Gobbledygook

I have a dream: I dream of peace. I dream of a world where we no longer put people in uniforms, hand them a gun and tell them to “kill, baby, kill.” I’m not afraid to say I dream of a world entirely free of violence. Where we don’t express our opinions or anger through the bombing of cities, the hijacking of planes or through a wave of people with guns. I dream of this, but I know, that unlike Martin Luther King Jr. It will always be that: a dream.
On Nov. 5 2009 at Fort Hood, Texas, Major Nidal Malik Hasan a military psychiatrist –a man who spent his life analyzing the minds of men and women returning to, or being shipped out to Iraq and Afghanistan began a rampage that killed 11 people, wounded around 30 and ended when he was shot and wounded by authorities.
Major Hasan though of Palestinian decent and a devout Muslim was born and raised in America. His family members and former military chaplain said that Hasan had been harassed by fellow soldiers about his faith and called insulting names. His mental state had obviously become disturbed in the past few months as evidenced by the fact that despite his recent promotion to Major in May, he hired a lawyer to help him get out of the army.
A Scribd blog that has been accredited to Major Hasan compared soldiers who throw themselves on grenades to suicide bombers, he said “If one suicide bomber can kill 100 enemy soldiers because they were caught off guard that would be considered a strategic victory. Their intention is not to die because of some despair… You can call them crazy [all] you want but their act was not one of suicide that is despised by Islam.”
Whether Major Hasan attacked the soldiers at Fort Hood because of the harassment he suffered, his religion, or because he himself was about to be shipped out is still unclear. It is clear that while this is the deadliest shooting on a military base, it is not the first massacre we have seen in recent years.
On April 20 1999 almost ten years ago two boys went into their high school killed 13 people, wounded 24 and then shot themselves. It was first school shooting ever recorded and is still the deadliest of any high school shooting in America.
Horrified, we reformed gun control laws, high school bullying policies and security in schools, hoping to stop Columbine from ever happening again.
What will we do to make sure that the Fort Hood massacre never happens again? Will military officials finally realize that victory isn’t necessary to end this war? Will the American people give up on the idea of revenge for the events on Sep. 11 2001? Will we pull troops back instead of sending more in? We have a President who promised during his campaign to end this war on terror and bring our troops home. Instead, we’re talking about sending more in.
Granted, that we are finally getting somewhere in our long arduous struggle against Al Qaeda and other terrorists, that were finally fighting in the country we never should have left. But fighting is still fighting and more Americans are dieing now than any time before this “War on Terror” though many know this is no ‘war’ like we ever seen before.
Who is the enemy? Who are we fighting? Terrorists. Not a country, not a government, not an army. They wear no uniforms, follow no traditional chain of command, they do not fight like soldiers, and more importantly, they do not look like soldiers. They strike and retreat, hiding in shadows. This isn’t war, it’s just “kill, baby kill,” and its taking a mental tool on the men and women we send into fight.
What does it say about this ‘war’ when a psychiatrist in the military, a man whose job was to prepare the inexperienced for battle and to patch up the minds of men and women who had already been, kills almost a dozen people when faced with the fact that he was going to be shipped out as well. Was he, in some twisted form of rationale, trying to save his fellow Americans in the same way a soldier will throw is his body on top of a grenade?
What does that tell you about what killing does to people. The fear of being killed; the act of killing; holding a gun in your hand an pointing it at another person. A person who in all likelihood you cannot tell if they are an enemy or not. How can you when the enemy could be a 12 or 13 year old boy?
Is it irony that as this man fired shot after shot as I sat in American History, learning about immigrants coming to our great country to escape famine, oppression and war or is it just sad?
In that same class there is a student, a 15 year old sophomore who has already decided to join the military straight out of high school. He often wears camouflage to school, he’s in the ROTC and this Halloween his costume was the uniform of a soldier. He picks up a gun and puts on a uniform for education, he will go out and kill for that education. Now that is ironic.
I’m not a tree-hugger, or hippie. I cry for peace out of peace’s sake. I know what that uniform does to people. My mother was in desert storm and ever since she refuses to watch many army or combat movies and she is closed off and reserved about her experiences. One incident she has mentioned that plagues her mind still this day, was when she almost shot an Iraqi man while his daughter was in the room because she did not know if he was an enemy or a civilian.
The fact that my mother has shut off this part of her history from herself and her family terrifies me, though I know it is more for her own sanity than anything else.
This is what war does to people. Granted, not every soldier who is sent to Iraq or Afghanistan is there to kill enemy insurgents. Many of our troops patrol neighborhoods and cities protecting civilians. Soldiers remotely detonate car bombs and save many lives. But the main command that all soldiers are programmed to obey is still there. Kill the enemy. It is like a subliminal message pounded into their heads at boot camps and training grounds, “Kill, baby kill.” Now is the time to stop it.
Nine years is too long. Far too long. I am not saying we should have ignored the events of Sep. 11 and I won’t speculate as to whether this “War on Terror” was necessary, but it is necessary that we end it. Victory should no longer be the main objective, nor revenge, nor setting up a democratic republic in another country. Should we help other countries reach the freedom we are so lucky to enjoy? Of course, but not at the point of a gun.
I have a dream and I know it can become a reality. We have un-manned aircrafts and remote controlled disarming devices. We put a man on the moon in ten years, and if we put that same drive and inspiration into taking Man out of war I know we would be one step closer to peace.
I believe that one day we will have the technology, the diplomacy or even just the foresight to avoid wars and bombings all together. The War on Terror will end, and when it does, let all America cry out in joy : “Peace at last. Peace at last.”