Founder of Faith Voices for the Common Good and long-time anti-war activist, Rev. Dr. Rita Nakashima Brock has dedicated much of her scholarship and activism to inter-religious education. As chair of the planning team for the Truth Commission on Conscience in War, to be launched this Sunday, March 21 in New York City, she has turned her attention to Conscientious Objection regulations and the realities of military service during times of war.
To create the Truth Commission, Brock has worked with the filmmakers behind “Soldiers of Conscience,” an Emmy-winning documentary film that follows several soldiers through their moral decision-making on whether to fight in the war in Iraq or apply to be Conscientious Objectors. In her piece, “Moral Conscience in War: Small Acts of Repair,” Brock tells the stories of her father’s US Army service, including two tours in Vietnam. She explains how her father’s stories and the influence of veterans she has grown to respect have shown her how opportunities for repair and healing during war can come in many sizes.
Moral Conscience In War: Small Acts Of Repair
By Rita Nakashima Brock
My father Roy, from rural Mississippi, was barely 18 and had an eighth grade education when he joined the U.S. Army in 1941. He was captured in North Africa and spent the rest of the war as a POW. A career enlisted man, he served two tours in Vietnam as a medic who ran a battlefield aide station.
In the days before cell phones and email, my father sent us cassette tapes and letters. As the oldest child of three, I received my own tape.
Our friend Bill Distler, a Vietnam veteran on disability in Washington state working with Iraq vets and others against the current wars, wrote this op-ed hoping to get it in the Seattle Times before the anniversary of the bombing of Afghanistan on Oct. 7th, 2001. They didn’t print it so we are presenting it here.
Afghanistan: Success Means Ending the War
by Bill Distler
Protesters on last weekend's National Equality March in Washington, DC. Which war? Both, I'm sure.
We are now in the ninth year of our war against Afghanistan. The conversation about Afghanistan centers on the concept of “success”. Success is described as defeating the Taliban and al Qaeda and “stabilizing ” Afghanistan. This is a vision of success defined in military terms. This will be good for General David Petraeus, head of U.S. Central Command, and General Stanley McChrystal, commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan. They will win new medals and their careers will be crowned with “victory”. But who else will it be good for?
In moral terms, which are the only terms that really count, we are suffering a monumental failure. We are asked to think of war only in terms of winning and losing. This makes the lives of Afghans less important than our pride. This is the same moral failure that we suffered in Vietnam. We could have won militarily in Vietnam and still have lost morally.
George Bush failed us by not seeking justice against the perpetrators of 9/11. Instead, he brought the injustice of war to the entire population of Afghanistan. President Obama has so far failed to do the right thing by seeking a cease-fire and negotiations to end the war. Those of us who want peace have failed to build a large enough movement to make demands on him.
Starting the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq was a moral failure. Continuing the wars is a moral failure. Winning the wars will be a moral failure. Ending the wars will be a moral success.
