More Recommended Reading

• Active Military Personnel Appeal for Redress
  This event took place yesterday afternoon (Jan. 16) in Washington, DC. Although the article claims the action is unprecedented, a similar appeal for redress was filed by active military personnel during the early 1970s. A few months following the presentation of that appeal, Congress cut funding for the Viet Nam War, effectively ending U.S. involvement in that conflict.
  
  Last week, around the same time as Pres. B*sh's speech, Democratic leaders promised to present a bill that would be a de facto "no confidence" vote for the proposed "surge". While there may be just enough Republicans available to help pass such a bill, it would be barely worth the paper it would be written on, or the hours Senators will make grand standing speeches for and against.
  
  Much better to cut the purse strings. That's the power the Constitution gives the Congress, and it's well past time that Congress exercise that power. I am not “soft on defense”; I accept that military force may (on rare occasions) be a necessary evil. I am opposed to the current conflict. I find little purpose in sending over 2,000 additional troops to Iraq as potential cannon fodder.
  
  The proper cannon fodder, unfortunately, are men in the current administration who did their best to avoid that role in the 60s and 70s.


• Real Live Preacher linked to an article in the Christian Century which addresses the spiritual issue of the U.S. response to 9/11.
  
  The "what if" scenario of the essay's first half is admittedly naïve. While I argued yesterday for non-violence on an individual level, I recognize it is unrealistic to expect non-violence at the national level. If B*sh had really called for a non-violent response to 9/11, it's safe to say the nation would have been up in arms. I suspect more than a extreme fringe would have called for impeachment.
  
  The second half of the essay makes the point that 9/11 was, in the view of victims of U.S. oppression and occupation, "... were nothing other than the continuation of the everyday war of which they had been the victims for so long." It also makes the point that European nations have endured this sort of terrorism for decades. This second point was also well made by the current Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, in his book Writings in the Dust.