......yes the mass graves mean, mass graves in Iraq, does
it matter to US, if it did matter they would have gone to
uncover it in Gulf War I because they knew of it before but
it did not matter..........
On Fri, 20 Jun 2003 12:30:38 -0500
Vera Crowell <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> ...and the mass graves mean...what?
>
> At 12:25 PM 6/20/03 -0500, you wrote:
> >> Published on Thursday, May 29, 2003 by the National
> Catholic Reporter
> >> Is There Anything Left That Matters?
> >> by Joan Chittister, OSB
> >>
> >> This is what I don't understand: All of a sudden
> nothing seems to
> >> matter. First, they said they wanted Bin Laden "dead
> or alive." But they
> >> didn't get him. So now they tell us that it doesn't
> matter. Our mission
> >> is greater than one man. Then they said they wanted
> Saddam Hussein,
> >> "dead or alive." He's apparently alive but we haven't
> got him yet,
> >> either. However, President Bush told reporters
> recently, "It doesn't
> >> matter. Our mission is greater than one man." Finally,
> they told us that
> >> we were invading Iraq to destroy their weapons of mass
> destruction. Now
> >> they say those weapons probably don't exist. Maybe
> never existed.
> >> Apparently that doesn't matter either.
> >>
> >> Except that it does matter. I know we're not
> supposed to say that. I
> >> know it's called "unpatriotic." But it's also called
> honesty. And
> >> dishonesty matters. It matters that the infrastructure
> of a foreign
> >> nation that couldn't defend itself against us has been
> destroyed on the
> >> grounds that it was a military threat to the world. It
> matters that it
> >> was destroyed by us under a new doctrine of
> "pre-emptive war" when
> >> there was apparently nothing worth pre-empting.
> >>
> >> It surely matters to the families here whose sons
> went to war to make
> >> the world safe from weapons of mass destruction and
> will never come
> >> home. It matters to families in the United States
> whose life support
> >> programs were ended, whose medical insurance ran out,
> whose food stamps
> >> were cut off, whose day care programs were eliminated
> so we could spend
> >> the money on sending an army to do what did not need
> to be done.
> >>
> >> It matters to the Iraqi girl whose face was burned
> by a lamp that
> >> toppled over as a result of a U.S. bombing run. It
> matters to Ali, the
> >> Iraqi boy who lost his family - and both his arms - in
> a U.S. air
> >> attack. It matters to the people in Baghdad whose
> water supply is now
> >> fetid, whose electricity is gone, whose streets are
> unsafe, whose 158
> >> government ministries' buildings and all their
> records have been
> >> destroyed, whose cultural heritage and social system
> has been looted
> >> and whose cities teem with anti-American protests. It
> matters that the
> >> people we say we "liberated" do not feel liberated in
> the midst of the
> >> lawlessness, destruction and wholesale social
> suffering that so-called
> >> liberation created.
> >>
> >> It matters to the United Nations whose integrity was
> impugned, whose
> >> authority was denied, whose inspection teams are even
> now still being
> >> overlooked in the process of technical evaluation and
> disarmament. It
> >> matters to the reputation of the United States in the
> eyes of the world,
> >> both now and for decades to come, perhaps.
> >>
> >> And surely it matters to the integrity of this
> nation whether or not
> >> its intelligence gathering agencies have any real
> intelligence or not
> >> before we launch a military armada on its say-so. And
> it should matter
> >> whether or not our government is either incompetent
> and didn't know what
> >> they were doing or were dishonest and refused to say.
> The unspoken truth
> >> is that either as a people we were misled, or we were
> lied to, about the
> >> real reason for this war. Either we made a huge - and
> unforgivable -
> >> mistake, an arrogant or ignorant mistake, or we are
> swaggering around
> >> the world like a blind giant, flailing in all
> directions while the rest
> >> of the world watches in horror or in ridicule.
> >>
> >> If Bill Clinton's definition of "is" matters, surely
> this matters. If
> >> a president's sex life matters, surely a president's
> use of global force
> >> against some of the weakest people in the world
> matters. If a
> >> president's word in a court of law about a private
> indiscretion matters,
> >> surely a president's word to the community of nations
> and the security
> >> of millions of people matters. And if not, why not?
> If not, surely
> >> there is something as wrong with us as citizens, as
> thinkers, as
> >> Christians as there must be with some facet of the
> government. If wars
> >> that the public says are wrong yesterday - as over 70%
> of U.S. citizens
> >> did before the attack on Iraq - suddenly become
> "right" the minute the
> >> first bombs drop, what kind of national morality is
> that?
> >>
> >> Of what are we really capable as a nation if the
> considered judgment
> >> of politicians and people around the world means
> nothing to us as a
> >> people. What is the depth of the American soul if we
> can allow
> >> destruction to be done in our name and the name of
> "liberation" and
> >> never even demand an accounting of its costs, both
> personal and public,
> >> when it is over?
> >>
> >> We like to take comfort in the notion that people
> make a distinction
> >> between our government and ourselves. We like to say
> that the people of
> >> the world love Americans, they simply mistrust our
> government. But
> >> excoriating a distant and anonymous "government" for
> wreaking rubble on
> >> a nation in pretense of good requires very little of
> either character or
> >> intelligence. What may count most, however, is that we
> may well be the
> >> ones Proverbs warns when it reminds us: "Kings take
> pleasure in honest
> >> lips; they value the one who speaks the truth." The
> point is clear: If
> >> the people
> >> speak and the king doesn't listen, there is
> something wrong with the
> >> king. If the king acts precipitously and the people
> say nothing,
> >> something is wrong with the people. It may be time for
> us to realize
> >> that in a country that prides itself on being
> democratic, we are our
> >> government. And the rest of the world is figuring that
> out very quickly.
> >>
> >> From where I stand, that matters.
> >>
> >> A Benedictine Sister of Erie, Sister Joan is a
> best-selling author and
> >> well-known international lecturer. She is founder and
> executive director
> >> of Benetvision: A Resource and Research Center for
> Contemporary
> >> Spirituality, and past president of the Conference of
> American
> >> Benedictine Prioresses and the Leadership Conference
> of Women Religious.
> >> Sister Joan has been recognized by universities and
> national
> >> organizations for her work for justice, peace and
> equality for women
> >> in the Church and society. She is an active member of
> the International
> >> Peace Council.
> >>
> >>
> >> (Leave it to a Catholic voice to speak truth. Pete
> Martineau)
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> _______________________________________________
> >> [log in to unmask] mailing list
> >>
>
http://lists.OpenSoftwareServices.com/mailman/listinfo/madpeace-discuss
> >>
> >
>
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