Five Years Too Long

By LIAM MADDEN | IRAQ VETERANS AGAINST THE WAR

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The occupation of Iraq began when I was in Marine Corps basic training in the spring of 2003. Never did I imagine that my country could be betrayed so blatantly, yet react so passively.

March 19th marks the 5th anniversary of a war sold on lies and paid for with thousands of lives. Today a boot rests on the neck of a greater consciousness, and if we fail to liberate ourselves from its oppressive heel, we will pay dearly. People have tolerated the war in Iraq despite the deceit from which it was spawned. That complacency has earned my generation a debt—of both shattered lives and a ravaged economy—that will never be repaid. The 1,000 mile journey toward consciousness begins with a single step: questions.

As a veteran, an American and a human being, it's my responsibility to ask why people are dying for a government that has repeatedly lied. We all share this responsibility. I sense that most people feel uncomfortable discussing, looking at, or thinking about the war. I can relate to this unease; many of my close friends are robbed of sleep, haunted by post-traumatic stress. Yet, hiding from this discomfort is a mistake. Acknowledging that our democracy is diseased is a powerful act of dignity, love and humanity. I am reminded of the Vernon Howard quote, "Human sickness is so severe that few can bear to look at it, but those who do will become well."

Although we face presidential elections this November, Americans are not excused from the task of creating meaningful change on their own. The disinterest and apathy that inhibits the growth of social movements in this nation are the product of imposed ignorance. Too many people don't know how to exercise the power of citizenship. One of a citizen's responsibilities is to learn from history. In 1964, President Lyndon Johnson based his candidacy largely on his pledge to "get us out of Vietnam." He even asserted that a vote for his opponent was a vote for nuclear war. America elected LBJ, and got four more years of war. Again, in 1968, Richard Nixon premised his campaign on "peace with honor." After Nixon was elected, the war dragged on for more than six years and over one million more people died on the countrysides of Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam.

Let us not repeat the mistake of giving others our power and standing idly by as they offer hollow apologies and excuses for large-scale slaughter. Let us not be appeased and lulled by promises of "peace with honor," or its contemporary cousin, "phased withdrawal." Let us not look ourselves in the mirror in eight years and know that one million people died because we waited for someone to rescue us instead of learning how to rescue ourselves. Peace is merely the absence of war; our goal should be the presence of community. Help us build community, ignite a necessary social movement and raise our collective consciousness beyond the point where we're ever deceived into a war again. Start making this future now, or reap the consequences of another decade of needless blood.

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