The Soldiers At My Front Door

[Guest guest]

The Soldiers At My Front Door

by John Dear

 

I live in a tiny, remote, impoverished, three block long town in the

desert of northeastern New Mexico. Everyone in town--and the whole

state--knows that I am against the occupation of Iraq, that I have

called for the closing of Los Alamos, and that as a priest, I have been

preaching, like the Pope, against the bombing of Baghdad.

 

Last week, it was announced that the local National Guard unit for

northeastern New Mexico, based in the nearby Armory, was being deployed

to Iraq early next year. I was not surprised when yellow ribbons

immediately sprang up after the press conference.

 

But I was surprised the following morning to hear 75 soldiers singing,

shouting and screaming as they jogged down Main Street, passed our St.

Josephs church, back and forth around town for an hour. It was 6 a.m.,

and they woke me up with their war slogans, chants like Kill! Kill!

Kill! and Swing your guns from left to right; we can kill those guys

all night.

 

Their chants were disturbing, but this is war. They have to psyche

themselves up for the kill. They have to believe that flying off to some

tiny, remote desert town in Iraq where they will march in front of

someones house and kill poor young Iraqis has some greater meaning

besides cold-blooded murder. Most of these young reservists have never

left our town, and they need our support for the unpleasant task

before them. I have been to Iraq, and led a delegation of Nobel Peace

Prize winners to Baghdad in 1999, and I know that the people there are

no different than the people here.

 

The screaming and chanting went on for one hour. They would march passed

the church, down Main Street, back around the post office, and down Main

Street again. It was clear they wanted to be seen and heard. In fact, it

was quite scary because the desert is normally a place of perfect peace

and silence.

 

Suddenly, at 7 a.m., the shouting got dramatically louder. I looked out

the front window of the house where I live, next door to the church, and

there they were--all 75 of them, standing yards away from my front door,

in the street right in front of my house and our church, shouting and

screaming to the top of their lungs, Kill! Kill! Kill! Their

commanders had planted them there and were egging them on.

 

I was astonished and appalled. I suddenly realized that I do not need to

go to Iraq; the war had come to my front door. Later, I heard that they

had deliberately decided to do their exercises in front of my house and

our church because of my outspoken opposition to the war. They wanted to

put me in my place.

 

This, I think, is a new tactic. Over the years, I have been arrested

some 75 times in demonstrations, been imprisoned for a Plowshares

disarmament action, been bugged, tapped, and harassed, searched at

airports, and monitored by police. But this time, the soldiers who will

soon march through Baghdad and attack desert homes in Iraq, practiced on

me. They confronted me personally, just as the death squad militaries

did in Guatemala and El Salvador in the 1980s, which I witnessed there

on several occasions.

 

I decided I had to do something. I put on my winter coat and walked out

the front door right into the middle of the street. They stopped

shouting and looked at me, so I said loudly, publicly for all to hear,

In the name of God, I order all of you to stop this nonsense, and not

to go to Iraq. I want all of you to quit the military, disobey your

orders to kill, and not to kill anyone. I do not want you to get killed.

I want you to practice the love and nonviolence of Jesus. God does not

bless war. God does not want you to kill so Bush and Cheney can get more

oil. God does not support war. Stop all this and go home. God bless you.

 

Their jaws dropped, their eyeballs popped and they stood in shock and

silence, looking steadily at me. Then they burst out laughing. Finally,

the commander dismissed them and they left.

 

Later, military officials spread lies around town that I had disrupted

their military exercises at the Armory, so they decided to come to my

house and to the church in retaliation. Others appealed to the

archbishop to have me kicked out of New Mexico for denouncing their

warmaking. Then, a general called the mayor and asked him to mediate

negotiations with me, saying he did not want the military in

confrontation with the church. Really, the mayor told me, they fear

that I will disrupt the gala send-off next month, just before Christmas,

when the soldiers go to Iraq.

 

This dramatic episode is only the latest in a series of confrontations

since I came to the desert of New Mexico in the summer of 2002 to serve

as pastor of several poor, desert churches. I have spoken out

extensively against the U.S. war on Iraq, and been denounced by people,

including church people, across the state. I have organized small

Christian peace groups throughout the state. We planned a prayer vigil

for nuclear disarmament at Los Alamos on the anniversary of Hiroshima

this past August, but when the devout people of Los Alamos, most of them

Catholic, heard about it, they appealed to the archbishop to have me

expelled if I appeared publicly in their town. In the end, I did not

attend the vigil, but the publicity gave me further opportunities to

call for the closing of Los Alamos. I receive hate mail, negative phone

calls and at least one death threat for daring to criticize our country.

