My Anti-War Essays by Robert Paul Reyes

MY ANTI-WAR ESSAYS

BY LYNCHBURG LEDGER COLUMNIST

ROBERT PAUL REYES

THERE SHALL BE WARS AND RUMORS OF WARS

"There shall be wars and rumors of wars"

Just as the bombs stopped falling on the hapless civilians of Serbian and Kosovo, the dogs of war have been unleashed in other parts of the world.

I don't hear the sound of people beating swords into plowshares. I hear only the sounds of war echoing from the four corners of the earth.

North Korea and South Korea recently engaged in a high seas shootout that sank one North Korean patrol boat, badly damaged five others and is believed to have killed 30 North Korean soldiers.

India and Pakistan, implacable foes and budding nuclear powers are fighting over the disputed Kashmir region.

Iraq has accused Iran of a missile attack and heavy fighting has broken out between Eritrea and Ethiopia.

And only Jehovah or Allah knows when the Middle East will blow up again.

It appears that the new millennium will not usher in a thousand years of peace and prosperity. It looks like the New World Order is beset with anarchy and tribalism.

It makes me long for the old days of the Cold War. Things were so simple back then. Good Vs Evil. Democracy Vs Communism. Freedom Vs Tyranny. Prosperity Vs Poverty.

The fires of hatred are almost unquenchable, and we don't have the military resources to put out all the hot spots. We need to be extremely selective where we choose to commit our military might.

Let us not spread our forces too thinly. Let us not meddle where we don't belong. Let us not interfere in regional ethnic and religious conflicts.

We should allow the United Nations to assume a larger role in solving conflicts between nations, and America should concentrate on solving the problems of racism and intolerance that seem to be endemic to our society.

OF STAR TREK AND WAR IN THE BALKANS

I grew up in a tiny house, with one bratty younger brother and three snotty sisters. All seven of us, including our hard working mom and dad, had to share one black and white television set.

Needless to say, I rarely was able to watch the programs that I enjoyed. My favorite television show was Star Trek. Whenever Star Trek came on I would throw a tantrum,,just like my hero James T. Kirk, and demand to be allowed to see it. Every once in a blue moon, my mom and dad would have pity on me, and let me view that "silly" show.

I loved the gizmos and gadgetry of Star Trek. I loved the sense of loyalty and family enjoyed by the crew of the Enterprise, that was very much like my own family. As a precocious child I also loved the scantily clad female crew members.

Later on in life, as I basked in the reruns of Star Trek, I was able to appreciate its wonderful optimistic and humanitarian vision of the future. Star Trek celebrated a time when humankind had overcome the prejudices of race, religion and nationality.

In my middle age years I still love that "silly" show, and I still have not given up on the glorious future that Gene Rodenberry created, no matter how many times reality has intruded on that utopian future.

No matter how many genocides in Rwanda and Ethiopia, campaigns of brutality and ethnic cleansing in the Balkans, or massacres in the schools of America, I still believe humankind can, and indeed must, progress beyond our primitive fear and distrust of the other.

My I.Q may be above average, but I'm still silly enough to believe in a world where we are all brothers and sisters. I may be a semi-respected columnist, but I'm still silly enough to believe that we can overcome racism and tribalism sometime in the not too distant future.

The death of DeForest Kelly, who played the irascible but wise Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy in the Star Trek television series and movies, is what prompted me to write about my favorite TV show.

On the Enterprise's crew, Mr. Kelley was the chief surgeon, diagnostician and above all else humanist, the perfect foil for the coldly logical Mr. Spock, played by Leonard Nimoy, and the hot tempered and macho Captain James T. Kirk, played by the overbearing and histrionic William "Im not wearing a toupee" Shatner.

DeForest Kelley had the humanist point of view in the show. We need more world leaders with that humanist point of view. A humanist vision that realizes that you can't solve centuries of ethnic and religious hatred with a few weeks of saturation bombing.

