During a recent appearance on The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, McDermott faced off against William Bennett, who wants the U.S. war on terrorism to extend to unfriendly Arab states, starting with Iraq. The NewsHour segment focused on the apparent lack of dissent in America over the war.
Bennett and other conservatives had criticized McDermott after he questioned whether the U.S. airstrikes came too soon after Sept. 11. Their followers branded him unpatriotic. During the show, however, Bennett told McDermott that even though he disagreed with the substance of his position, he supported his right to express it.
McDermott recalled that Bennett told him later, "Jim, I'm supporting you not because I think you're right, but because when I criticize the president for not going far enough and fast enough, I don't want to be called unpatriotic."
Now, McDermott must confront the same question as the peace movement. Were his warnings about the rush to bomb wrong?
In his Seattle office this week, McDermott expressed surprise that the Taliban government seems to have collapsed so quickly.
"But I don't think they are gone and I don't think they are done," he said.
He added, however, that the timing of exercising military force in Afghanistan has worked better than he had anticipated.
"It looks like we had a plan and executed it well and it worked," he said. "So far, so good."
So far, the peace movement's execution has not worked well, with the public uninspired by its message. Boonstra, of the Washington Association of Churches, realized soon after Sept. 11 that the movement had grown stale over the years. His first hint came during a peace march in Seattle a few days after the terrorist attacks on America. Marchers struggled to find appropriate songs to sing during the procession from one Capitol Hill cathedral to another. But the peace-song playlist was of golden oldies, stuck in the Vietnam era.
So marchers began to sing "America the Beautiful," Boonstra recalled. And that troubled one of the marchers.
"Why are you singing that song?" the marcher said. "That's the song they are singing."
The peace movement has found it difficult to sing its song across Seattle and the rest of the country. Sing too loudly and critics tie the anti-war position to disrespecting the memory of Americans who died on Sept. 11, Boonstra said.
"It was as if people believed the more public debate you had, the weaker you would be as a society," he said.
The White House framed the debate early when President Bush declared in essence: You are either for us or against us. Although the president seemed to be addressing other nations, Boonstra said he interpreted it as a warning also against domestic dissent.
"Let's just say it wasn't exactly an invitation for us to come together as a nation and carve out our response to a very complex political situation," he said.
As the peace movement warned of a humanitarian crisis because of the bombing, the White House emphasized it was dropping food on Afghanistan, too. U.S. military officials promised no bombing would target civilians almost before the peace movement could raise the issue.
Boonstra, however, said representatives of international relief organizations denounced the food drops as token gestures and said that Americans were misled before when told there would be no indiscriminate bombing of Vietnamese villages.
"I ask of people, 'Do you believe everything you are told and if so, on what basis has this government earned that kind of credibility?' " Boonstra said.
Members of the peace movement are not surprised that elected officials have been unwilling to put their political reputations on the line by supporting the peace movement's message. Woldt, of the Church Council, said local peace activists have solicited support from U.S. Sens. Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell and U.S. Rep. Jay Inslee to no avail.
"They surely thought that being seen as outside the mainstream would result in them losing all of their effectiveness," Woldt said.
Woldt, however, does not view her church council's opposition to the war as radical.
"I think it is in the greatest religious tradition to act out of a center of nonviolence and peace," she said.
In the past, the peace movement has criticized U.S. foreign policies in the Middle East and South Asia, including the economic sanctions against Iraq.
"We have people who see what we are doing in Afghanistan as having ramifications on people who already are suffering," Woldt said. "So there is more willingness on our part to view the war in Afghanistan as part of a bigger picture."
Americans, however, do not seem ready to look down the road, she said. The emotions are too raw.
"It's still too early, obviously," Boonstra says.
And they are just counting the days until the next WTO meeting so they can hit the streets with rocks and bottles to do battle with the police.
These people are NOT the thoughtful, gentle, people depicted by this article. They are immoral, spineless sluggards who do not deserve to live under the protection of the United States of America!
And the PETA people were out with their "Thankgiving is no holiday for turkeys" and 40 million turkeys die for your dinner" signs.
