This weekend...
Yup, a second post within a few hours. This weekend I am participating in a Peace Reading at a local art gallery and entertainment venue. I'd mentioned this to several friends that I was torn about what to exactly read at the event. I had at least two ideas. After some debate and thought, I was going to write a new piece based on an essay Colin Powell had written back in 1996 that presented (I believe) 12 questions that should be asked before any country decides to go to war.
The reasoning I had for doing this was multi-fold: a group of senators had referred to said document prior to Bush's ultimatum to Saddam, and found that there were a number of questions that couldn't be answered in a way that led them to believe that conflict was justified. Then, of course, there is the obvious ramifications of Colin's current position in office, and his role in the current conflict. And, then there are the views expressed by other nations in the UN.
And, I could keep going with the reaons and the shadings and reverberrations of interpretations of said document.
However, as I mentioned in my last post, I have been looking at a site called the Independent Media Center, and sites and information that are linked from there. One of the links is to Iraq Peace Team Diaries, which I have decided I will read from this weekend.
As I have mentioned before, what is most useful now is getting information that, while it may be biased, is not spun and twisted with hidden agendas from large corporations. The Iraq Peace Team is a group of individuals that is definitely biased, however they are doing things that are importent: they are in Iraq offering aid and comfort to civilians who have been injured, and more so, they are providing the bridge needed between the Iraqi people and the US people if there is ever going to be peace between our nations.
Being able to move beyond what idiotic governments do in their supposed "National Interest" is an important process. These journals show that it is possible, and give the readers a real glimpse into the reality of the war that can never be captured on the television screen, and will never be reported by the mainstream press.
The reasoning I had for doing this was multi-fold: a group of senators had referred to said document prior to Bush's ultimatum to Saddam, and found that there were a number of questions that couldn't be answered in a way that led them to believe that conflict was justified. Then, of course, there is the obvious ramifications of Colin's current position in office, and his role in the current conflict. And, then there are the views expressed by other nations in the UN.
And, I could keep going with the reaons and the shadings and reverberrations of interpretations of said document.
However, as I mentioned in my last post, I have been looking at a site called the Independent Media Center, and sites and information that are linked from there. One of the links is to Iraq Peace Team Diaries, which I have decided I will read from this weekend.
As I have mentioned before, what is most useful now is getting information that, while it may be biased, is not spun and twisted with hidden agendas from large corporations. The Iraq Peace Team is a group of individuals that is definitely biased, however they are doing things that are importent: they are in Iraq offering aid and comfort to civilians who have been injured, and more so, they are providing the bridge needed between the Iraqi people and the US people if there is ever going to be peace between our nations.
Being able to move beyond what idiotic governments do in their supposed "National Interest" is an important process. These journals show that it is possible, and give the readers a real glimpse into the reality of the war that can never be captured on the television screen, and will never be reported by the mainstream press.