Don't beam me up Scotty, I haven't given up on humankind. I want to make a difference in this dismal and conflict ridden world that I live in. I want to continue writing my essays that speak of peace and understanding. I want to continue working towards that Star Trek future when we are all brothers and sisters.

DRAFT DODGER LEAVES LEGACY OF WAR

As a young man, Bill Clinton felt so strongly about war that he dodged the draft. As a mature man, who no longer has to fear the draft, Bill Clinton has morphed into a warmonger.

Our fearless commander-in-chief has dropped bombs and rained cruise missiles on Sudan, Bosnia, Afghanistan, Iraq and now Kosovo, Serbia and Montenegro.

Our trigger happy president has two years left to rain death and destruction on other sovereign nations that don't cower before America. He has plenty of options, weak and defenseless countries that are suffering internal strife, where he can intervene and unload a barrage of missiles to improve his poll ratings in America.

How ironic that a cowardly draft dodger is leaving a legacy of war. How tragic that Clinton leaves behind an intractable political mess. How scary that Clinton has planted the seeds of hatred and violence that will explode in the high rises and subways of America.

STOP THE BOMBING, IMMEDIATELY!

After 72 days of relentless and merciless American led NATO air strikes, Slobodan Milosevic's Serbian government has finally accepted an international plan to end the war for Kosovo.

In spite of this remarkable and unexpected turn of events, Clinton's blood lust remains unabated. "Until Serb forces began a verifiable withdrawal from Kosovo, we will continue to pursue diplomacy, but we will also continue the military effort that has brought us to this point," Clinton declared.

Ten weeks of air strikes have devastated and demoralized Serbia and brought Milosevic and his government to their knees. An estimated one-fifth of Belgrade's 2 million population has fled the capital.

Much of Serbia's infrastructure is in smoldering ruins, the economy is in shambles, Kosovo is a deserted wasteland, it makes no military or humanitarian sense to continue pummeling the wreckage.

It will takes decades for Yugoslavia's infrastructure to be rebuilt and it will take centuries for the hard feelings, hatred and bitterness that our bombs have sown to dissipate.

Our bombs have done terrible harm to the infrastructure of Serbia and Kosovo, and they have done horrible harm to the moral infrastructure of America. This ugly little war has desensitized us to the damage down by errant bombs and missiles. Americans no longer bat an eye when "collateral damage" destroys a hospital or a retirement home.

I weep tears of sorrow for the grieving people of Serbia and Kosovo, and I weep tears of sadness for the jaded people of America.

HO-HUM WAR

As America's bombing campaign turns two months old, the war has settled into the background of our consciousness. The war does not grab our attention as much as rising stock prices or falling gasoline prices. Every day, is just another day.

The undeclared war has taken on a ho-hum spirit. Yesterday NATO war planes bombed a hospital, today they destroyed residential homes. The shock has worn off. It's no longer a moral outrage when we read about our war planes killing innocent civilians. Every day, we browse the Kosovo stories and then turn to the sports page.

Every day, a NATO mouthpiece mounts the podium in Brussels to boast about the latest triumphs and mumble qualified regrets about its latest deadly mistakes.

Every day, Serbian officials denounce the barbaric and cowardly NATO aggression.

Every day, CNN and MSNBC show video of Kosovo Albanians refugees fleeing Kosovo.

Every day, the American media report new diplomatic efforts by the Russians that are quickly rebuffed by Milosevic.

Every day, the news is the same. Every day, more innocent civilians die. Every day, Americans become more jaded. Every day, peace seems more elusive. Every day America loses a little bit more of its soul.

Every day, Americans should be out on the streets protesting. Every day, Americans should be writing letters of protest to their congresspersons. Every day, we should be calling for a halt to the bombing.

END THE BLOODY STALEMATE

Clinton stubbornly insists the NATO bombing campaign will force Yugoslav strongman Slobodan Milosevic to give up control of Kosovo, if the airstrikes go on long enough. "Just a few more weeks. Just a few more months."

