Torture, the cost of war, and nuclear disarmament is the triad toward peace

[grant marcus]

Torture is bad for America. It is cruel and primitive. It endangers our
security, because torture breeds torture. It endangers our soldiers,
because they are first on the front lines to receive its retaliation. It
destroys any positive beliefs other countries might have had about
America or American democracy. And most Americans agree,
torture must end now. Obama's policies on torture do not do that
(See Reuters, Greg Miller, LA Times). The personnel hasn't changed,
we "go by the Army Field Manual," rather than the Geneva Conventions,
and the rendition program is still in place. The only change has been
the replacement of Bush, which we may be overjoying a bit too much.

The Cost of War--Dr. Dodge's speech, ver batim, should go on the
Beyond War web site. Bank bailouts need to be connected to the
war industry. Who funds the war? Banks. When war is a way of
life for destructive purposes, rather than productive services in our
society, who must pay for that? These arguements must be developed
so that every peace activist can discuss them. WILPF and the War
Resisters League are two sources that come to mind that are very
succinct and articulate with the cost of war. But this needs to be
compiled and posted in a way people of peace can discuss it with their
ministers, congregations, clubs, friends, etc. The American public do
not make this link, because the corporate sponsored media avoid it entirely

Nuclear Disarmament--Very important considering a Cuban Missile-like
standoff that will present itself if U.S. missiles go up along the Russsian
border. We need to be drawing down, not building up. The majority of
people agree.

In the 60s, we had a saying we'd use often: "What if they gave a war and
no one came." Stopping our children from going to war is one of the
most important things we can do. War cannot be fought if no one participates
in it. If we can get this education in the schools, and Beyond War can
assist VFP and VCStoptheWar with leafleting schools on truth-to-recruitment,
this is desperately needed.--grant

[Anne Millhollen]

Hello Grant,

Those are interesting comments, but I'm afraid no one will see them because they were made in the Book Reviews category of the forum. I think lots more people would see this if you would copy it, then delete it from here and repost it in the general Forum.

Anne

[Mora Rogers]

Thanks for pointing this out, Anne. I didn't pay attention to the category when this was posted. I will change the category to current events so that Grant doesn't have to repost the discussion and so that people will be more likely to see it.