Thanks, OFG. You put into words a lot of the things that have hung heavy on my heart these past two days. There has been one other aspect that has greatly occupied my mind that I've not seen mentioned.

I have utterly no desire to see a large part of another generation destroyed by war. At one time, I worked with a lot of Viet Nam veterans, and one thing I often heard from them was, "If we go to war again, send us. Don't fuck up another generation." And I could see in their eyes how deeply they meant this, how greatly their lives had been changed by having killed other human beings, even if those other human beings were soldiers. Keep in mind that most soldiers, on both sides of most wars, are themselves barely removed from childhood. Our own armed forces are comprised primarily of people between the ages of 18 and 25 (with the average much closer to the younger end of that scale). Many of the armies we've fought through our various wars were comprised of much younger soldiers.

When we speak of the atrocities of innocent people being killed in wars, we're usually not including soldiers in those statements. But most of the soldiers themselves have been drafted to their governments' causes. Or, in our case today, our armed forces are largely comprised of people who see military service as one of their few options to escape poverty or to get an education. Yes, they chose that path. But when considered in the context of other choices available, how much choice did they really have?

When people have heard that I protested the Gulf War, or have heard me refer to myself as a dove, I've occasionally been confronted with hateful words and images. Specifically, people have been appalled by the (misinformed) idea that I'm one of those who would spit on soldiers upon their return. Let me be abundantly clear: I support our soldiers. My way of supporting them, however, is to do everything in my limited power to push for their quick return home, safe and unscarred, physically and emotionally. I have too much respect for my veteran friends, for my grandfather who saw heavy action in WWII, for all of our veterans, to ever give our soldiers anything but the greatest respect. But the greatest respect I can give them is to wish for their mental, spiritual, emotional, and physical safety.

It is likely, as we build and execute our response to the horrific events of the past few days, that many, many innocent people will die. Included among the innocent, I believe, are a good many soldiers. On both sides.

Peace.