Walter Reed Vigil Report March 5, 2010 No. 43
BRING ALL THE TROOPS HOME, NOW!
The Walter Reed Vigil continues every Friday evening from 7-9 PM.
Our Vigil calls for Peace, Care for the wounded, and Full Benefits for all veterans.
Sisters and brothers,
Think about joining with us on Friday evenings.
March 2010 Vigil dates are: 5th, 12th, 19th and 26th.
It's no secret that despite the ever widening war front and further occupations of foreign lands, March 19 is a date of significance on our calendar. With coldblooded indifference to the consequences, the President, with the permission of an acquiescent Congress, unleashed the armed forces of the United States without provocation upon another nation. Ignoring the many calls for peace, the millions marching for forbearance here and around the world, and the international community of nations, the government of the United States made total war on the nation of Iraq. Screaming missiles fell on residential neighborhoods. A nation was torn asunder. A civilized people were reduced to barbarity. In an instant, all of us, the whole of the United States, became the chief terrorists of the world. We proved that we could destroy and murder more in a single day than Al Qaida could ever hope. We showed 'em. We showed the world. We beat our chests and looked on with delight. Every good dream the people who make up the United States had built for 200 years was shattered and gone in a few hours of wailing jets and rumbling tank treads. March 19, 2003 is marked. It is remembered because the crime of war, the corruption and soullessness of war continues. It continues each minute and hour of each day. The actions of our nation descend further into an abyss where no moral line can be found that cannot be crossed. In the 20th Century another barbarism was described as the banality of evil. The United States has gone a step further to the normalcy of evil. We no longer need rationales for performing abominable acts--our responsibility can be dismissed with a shrug of the shoulders. So what. Whatever. Who cares? What's it to me? I don't think about it. Whatever it takes. Shit happens.
A song kept locked in our hearts does not make music. Moral recognition not expressed as an action is neither remorse nor responsibility. There is a reason for taking some time out of our lives to take a stand with others in opposition to government policy. We can march one day, on March 20, and that is good. We can also regularly attend a vigil like the Walter Reed Vigil to make standing for Peace a permanent part of our lives.
We do not accept a need for war. We do not accept the business of war. The people of the world are not our enemies. The air, and soil, and rivers, and oceans are to be shared by all of us, not owned by a few. The first instincts of humans are to celebrate and love and create. Hate and murder have to be forced upon us. We can make the time to stand for Peace.
In solidarity,
Bruce Wolf
Walter Reed Vigil participant
From 7-9 PM, join us in front of Walter Reed Army Medical Center, middle of the 7100 block of Georgia Avenue between Elder and Dahlia Streets.
