CHAPTER FIFTY NINE. THE DAY THAT WILL LIVE IN INFAMY

Written by: Rick Staggenborg, MD on Dec 8, 2009 2:52 PM PST

This essay is dedicated to Franklin Roosevelt, who is rightly given thanks for "betraying his class" and helping a generation to recall that America is only as great as the magnanimity with which it treats the least among us. He risked being labeled a socialist in compelling our government to honor our social contract with each other, and led the effort to fend off the first fascist grasp for world domination.

I made my pilgrimage to Ground Zero on the anniversary of the greatest failure of the American defense structure prior to September 11, 2001. I was reminded of Pearl Harbor, the last time an attack on "American soil" (Hawaii was not yet a state). The senseless loss of life on Sunday, December 7, 1941 was due to the indefensible decision to park the entire Pacific fleet in a bottle at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii at a time when Japan’s imperialist ambitions were being stymied by Allied attempts to limit their access to the oil upon which their war machine ran. This failure gave rise to an undying belief of some that Roosevelt engineered the disaster for nefarious purposes that presumably did not involve an honest desire to stop worldwide fascism before America became ensnared in its iron grip. It is ironic that this idea is today perpetuated primarily by those on the Left who owe Roosevelt so much. Some of the more pointy- headed pseudo-intellectuals disparagingly say that Roosevelt “saved capitalism from itself.” Given the realistic alternatives, I believe that is something to be grateful for.

As I stood before the site of what I pray will be the worst intelligence disaster of all time, I pondered its significance in history. It is clear that Al Qaeda planned its target well, as the twin towers had indeed been a symbol of American arrogance and exceptionalism. While I do not share the extremist view that the innocents who lost their lives were “little Eichmanns,” I understand that the victims were almost to an individual oblivious to the symbolism of their workplace in the minds of the disenfranchised throughout the world. The fundamentalist Muslim “conservative” who lives in poverty and craves the good old days of the Middle Ages is particularly offended by the ostentatious show of wealth that was embodied by the World Trade Center, rebuilt frantically after the symbolic 1993 bombing failed to achieve its purpose. How many even remembered that the terrorist responsible for that bombing was successfully tried, convicted and safely put away in prison, without need for a series of wars in the name of fighting terrorism?

Today it is one week after President Obama ordered an escalation of troops in the hopeless cause that is bringing some semblance of order to Afghanistan. The cause of “democracy” has been forgotten in the wake of the fraudulent re-election of the widely hated Karzai. The glowing reports of progress in building an Afghan Army do not gibe with the facts available in the European and Arab mainstream media, as well as the alternative media more readily available to those of us who have shut off our TVs long ago.

There are few in Afghanistan willing to die for a farce. Many of those who join are motivated more by fear or want than a sense of “patriotic duty” to a state that has never existed except on maps drawn by Westerners who have never successfully conquered and unified the “nation” of Afghanistan. We thus find ourselves embroiled in yet another civil war, one that cannot be won by the “good guys,” since there is no organized democratic effort in this region of the world that has never tasted the sweet fruit of democracy. They fight only for clan and kin and will always do so, until we allow freedom to reign in the rest of the world. At that time, all those in the Islamic world will clamor to be let into the family of nations of free men and women that the world can become.

It is time to end terror by ending the unholy “war” on terrorism. We cannot defeat an ideology by dignifying it under the rubric of war. Wars by definition are fought between nations or within them. To declare a jihad on terrorism implies that we are fighting more than just a misguided, hateful group of individuals bent on hopelessly fighting for freedom through killing. The only way to save ourselves from the terror of eternal war is to make peace with ourselves, heal the divisions that keep us from uniting to act in the best interests of America and the world, and bring the troops home now. Let the people of Afghanistan determine their fates for themselves, and let God sort out the good from the evil.

In the words of Lloyd Stone:

This is my song, O God of all the nations,

A song of peace for lands afar and mine.

This is my home, the country where my heart is;

Here are my hopes, my dreams, my holy shrine;

But other hearts in other lands are beating

With hopes and dreams as true and high as mine.

My country's skies are bluer than the ocean,

And sunlight beams on clover-leaf and pine.

But other lands have sunlight too and clover,

And skies are everywhere as blue as mine.

Oh, hear my song, O God of all the nations,

A song of peace for their land and for mine.

My country, 'tis of thee,

Sweet land of liberty,

Of thee I sing.

