AN OPEN LETTER TO DR. LAIN FARHAT-HOLZMAN

Dear Dr. Holzman:

Your bi-weekly articles continue to amaze us in their selective renderings of contemporary events; yet your latest broadside on ant-war protests defies logic, and cries out for a rebuttal. You state, for instance, that the military is an “out for ambitious young people,� who can “really see the world,� and act as a “mixer of people from every part of the United States.� Ignoring the fact that army bases import the most crass and commercial elements of this society to foreign populaces who often resent these intrusions, we find the attempt to paint the army as a form of international glee club deceptive. As an army engineer friend once observed: every action the army takes is with the intent to kill and forcibly inflict our will, upon others. Every bridge built by the Army Corps of Engineers, is built with the intent for soldiers to cross it, and kill. Notice, also, that most of your examples in your article of the “military providing an escape� from “unemployment and rampant alcoholism� are either dead, or wounded. Lori Piestewa will not be able to enjoy the “skills transferable to the civilian world (ignoring, of course, that the army’s “skills� pertain largely to weaponry and machines rarely found outside the military),� nor, I imagine, will Jessica Lynch, whose life has been tremendously altered by the Pentagon media-circus surrounding her “rescue.�

Critically, you completely ignore the costs of this “doorway,� of the military: underfunded infrastructures, education, and housing. We have the largest military in the world, and yet our schools, housing, healthcare and government are unable to meet our needs, as a people. Perhaps our unemployed youth would not view military service as an “out� with sufficiently funded schools. Ironically, the very institution you extol--sounding much like a recruitment ad, yourself--is the same corporation that receives the pork (51%) of governmental spending. Unless you are suggesting that the US is better served as military- and prison-run society, we find this idea anti-logical, to say the least.

Our educational system fares little better. In the “No Child Left Behind� education bill, secondary schools are required to submit student directory information to military recruiters. Armed with this information, the military employs aggressive telemarketers and salespeople to pitch the army as a way to make money for college and downplays the realities of what forced engagement in war means. Is a military society the brightest future your highly educated mind can envision? We feel that a healthy educational system and a legal system that protects our civil liberties outweigh any benefits an army enlistment could possibly provide.

Frankly, we are puzzled that the “Good Times� continues to publish your diatribes, within this progressive community. But, we celebrate the civil liberties and freedoms this society provides, and we would definitely not suggest “how nice if you� would go to Iraq to write, as you pettily recommended that we go to Palestine, to blockade the offices of suicide-bombers.

While you might think that we consider the army evil, Dr. Holzman: nothing could be further from the truth. We view the army in the same light that the President views the army—as a tool, such as a hammer. A hammer can be used to build houses, or it can be used to kill innocent lives. We would humbly suggest that the men and women entering the armed forces also view it as a tool, and the army often distorts the duties that these young people will be forced to engage, in the name of their country. Just as we do not find the hammer implicitly evil, we do not find the servicemen forced, under orders, to commit such violations of international law evil, either. Rather, these servicemen bear the responsibility to follow their conscience and morals, in choosing to obey such orders. Similarly: as American citizens, we bear the responsibility to draw attention to any Presidential decrees that violate international law.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, in his “Letter from the Birmangham Jail,� said it very well: “ ‘You may well ask: "Why direct action? Why sit-ins, marches and so forth? Isn't negotiation a better path?’ You are quite right in calling, for negotiation. Indeed, this is the very purpose of direct action. Nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and foster such a tension that a community which has constantly refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue. It seeks so to dramatize the issue that it can no longer be ignored.� As Americans, we sought to dramatize the illegality and immorality of an action that has later been shown to be based upon lies, forgeries, and fear. We challenge you to rise above your previous, slanted didactics, or at least rebut this letter with any points that resemble logic.

Sincerely,


Neil Mick
Howie (Chaim Leib) Schneider
Lesley-Reid Harrison
Sharon Delgado
Robert Norse
Joyce McLean

The Capitola-13

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"New American Military
by Laina Farhat-Holzman

While some of our community’s most righteous anti-militarists were trying to shut down the Army Recruitment Office on 41st Avenue a couple of months ago, and their good colleagues at the University and area high schools were trying to eliminate recruiters from their campuses, another drama was unfolding in Arizona.