Clinton is in serious denial. Milosevic will never surrender Kosovo. The Serbians may not love their leader, but they hate NATO with a passion. They will never rise up against Milosevic in hopes that America will cease its barbaric bombing.

Clinton must be suffering from a severe case of memory loss. Billions of dollars worth of cruise missiles dropped on Baghdad have dismally failed to dislodge Saddam from power, nor have they persuaded him to change his evil ways.

Clinton is enslaved by the polls. He knows that if he commits American ground troops, that the American people will quickly turn against our intervention in Kosovo as soon as the first American soldier comes home in a body bag.

Milosevic is immune to public opinion. Like any dictator worth his salt, his only imperative is to remain in power. The destruction of his country, and the killing of the civilian population of Serbia, means little or nothing to him, as long as he is able to retain his grip on power.

Let me digress by pointing out that I am not advocating the use of ground troops as a way of ending this conflict. America has no business intervening in Yugoslavia, period!

Clinton however, is not immune to public opinion. We must make our feelings known. Send an e-mail to the White House protesting the war. Call a talk radio show and vent! Demonstrate in the streets!

Clinton, our erstwhile commander-in chief, ordered two dozen Apache helicopters sent to Yugoslavia. At a cost of millions of dollars, I might add. They now sit idly in Albania, because Clinton is afraid to use them in combat for fear that they would be shot down.

What a perfect metaphor for the sheer impotence of the only remaining superpower. No enemy has ever been vanquished with air power alone, and Milosevic knows that America will never commit ground troops.

Stop the madness. Milosevic will never surrender unconditionally. NATO will never commit ground troops. This is a bloody stalemate that is taking the lives of innocent civilians day after bloody day. The only solution is an immediate end to the bombing, and a negotiated settlement.

A TIDY LITTLE CONFLICT

Kosovo is a tidy little conflict. It doesn't impede our intrude in our everyday rush to buy and sell. Unlike the Persian Gulf War it doesn't even preempt our favorite television programs. It is resigned to the cable ghettoes of CNN and MSNBC.

Kosovo is a bloodless NATO action. Not one drop of precious American blood has been spilled. No American young men and young women brought home in body bags. No American soldiers coming home with missing limbs. We have invested billions of dollars in cruise missiles and stealth fighters to insure that our brave American soldiers do not have to face death.

Kosovo is a non divisive military action. There is no dissent to speak of. There are no demonstrators in the streets. Americans are either too bored or too preoccupied with Monica and Jerry Springer to speak out against our military adventure in Kosovo.

Kosovo is a military adventure without a worthy opponent. We are the only superpower left standing. We can act with impunity. We can bomb with abandon. We can wreak havoc and destruction without fear of offending Russia or China. Even after we pulverized the Chinese Embasy we didn't pause in our barbaric bombing. As long as no American blood is shed, we have carte blanche to bomb Serbia back to the stone age.

Kosovo is a tidy little conflict. But not for long. Let us not forget that the Balkans gave birth to the First World War. Kosovo is a bloodless NATO action. But just wait to see what will happen if we send in ground troops. The seasoned and disciplined Yugoslav army will not give up without a fight. Kosovo is a non divisive military action. But just wait when our soldiers start coming home in body bags. Kosovo will explode on our television sets and blow this country apart. Kosovo is ours to do with as we please and we don't have to fear the Russians. But just wait until the sleeping Bear wakes up. A vodka emboldened Yeltsin is liable to usher in a Third World War.

Kosovo has the potential of exploding from a tidy little conflict into a bloody world war. It's time to put a halt to this undeclared war. We are still a democracy. We should exercise our rights as free citizens and protest American military intervention in a part of the world where the fires of racism and genocide have been raging for centuries. America should pull out of Yugoslavia before this regional fire explodes into a conflagration that consumes the whole world.

THE EMBASSY BOMBING FIASCO

In mistakenly targeting the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade, U.S. (semi) intelligence officials were working from an outdated map issued before China built its diplomatic compound several years ago, American and NATO authorities conceded.