Land where my fathers died,

Land of the pilgrims' pride,

From every mountainside,

A song of peace.

Rick Staggenborg, MD


Soldiers For Peace International


From the epicenter of the world: New York, New York

CHAPTER SIXTY FOUR. NEW YEAR RESOLUTION: REMEMBER THAT TO FORGIVE IS DIVINE.

Written by: Rick Staggenborg, MD on Dec 26, 2009 6:24 AM PST

This essay is dedicated to my new friend Maiysha Myshere, who reminded me that true Soldiers For Peace must never act out of anger, but with the most perfect love we can muster. Only by forgiving those who have wronged us and our loved ones can we succeed in our mission to re-create the family of Mankind and unite the world in the cause of peace and justice. 

I therefore resolve this year  to forgive the chief architect of America’s near-destruction, Dick Cheney. When his sick heart finally gives out and he gives up the ghost, may his soul rest in peace after facing the judgment of a loving God that I believe in my heart exists.

The soldier who kills in anger is the one who has the hardest time forgiving himself when the heat of the battle ends and he returns to society. It is impossible for any feeling person to escape feeling guilt in the knowledge of having violated the First Commandment., but doing so our of anger rather than a sense of duty is among the most soul-searing acts of war.  

We are taught by our parents and society that we shall not kill, yet our youth are told by our government that it is a patriotic duty to serve in time of war when our leaders demand it.  It is a difficult struggle for soldiers having killed for lofty ideals they may come to see as cynical lies to live with this contradiction unless they know how to forgive themselves and know that they are forgiven by God, if they believe it exists. 

Though we may try to tell ourselves that a soldier kills for a greater good, if we understand the meaning of the life and death of Christ we know in our hearts that killing can no longer be seen as the answer to confronting our fear for the safety of ourselves and our loved ones. This lesson does not depend on belief in Christ's divinity. It only requires the simple recognition that he gave his life for his belief that a Soldier For Peace is willing to die to defend the principle that violence is not the answer to ending conflict, but its cause.

Having made the choice to fight, the soldiers’ duty to his or her comrades compels him to act when called upon to fight and kill in the name of a greater cause that our government claims we are pursuing. The young men and women who volunteered to defend America and its ideals typically are too young to understand the regularity with which our government has betrayed us in choosing mass murder over faith in our power to influence events by acting in the best interests of all. 

It is this lack of faith in the belief that right makes might that leads citizens and politicians alike to accept the self-fulfilling prophecy that war is inevitable. This sad fact is made more poignant when the combat veteran retreats from society and fails to engage in the battle to end war so that their children do not suffer the same fate.

It is the selfishness of our politicians and their corporate Puppetmasters that is ultimately responsible for the suffering of our young patriots. Our troops are told that their opponents are enemies of America, the citizens of both countries and of the world. Only by demonizing the chosen enemies of the corporatocracy can they expect morally upright citizens to kill in the name of God and country.

It is senseless to expect otherwise of the psychopathic CEOs who run these corporations. They see profit in convincing the US Congress with depressing regularity that it is necessary to send our children into battle to kill and die to maintain corporate profit margins. Those who would sacrifice the lives of innocents  for the sake of personal gain cannot escape responsibility for their crimes. In accepting the belief that profit is more important than responsibility to our young, the environment, their workers or the general public that bears the cost of war in blood and treasure, they surrender their souls to the judgment of the One who decides their fates.

In the new year, I resolve to remember that I have chosen to forgive those who have habitually lie to themselves. They are the true enemies of a free people who must together decide what kind of nation the United States is to become, yet in seeking to heal our wounds and restore democracy to America, I believe that we must forgive even those who have betrayed our trust. These are those who have abused the power to waste the lives of those who  willingly risked them in the name of a freedom they themselves will never know in this life.  

I vow to continue to fight for liberty and justice for all in the name of the patriot martyrs who have given their lives to preserve the Union and the true American ideal of promoting justice and peace throughout the world. I will not rest until we have removed from power those who have forgotten that we are all part of one family of Mankind and therefore must love others as we claim that we wish to love ourselves.

May God have mercy on their souls. As for ourselves, if we all refuse to accept that war is inevitable, there will come a day when it will be seen as unthinkable. On that bright day, we will will cease to study war and we will fight no more forever.

Rick Staggenborg, MD


Founder, Soldiers For Peace International