I got them waving at me then gave them the finger. But then again I'm a hater.
So marchers began to sing "America the Beautiful," Boonstra recalled. And that troubled one of the marchers.
As a (seemingly) rare non-left-wing folkie, I'd say this is major. One of leftist credos is that their ability to find the right song to argue with is evidence they are correct. The fact that they are struggling to do so is a major blow to their faith.
On the other hand, if they stand by their "principles" and agree to do nothing while innocent children are slain, then they show themselves for the gutless, stupid people they are. Ask them how it would be "moral" to not defend a child!?!?
How would they intend to stop a holocaust?
liberal are having more difficulty in raising money for their stupid ideas. people are beginning to get fed up with taxes. now they are resorting to 'fund raising' to gather more funds to take away more freedoms and impose even further on our economy.
they just don't get it.
Someone's been watching *way* too much TV...
My father inlaw is in town for the holiday and I asked him the other night about how his glider landing went on D-day, as he was in the 101st airborne.
He is pretty liberal in his day to day thoughts and voting pattern, but if you bring up certain things like peaceniks he gets pissed and starts venting.
His war lasted four days. He left basic training and went straight over on a Liberty ship as a replacement.
landed successfully in the glider and then they spent several days pushing forward hoping the guys on the beach would catch up.
He said he did a couple of days in the hedge rows and his lt. stood up to check out where they were after crossing a body of water and got his head shot off.
They were getting shelled by 88s for a few days and he got shell shocked. He just stood up and started walking around like there was no war going on.
Somebody grabbed him and they shipped him to medivac area and gave him a "blue beetle". That is a sedative.
It had no effect so they shipped him to a bigger medical area and gave him two more blue beetles.
He slept for 24 hrs. and when he woke up the guy next to him said everytime a shell went off he about jumped out of his bed.
They were going to ship him back to his unit but the senior doc said he would go fully nuts and probably couldn't recognize the difference between friend and foe when the shelling started again and wouldn't be responsible for who he shot. In other words they couldn't be sure he wouldn't shoot the guy next to him so he got shipped back to a supply area.
He said it took 5 years after the war was over to stop being angry all the time.
He also recounted how every night (during his short time in the hedgerows) they kept sending him across to the German side to find out what they were up to. He couldn't figure out how they didn't hear his heart beating he was so close to them.
One of leftist credos is that their ability to find the right song to argue with is evidence they are correct.The venerable Tom Lehrer, despite being a liberal, had some pretty funny songs back in the day. One that comes to mind in this context is "The Folk Song Army." Here's one of the lines from the song:
Remember the War Against Franco,
That's the kind where each of us belongs.
Though he may have won all the battles,
We had all the good songs!
But war was declared on us. It was actually done officially by bin Laden and his al Qeada buddies in 1996 when they issued a fatwa calling for the death of America and its allies--civilian and military. We took the peaceful approach, ignoring this decree, offering aid, etc., but to no avail. So what other choice did we have?
As a Christian I do believe in beating swords into plow-shares, turning the other cheek, loving your enemies, that blessed are the peace makers, etc.. So in a way I do agree with the peace groups. But we live in a dangerous world where some people are psychotic. So I believe we had no choice and are doing the right thing.
I think it was one of Peter, Paul, & Mary who said something to the effect of: "Let the other side have all the right reasons, we will write the songs". Can't remember exactly who, or the exact quote. Obviously said during the '60s.
Personally, "Praise the Lord" and "Pass the ammunition" while you're at it.
On September 11, 5,000 people were brutally murdered by the single largest act of violence this country has ever endured.
As a result of this violent act, the US is bombing the SH*T out of the Taliban. Yep, violence begat violence, all right. The Taliban deserves what they get.
My father-in-law was a Quaker (or from one of the related pacifist groups), who broke with his family and enlisted in the Navy, after Pearl Harbor.
I've also read -- and this was a while ago -- about a Quaker who enlisted as an unarmed medic. He received the Medal of Honor for rescuing injured Marines from the front lines of one of the island battles against the Japanese; but he never carried a weapon.
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