"The tragic and embarrassing truth is that our maps simply did not show the Chinese embassy anywhere in that vicinity, " a senior NATO meekly explained.

This sorry and tragic incident clearly shows just how clueless the Clinton administration is. In their map of the world, China with its population of well over a billion people, simply does not exist. In their map of the world, Russia with its thousand of nuclear intercontinental missiles capable of blowing up America countless of times over, simply does not exist.

The map that Clinton and his war mongering lackeys use, apparently only has Washington D. C, Kosovo and Iraq.

Our military intervention has already seriously strained our relationship with Russia. At one point Russian officials even threatened to target their nuclear missiles against the European countries participating in the NATO bombing campaign. And now China announced that it was breaking off diplomatic contacts with Washington on human rights and arms control to protest NATO's bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Yugoslavia.

We are jeopardizing our relationships with the most important and powerful countries in the world. And for what? We have no business bombing Serbia. Kosovo is a province of Yugoslavia. America has no strategic interests in Kosovo.

You may ask but what about our moral imperative? Shouldn't we intervene to prevent the slaughter of the ethnic Albanian Kosovars? Where was our moral imperative in Sudan? Rwanda? Is our moral imperative only turned on when the victims are white?

Our moral imperative dictates that we stop bombing and begin negotiating. America can't impose its will on a sovereign country. America can't and shouldn't always have its way.

America drops a bomb on a passenger train. America drops a bomb on a convoy of the refugees that we are supposed to be helping. America drops a bomb on a residential district. America drops a bomb on a hospital. American drops a bomb on the Chinese embassy.

America has dropped enough bombs on innocent civilians. We are cluelessly fighting a winless war in Kosovo. Dumb people are dropping smart bombs on innocent people. It's time to stop the insanity.

If our commander-in-chief will only look at a (hopefully recent) map of the world, he will see that there are many hot spots that we are neglecting because of our mindless intervention in Kosovo. Clinton might also notice that Russia and China are the largest countries in the world, and perhaps he will stop ruining our relationships with them by bombing Kosovo.

THANKS JESSE

Jesse Jackson is not a shy and retiring person. Jesse has never met a microphone he didn't like, and Jesse has never met a television camera he didn't love. Jesse seeks the spotlight like a mosquito seeks a light bulb.

But destiny seldom chooses a cherubic choir boy to match wits with hardened criminals. Jesse was the only one to set up to the plate, and you know Jesse, he swings for the fences.

Jesse may not be a saint, but he prayed with the devil himself to secure the freedom of the three American POW's. While American bombs were still falling in Yugoslavia, Jesse relied on words of peace, and not weapons of war, to free our servicemen.

Three American prisoners of war are free. Hundreds of their family and friends are ecstatic and thankful. Millions of Americans should be grateful, not in a general sort of way, but in a very specific way. We owe our gratitude and respect to the Reverend Jesse Jackson.

Jesse, you may not get your props from the mainstream press, but this humble columnist utters a heartfelt "Thanks Rev."

STOP THE BOMBING

An American general, with a chest festooned with medals, makes a Hollywood production out of screening a grainy video of a smart bomb traveling down a chimney and blowing up a munitions factory. A room full of cynical journalists "aahhs" in admiration. Joe Sixpac watching in the comfort of living room yells out "Go USA." Our commander-in-chief points to the video as proof that we are waging a successful and humanitarian military campaign.

But unfortunately there in no surgical precision to war. War is mayhem and chaos and butchery. Even in the age of smart bombs guided to targets by laser beams, dumb weapons that fail to explode, or lie in wait to kill later, are killing and maiming civilians in Yugoslavia.

During the five weeks of NATO air strikes, witnesses say, NATO warplanes have dropped cluster bombs that scatter smaller munitions over wide areas. Please don't get the impression that these bombs are dropped over battlefields. There are no battlefields in this civil war. These bombs are dropped in meadows where children play and roads where passenger cars travel.

