The brother of Jay Janowsky, my best friend in junior high school, was killed in Vietnam.

I remember going to Jay’s house shortly after his brother Carl’s death and seeing his mother sitting on a stuffed chair in the living room, weeping and weeping.

If we go to war with Iraq, more people will weep like Mrs. Janowsky. Most will not be Americans, because we fight technologically advanced wars in which few Americans die. And because the Pentagon meticulously controls the press, stopping real war scenes from being depicted, we probably won’t see the mutilated bodies of children blasted by errant bombs or their mourning relatives. But sanitized or not, war is not required in Iraq.

I am tired of being embarrassed by my government. We are a great nation, but when we deal with other countries, whether it is Nicaragua, Chile, or Iraq, we can no longer be trusted. We were the hope of the world after World War II, but we have squandered that good will by meddling in Southeast Asia, Latin America, and most recently, the Middle East. We had no business in Vietnam, and we have no business going it alone in Iraq.

Several months ago, I was awakened by a huge bang coming from the direction of T.F. Green Airport, in Warwick, Rhode Island. My first reaction was, "It’s a terrorist attack." My teenage son also woke up, thinking the same thing. Scared, he was going to come into our room, he told me later, but he thought we’d all be incinerated in seconds, so why bother?

The noise turned out to have been a loud thunderclap, but I do not want the threat of a terrorist attack always lurking in the back of my mind. And I do not want my son to give up hope for a better world.

An attack on Iraq will only further inflame the Arab world and encourage attacks on Americans by young people who despair because they cannot control their destinies. The US should work cooperatively with the United Nations to calm tensions and resolve injustices in the Middle East.

Instead, we strut through the halls of the international community like an obnoxious and musclebound high-school football player. Do we really need a military base in Saudi Arabia to ensure the safety of Cranston, Cleveland, and Colorado Springs? Isn’t it time we told the Israeli government that we aren’t going down the drain with it because a handful of zealous settlers think God gave them the West Bank? And couldn’t we better use our money to rebuild schools, hospitals, and homes throughout the world, rather than amassing more weapons?

Back to the Thoughts on going to war index.