By Mike Bullock

By the time you read this, we may be at war. Nevertheless, I want to apologize to the students who I yelled at during the Peace Rally at USU on March 5. You were taunting the speakers and holding up signs comparing our current situation in Iraq with Hitler and the actions that led to World War II. I thought you were ignorant and rude and I lost my temper. As a result, when you yelled at the speakers, I yelled at you. I regret my actions. I believe in free speech and respect your right to state your opinions.

What I did was out of character for me. I was puzzled. Did I get angry just because I passionately disagree with your position? I'm sure that was part of it, but it did not fully explain my actions. Then it hit me! You angered me so much because you reminded me of myself about 35 years ago. Back then I was a college student, just like you. I considered myself a patriot, just like you. I believed that what we were doing in Viet Nam was honorable and justified, much like you feel about Iraq. I believed and trusted our government, much like you trust the Bush administration. I believed that if we were threatened, we should go kick some butt, just like the heroes of our frontier heritage. Unfortunately, I was also a damn fool, very much like you.

I believed in what we were doing in Viet Nam so strongly that I quit school to join the Army in early 1968. The Tet offensive was taking the war to a new level. Wanting combat, I volunteered for the airborne and I volunteered to go to Viet Nam. The military has a way of not obliging individual desires. I ended up in armor (tanks) and NCO Candidate School. After completing that school, I was a Staff Sergeant (E6) and a tank commander. My enlistment was for three years, but I planned a career. I could see the problems with the military but I would just stay in and fix them. Like I said, I was a fool.

During the first two years, I volunteered for Viet Nam around 5 or 6 times. By the third year, I would have gone to jail rather than to Viet Nam. So what brought on that radical change? Many things, but the final straw was I found out the government and the military lied on a regular basis. I don't mean little fibs; I mean big lies.

Stationed in Germany, I was given a top-secret security clearance and assigned to an office responsible for the release of nuclear weapons in Europe. I was part of the famous two-man control. The office was also a communications hub that handled highly classified documents. I read many of them. I was shocked when I realized that most of the secrets were not secret from the "enemy." They were secret from the American public. During my off time, I watched the news on TV and read the papers. I heard what the government and the military were telling the public. Back at work, I would read the documents passing through my office and get just the opposite story, the true story. I'm not referring to isolated incidents; I'm referring to a day-to-day routine. It occurred to me that this was a really poor way to run a democracy.

I left the Army in 1971, bitter and angry. I got over that but have remained a skeptic when it comes to the government, especially when it comes to war. It is generally accepted now that the Viet Nam war was a mistake. It's official authorization, the Gulf of Tonkin resolution, was based on a lie. Over 50,000 Americans died and many more suffered permanent disabilities. Of course, we never consider the losses on the other side. They don't count. I lost one of my best friends to Viet Nam. If his loss stood for anything, it stood for a lie.

In our present situation, I could give you a hundred reasons why going into Iraq is a bad idea. I could discuss how our attack will increase terrorism and make the world more dangerous. I could discuss how our arrogance is alienating long-term allies. I could touch on the huge cost of the war in dollars, soldiers and innocent lives. The loss of traditional American values might be discussed. But let's cut to the chase.

Does anyone really believe Bush's motives are altruistic? This has nothing to do with bringing democracy to a brutalized people. Surely you have studied enough history to know that the signs at the rally comparing Saddam to Hitler are an insult to the veterans of World War II. Saddam is a brutal dictator, but if you read history, you know that this country has supported many brutal dictators. We have even overthrown popularly elected governments to put dictators into power.

One of the major tenets of propaganda is that if you repeat a lie often enough, people start to believe it. Bush and associates have repeated the charges against Saddam often enough that they have convinced a lot of people, maybe even themselves. But they have offered no proof. At the rally, some were shouting, "What about the weapons?" Well, what about them? All we have is Bush's word. The inspectors haven't found them even though Iraq is surely the most photographed piece of real estate in the world. If we can photograph the Iraqis removing weapons from a site, why can't we photograph where they are taking them? General Norman Schwarzkopf and General Wesley Clark have both been quoted as saying they have not seen enough evidence to justify a war. Many of the people who advised the first President Bush have expressed similar reservations, as have large segments of the intelligence community. The same goes for most of our allies.

You shouldn't start something as serious as a war based on nothing more than a man (any man) saying, "Trust me!" Many of my friends did just that in Viet Nam and they came home in body bags. Their deaths were a waste. They were fine young men, as are the men and women who are now preparing for war. I'm sure that those of you who were heckling at the peace rally are in that same category. I'm sorry that I yelled at you but I hope and pray that you don't follow my generation down a path paved with lies. College is supposed to be a time in which you question everything you have learned during your life. Question your parents, your teachers and your leaders. But above all, question this President before following him into a reckless, immoral war!

As for me, do I trust Saddam Hussein? Of course not! Do I trust George W. Bush? Ditto!

--Mike Bullock is a guest contributor to the HardNews Cafe.

He lives in Cache Valley.

NW
TJ

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