Since cluster bombs lay down a carpet of explosions, they are often the weapon of choice against moving tanks and other military vehicles, which NATO says are at the top of its targets list in Kosovo.

But in a civil war like Yugoslavia's where innocent civilians are never more than a few yards from military targets, the risks of killing and maiming noncombatants with cluster bombs are high. There have been recorded cases of children crippled when they picked up a cluster bomb and tossed it around as if playing with a ball.

Pristina's hospital alone has treated hundreds of people wounded by cluster bombs since NATO's air war began March 24. Roughly have of those victims were civilians.

For every smart bomb that surgically takes out a munitions factory there are many more dumb bombs that are destroying the infrastructure of Yugoslavia and indiscriminately killing innocent civilians.

As citizens of a democracy it is our duty to speak out against the evil that our government is doing in our name. NATO should stop its bombing campaign against Yugoslavia immediately. It's sad that an organization that was defensive in nature for all of its proud history has now morphed into an offensive organization that is killing civilians. NATO has now become the North Atlantic Terrorist Organization.

Just once I wish an American general would go on television and show a video of children crippled by our cluster bombs, writhing in agony in a children's ward in a hospital in Yugoslavia. Maybe then journalists would ask some tough questions. Maybe then Joe Sixpac would put down his beer and wonder what the heck we are doing in Yugoslavia. Maybe then our commander-in-chief would reconsider our barbaric bombing campaign in Yugoslavia.

ACT OF TERROR

The NATO attack on Serbian television headquarters poses a dilemma for those who support our bombing campaign against Yugoslavia. It's one thing to bomb legitimate military targets such as radar installations, its quite another to bomb a strictly civilian target such as a television studio. It's one thing to target and kill soldiers, it's quite another to target and kill civilians.

Destroying the Serbian television headquarters serves no military purpose. NATO and U.S. officials defended the attack as an effort to undermine the regime of President Slobodan Milosevic. "Serb TV is as much a part of Milosevic's murder machine as his military is," Pentagon spokesman Kenneth Bacon said in Washington.

Whatever one thinks of the content of Serbian television, the people who were killed were not responsible for creating but rather only for transmitting the work of others. The people who were killed, or should I say murdered, were just doing their jobs. They had no influence on the content or on Milosevic.

If a Yugoslav terrorist blows up an NBC news studio, our government will not have the moral authority to condemn the attack. The American networks are not a propaganda tool of the government, but nevertheless they do present the American side of this conflict. If we are justified in blowing up the Serbian television headquarters, who are we to complain if Serb terrorists blow up the CNN headquarters?

We live in a society that is saturated with violence. We seek to teach our children never to resort to violence to settle their disputes. How can we teach our children that violence is never the answer when our government is deliberatly dropping bombs on innocent civilians?

REGRETTABLE AND INEVITABLE

The NATO bombing of a refugee convoy in Kosovo is a bloody reminder that there is no such thing as a clean or humane war, no matter how high-tech the weapons or how sophisticated the propaganda.

Our commander-in-chief acknowledged that an American pilot mistakenly dropped a laser-guided bomb on a vehicle carrying fleeing refugees. Serb officials claim that 64 were killed and 20 wounded.

"That is regrettable. It is also inevitable," our president told the American Society of Newspaper Editors meeting in San Francisco.

Regrettable? Regrettable is accidentally stepping on someone's toes. Regrettable is unintentionally hurting someone's feelings. Regrettable is having an impeached president as our commander-in-chief.

Dropping a bomb on a refugee convoy is criminal. It's inexcusable. It's tragic. It's a crime that should not be tolerated by Americans. Maybe the Fundamentalists are right and there is a "death of outrage" in America, because I don't see anyone protesting this insane and barbaric American intervention.

Inevitable? Off course it's inevitable that you will kill innocent civilians if you target the infrastructure of a country. First one of our fearless pilots blows up a train full of civilians. Oh, but the target was the bridge, not the passenger train. Duh, doesn't our military command realize that bridges are constructed so that trains and buses can go over them? Then another of our brave pilots blows up a convoy of ethnic Albanian refugees. This whole war is going to blow up in our faces.

