I agree, with statements in Call to Conscience, that this is a immoral and futile war. However, the call to current servicepersons to resist is, I feel, misdirected. A serviceperson surrenders his or her freedom of speech and other civil rights so that civilians and veterans may continue to enjoy their freedoms. It is true that the Nuremberg trials determined that a soldier is bound to -disobey-illegal orders, but who is the soldier, in the thick of combat, to discern which orders these are? Mental conditioning during training ensures that few if any soldiers will question their orders while in the field; at that point, they are there to do their job.
So to whom should the call to conscience be directed? I feel this call should be directed to those of us who retain the freedoms that the soldier has waived. The soldier is fighting so that the veterans and civilians can vote, write, lobby, protest, run for office, boycott, and in thousands of other ways make our voices heard. By the sacrifices of the soldiers who have given up their rights, it is incumbent on the rest of us to use our rights bravely, wisely, and well.
The US war of imperialism is no surprise to me, and nothing new. Indeed, it has been the pattern of this government from the Trail of Tears on down. I am sorry for any young person who joins the military for any reason but a conscious willingness to fight and kill and die for this government as well as for this country. I feel that there is a precious and vital place for conscientious objectors, but this place is not in the military.
So what of the soldier who becomes a conscientious objector after taking the oath of service but before discharge? Such a person must face her own soul, make his own decisions, and accept whatever consequences. But from what I've seen, such a position is rare. Most of the enlisted conscientious objectors I've heard of, had and suppressed such thoughts and sentiments prior to enlisting. Many joined the military for reasons other than the conscious willingness that I have cited. Instead, they joined to get a job or education, or to "become a man". For these, the experience and consequences of conscientious objectorship becomes their work or education or initiation into adulthood. Just as for most, their work and education and initiation is the soldier's lot.
Like many, I am disturbed over a president who was appointed rather than elected, who in his youth evaded his own time of service, this same man sending our people into an undeclared, preemptive war that was started and escalated on false pretenses. Knowing something of how the real government, a plutocracy, works, I often feel frustrated and powerless. But I know that in many countries I would be "disappeared" or tortured or killed for dissenting. Here, I can speak out, and sometimes even make my voice heard.
Life is dear, freedom even dearer, wisdom most precious of all; and it often falls on the young to pay the price. We are all young once. And we are all still free.
Joni Pinkney