The first Native American warrior to die in the Iraq War—Lori Piestewa, a Hopi woman—was being buried and honored, not only by the Hopi, but by the Navajo—who put aside their long-standing dislike of the Hopi for this show of pride and unity. Not only were two former enemies joining together, but they were bending outmoded gender roles, too, in honoring a female warrior. This funeral raised some issues that perhaps the recruitment opponents ought to consider.

For one thing, the U.S. military is entirely voluntary today. Nobody needs to run away to Canada or make believe they are in college to escape the draft. There is no draft. For another thing, the whole role of the military has changed enormously since the Vietnam War. With a very lean voluntary military, there is no longer a requirement for cannon-fodder. The Muslim world has taken up that practice instead, from the poor recruits in the former Iraqi army, to the willing suicide bombers on tap from Pakistan to Palestine. How nice if you good anti-militarists would go there and close down THEIR recruitment offices!

What made the funeral in Arizona so touching were the interviews with friends and family of the soldier. Some of these people were third-generation military veterans, who were proud of their service. For many, the military provides an escape from the hopeless reservations, which often have 50 percent unemployment and rampant alcoholism. For young people who have no better options, the military does offer opportunity that is remarkably racist- and gender-bias free. This institution is a meritocracy, and if young people have capabilities and ambition, they will receive all the education and/or training that they want.

Another POW, Jessica Lynch, who hails from West Virginia, joined the army for the same reason that Lori Piestewa did: to have a career opportunity that she could not have at home. West Virginia isn’t thriving any better than Reservations in Arizona, unfortunately, and there are many more injuries and deaths by automobile accident in West Virginia than military casualties in Iraq.

If there is any doubt about the Army being far more equal opportunity than the society at large, one need only watch and listen to some of the Black officers who were debriefing the press during the Iraq War. It was obvious to me that they were officers who were competent, intelligent, and Black—and not officers because they were Black. Meritocracy is different than political correctness. Does anybody really see Colin Powell as a token Black?

I am not happy that Reservation Native Americans, West Virginians, and inner city youths have dysfunctional economies and cultures. I wish it were otherwise. But the American military is offering an out for ambitious young people—and the recipients of this opportunity can go home later and start to make things better. They also really do “see the world,� which they wouldn’t do had they remained home. The military has always been a mixer of people from every part of the United States who otherwise would not know each other and would not share in what makes us all American. Going off to college does that for those of us lucky enough to do so—but there is nothing wrong with the military doing that for young people less privileged.

I have an acquaintance in Arizona who is half Navajo and half Hopi. “How did that happen?� I asked her, knowing the antipathy between these two tribes. “My mother was an army nurse in the Korean War and my father was a wounded soldier in her hospital. The rest was history.� The history included outrage from both tribes when these two married—but they got over it. Those battles made it easier for my friend when she brought home a six-foot tall, redheaded Anglo that she wanted to marry. They did marry, and they are happy.

Another friend from a different marginalized group—a Cajun from Louisiana—joined the army, was sent to college (he was the first in his family ever), and is now a colonel at the Defense Language Institute and is a specialist in the cultures of East Africa. He is a new breed of military officer who actually performs diplomatic liaison functions. Who knows if a future war somewhere in the world can be averted because there are bonds forged between and among military officers. My Cajun colleague’s superior officer is a China specialist, and considering the importance of the Chinese military in that society, relationships forged between fellow officers could conceivably tip the balance in favor of negotiation.

The role of the American military is becoming ever more technological, with skills transferable to the civilian world, and involved with nation building. This is noble work, and it requires young people motivated to do something good in the world. Trying to shut down the recruitment center is like shutting the door to opportunity for many who have need of such opportunity. They, unlike the demonstrators, were not born with a silver foot in their mouth (as Governor Ann Richardson quipped about George Bush I). And until the world becomes more civilized, we cannot do without a military force—and ours is one of the most benevolent in the history of armies."