By Charles Springer
To the people of this and other great nations across the world I say this: We should ban together and let our voices be heard.
The present leadership in this nation and Great Britain should put away their sabers of war and join the table of diplomacy. War is nothing but failure of intellect on a grand and devastating proportion.
War CREATES famine, economic failure, cultural undoing and opens the door for discrimination and more of the same ilk of people LIKE Saddam Hussein to be in power. War is the answer for those whose I.Q. is in the range of our shoe sizes! And for those who lack the creativity to find solutions.
Yes, I agree that this madman is a few sandwiches shy of a picnic. But these schoolyard bully tactics only fuel the fires of the present opinion of the United States leadership as being hypocrites. We need to take care of our own before trying to solve the problems of the world.
I watch the news here in China on a multi-national channel and the fire is growing — this country does not want war. And neither does France, Germany and most of the Arab countries. They understand the proportions of this war on a global scale, especially with North Korea AND India playing with the nuclear fire ball. India, for those who don’t follow the news here in Asia, just kicked out the Pakistani Embassy and has been showing off its new toys.
Maybe this is a “hippy attitude” I am thinking with, but peace is the best solution to any of the problems humankind faces. All of the greatest world leaders and minds saw this — Ghandi and his daughter; Martin Luther King; John and Bobby Kennedy; Malcolm X; Albert Einstein, etc. With exception of Einstein, they all died for their beliefs.
This war mongering has to be stopped! It already has been proven that the United states is not invulnerable as we thought it was, and the terrorists are not as stupid as we thought either. Our borders have been all but open to them for a decade or more since the last war with Iraq, as well as the countries of our allies as we have seen with the bombings around the world.
In my military mind, I believe that there are many more cells of these maniacs in the U.S. that have gone all but undetected. And the minute we set foot in Iraq militarily, all hell will break lose around the world. Anyone who is a veteran that remembers their guerrilla warfare training can see this.
Colin Powell can see this, and our leadership is WELL aware of this threat, yet it puts our people and innocent people around the world in jeopardy. We are sending our children and men and women to what could be certain death.
As a leader, I would not ask my subordinates to do anything I would not be willing to do myself. So, I believe we should put Saddam Hussein (whose sane?) and Little Georgie Porgie on the battle field with all of their cohorts and let THEM fight this war.
Let THEIR children and families die for this “cause.” THEY represent this war, NOT the people of the United States, England or the world as a WHOLE.
The PEOPLE of the United States, England, Iraq and the world are speaking to you who claim to be “leaders” in this very dangerous situation you have created, but are you listening? Can you hear the roar of the masses over your bloated egos and greed? Is the “Will of the People” your primary concern? Or has the oil money you want stuffed your ears and blindfolded you? (Charles Springer used to be homeless in Santa Monica. Now, he’s teaching the Chinese how to speak English in Shanghai.)
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on January 27, 2003. Read the original PDF.