This regrettable and inevitable accident is a lesson in the harsh realties of war and a warning of even worse to come as the war expands and intensifies, with the inevitable "collateral" deaths.

REAP THE WHIRLWIND

The Serbs and the ethnic Albanians in Kosovo have been involved in a bloody and brutal ethnic and religious conflict for centuries.

America intervenes. But America does not want any blood stains on the well pressed khakis of its well fed soldiers. Technology is good. Technology is god. Technology solves all our problems. America intervenes with its high tech weapons.

Americans watching the war from the comfort of their plush sofas are deluded into thinking that the dirty and bloody work of war can be effected from a sanitary, impersonal distance with cruise missiles fired from hundreds of miles away and bombs dropped at night from invisible and obscenely expensive planes thousands of feet high.

21st century technology is impotent to stop primitive hatred. Bloodlust does not listen to reason and bloodlust turns a deaf ear to the fury of high tech missiles and smart bombs.

With our cruise missiles and our smart bombs we are planting the seeds of revenge and hatred and we will reap the whirlwind. We will reap terrorist bombs in our cities and nerve gas attacks in our subways. War was not meant to be sterile and clean, war is blood and guts.

To the intellectually impaired, let me state that I am not justifying or condoning acts of terrorism, I am merely pointing out cause and effect.

We need to pull out of Kosovo. It is not our fight. It is not our struggle. Our high tech gadgetry is just exacerbating an intolerable situation. We need to pull out of Kosovo and take our expensive and destructive toys home with us.

Iraq, Sudan, Afghanistan and now Serbia. It's a hard rain that's going to fall and all of us will get wet and all of us will get bloody.

WELCOME TO AMERICA

Welcome to America, where we are civilized and rational, unlike the barbaric and war-crazed souls of Serbia and Kosovo. Welcome to our great democracy, where the president can make war, without formally declaring war. Welcome to the last remaining superpower, where our courageous and beloved commander-in-chief who dodged the draft and once stated that he loathed the military, may soon be sending our sons and daughters to die thousands of miles from home. Welcome to the stronghold of capitalism, where consumers are too enthralled watching the stock market go up, to care about bombs coming down on the citizens of Yugoslavia. Welcome to the home of the jaded, where all of a sudden we are gung-ho to send our troops to a place most of us didn't know existed just a few short months ago. Welcome to the post Woodstock generation, where our motto is "make safe-sex love and make no American casualties wars by raining down cruise missiles on third rate countries." Welcome to America, where we are civilized and rational, unlike the barbaric and war-crazed souls of Serbia and Kosovo.

KOSOVO

The history of humankind is written in blood. From the ancient battleground of Armageddon to the present killing fields of Rwanda, Somalia, Bosnia, Sierra Leone and Kosovo, there runs a river of blood.

Neither prophets nor politicians have been able to stanch the flow of blood. Neither million dollar cruise missiles nor multimillion dollar stealth bombers will put a stop to the enmity and racial hatred that runs centuries deep.

In a world rampant with tribalism, the United States is the sole remaining superpower, but we are impotent to stop the bloodbath in Kosovo. Bloodlust does not listen to reason and bloodlust turns a deaf ear to the fury of missiles and bombs.

Our intervention in Kosovo is just adding fuel to the fire that has been burning unabated for centuries. Our foolish meddling is just quickening the rate at which the ethnic Albanians in Kosovo are being slaughtered.

An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth. Neither a thousand tons of bombs, nor a billion dollars of cruise missiles will extinguish the hatred in Kosovo.

Let's tend to our own fires of racial intolerance and bigotry burning fiercely in our backyard. Let's set our own house in order. Let's try to stanch the blood that is spurting in our cities and in our streets.

May god have mercy on the people of Kosovo and may we do battle against the intolerance that is destroying America.

Please send me your thoughts and comments: rreyes4966@aol.com

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