Free Press Releases
****************************************************************** Friday, June
18, 2004 by CommonDreams.org
Marines Don't Cry, We Kill
by Patrisia Gonzales and Roberto Rodriguez
Suffering is associated with
mothers, says Fernando Suarez del Solar. But
fathers also suffer, he says. His son, Jesus
Alberto, was killed in Iraq in 2003. Since then,
he has been speaking out against what he
considers an illegal and immoral war. Such are
his thoughts now, when people celebrate Father's
Day amid a rising opposition to the war.
Del Solar, from San Diego, a
member of Military Families Speak Out
(http://www.mfso.org/), was recently awarded the
2004 Peace Award by the War Resisters League for
his work in opposing the war. He's also the
founder of Guerreros Aztecas por la Paz (Aztec
Warriors for Peace; www.guerreroazteca.org), a
project dedicated to assisting veterans in their
return to civil society.
Most soldiers are noble when
they go in, he says, "but they're being
transformed into beasts." He cites the
example of U.S. coalition soldiers engaging in
torture, disagreeing that it's but a few bad
apples.
He relates that when his son
went in for counseling as a result of the war, he
was told by a Marine psychologist: "Marines
don't cry. We kill."
"That's not
assistance," he notes.
Such an experience is familiar
to Florida National Guardsman Staff Sgt. Camilo
Mejia, who was recently court-martialed for
refusing to return to duty. Mejia says he could
no longer participate in an immoral war, also
indicating his disapproval of the torture of
Iraqi prisoners (this was before the Abu Ghraib
photos were revealed).
Del Solar is also greatly
bothered by the steady stream of troubling
revelations over the administration's legal
musings regarding torture. Yet he says that, to
him, torture goes beyond the memos and the
photos. "The parents (of soldiers) are also
suffering.
"I know many parents who
are opposed to the war, but they fear retaliation
and prefer to remain in silence. That is
torture."
He stays in contact with his
son's friends, who tell him that things are much
more dire in Iraq than is generally reported.
"There's no longer a volunteer army,"
he says. As a result of the Pentagon's so-called
"stop-loss" program, many soldiers are
now serving against their will. "That's
another form of torture."
Del Solar has even gone to Iraq
to try to understand the war. When he began
speaking out last year, he was accused of being
unpatriotic and disloyal. He was also constantly
told to go back where he came from. That is no
longer happening as much, he says. "People
are becoming aware that the decision to go to war
was a great error and a great lie. This is not
just about a loss of soldiers. It's about the
loss of a generation. It's about a crisis in
values."
Tony Castaneda, of Madison,
Wis., is also a member of Military Families Speak
Out. His son, a U.S. Marine, is stationed outside
of Fallujah. He is sickened not just by the war,
"but by the lies that got us into the
war." (See the March 2004 "Iraq on the
Record" report, presented by Rep. Henry
Waxman, which documents some 237 misleading
statements by the Bush administration.)
"They lied to us," he says.
Castaneda has a radio show
where he regularly denounces the war. "My
son tells me that everyone waves to the soldiers
during the day, but they attack them by night.
I'm concerned about that. I'm concerned for his
well-being, and I'm also concerned how he will be
when he comes back."
Yet his war opposition has
little to do with the fact that his son is in
Iraq. "I'm opposed to the war because it's
wrong and it's stupid. We shouldn't be there at
all."
Despite having a son in Iraq,
he has no qualms about opposing the war. "We
can support the troops. They're just doing their
jobs. It's up to us (civilians) to end the
war."
He is aware that in past
conflicts, virtually all military families were
staunch war supporters. But that's not the case
now, Castaneda says. And of those who continue to
support it, he says, "Either they don't know
(the revelations about the war) or they don't
want to know."
Neither Castaneda nor Del Solar
minces his words, nor is either a great fan of a
second Bush term, though they're not exactly
Kerry or Nader fans either. Del Solar says:
"He (Bush) can't win ... unless he steals
the election again."
Castaneda says that if Kerry is
elected, "We will have to pressure him, too.
The whole war is illegitimate, regardless of who
is in office."
Rodriguez & Gonzales can be
reached at: XColumn@aol.com or 608-238-3161, PO
BOX 5093, Madison, WI 53705
(c) Universal Press Syndicate
2004
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