But New Mexico is the poorest state in the U.S. It is also number one in

military spending and number one in nuclear weapons. It is the most

militarized, the most in need of disarmament, the most in need of

nonviolence. It is the first place the Pentagon goes to recruit poor

youth into the empires army.

 

If we are to change the direction of our country, and turn people

against Bushs occupation of Iraq, we are going to have to face the ire

and persecution of our local communities. If peace people in every local

community insisted that our troops be brought home immediately, that the

U.N. be sent in to restore Iraq, that all U.S. military aid to the

Middle East be cut, and that our arsenal of weapons of mass destruction

be dismantled, then we might all find soldiers marching at our front

doors, trying to intimidate us. If we can face our soldiers, call them

to quit the military and urge them to disobey orders to kill, then

perhaps some of them will refuse to fight, become conscientious

objectors and take up the wisdom of nonviolence. If we can look them in

the eye and engage them in personal Satyagraha as Gandhi demonstrated,

then we know that the transformation has begun.

 

In the end, the episode for me was an experience of hope. We must be

making a difference if the soldiers have to march at our front doors.

That they failed to convert me or intimidate me, that they had to listen

to my side of the story, may haunt their consciences as they travel to

Iraq. No matter what happens, they have heard loud and clear the good

news that God does not want them to kill anyone. I hope we can all learn

the lesson.

 

John Dear is a Catholic priest, peace activist, lecturer, and former

executive director of the Fellowship of Reconciliation. His latest books

include Mohandas Gandhi (Orbis) and Mary of Nazareth, Prophet of

Peace (Ave Maria Press). For info, see. www.johndear.org

 

http://www.commondreams.org/views03/1129-07.htm

[Guest guest]

Dear Friends,

 

Interesting! Comments appear in brackets .

 

 

--- David Bozzi <david.bozzi wrote:

>

> The Soldiers At My Front Door

> by John Dear

>

> I live in a tiny, remote, impoverished, three block

> long town in the

> desert of northeastern New Mexico. Everyone in

> town--and the whole

> state--knows that I am against the occupation of

> Iraq, that I have

> called for the closing of Los Alamos, and that as a

> priest, I have been

> preaching, like the Pope, against the bombing of

> Baghdad.

 

[Please do.]

 

SNIP

> Their chants were disturbing, but this is war. They

> have to psyche

> themselves up for the kill.

 

[That's true.]

 

SNIP

> I was astonished and appalled. I suddenly realized

> that I do not need to

> go to Iraq; the war had come to my front door.

 

[Yeah! The war's not only at this guy's front door;

but it has gotten inside of his head too. Poor guy.]

 

> Later, I heard that they

> had deliberately decided to do their exercises in

> front of my house and

> our church because of my outspoken opposition to the

> war. They wanted to

> put me in my place.

 

[Yeah! This poor guy brings trouble upon himself.]

 

> This, I think, is a new tactic. Over the years, I

> have been arrested

> some 75 times in demonstrations, been imprisoned for

> a Plowshares

> disarmament action, been bugged, tapped, and

> harassed, searched at

> airports, and monitored by police. But this time,

> the soldiers who will

> soon march through Baghdad and attack desert homes

> in Iraq, practiced on

> me. They confronted me personally,

 

[Yep! This guy really knows how to get involved.]

 

> just as the death

> squad militaries

> did in Guatemala and El Salvador in the 1980s,

SNIP

 

[Well, not quite. They didn't kill him; but maybe

he'd be better off.]

>

SNIP

I want all of you to quit the

> military, disobey your

> orders to kill, and not to kill anyone. I do not

> want you to get killed.

 

[Don't worry! In a sense birth is a sentence to

death. Don't worry. It's not a problem.]

> I want you to practice the love and nonviolence of

> Jesus. God does not

> bless war. God does not want you to kill so Bush and

> Cheney can get more

> oil. God does not support war.

SNIP

 

[According to the God and Jesus story, God had to kill

Jesus to make Himself happy. That's the way the

Christian God story is. It's weird.]

>

> Their jaws dropped, their eyeballs popped and they

> stood in shock and

> silence, looking steadily at me. Then they burst out

> laughing.

SNIP

 

[i'd laugh too. The guy's pretty funny.]

 

SNIP

> This dramatic episode is only the latest in a series

> of confrontations

> since I came to the desert of New Mexico in the

> summer of 2002

 

[Yeah! This guy will always be in confrontation.]

 

SNIP

 

Love.

michael

 

 

 

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[Guest guest]

, Michael Bowes

<rmichaelbowes> wrote:

> Dear Friends,

 

Namaste,

 

This is typical military intimidation. I have just returned from

visiting my mother and sister in Ireland and had cause to visit our

old family farm over the border in Armagh. There were watchtowers

and electronic echelon stuff and helicopters circling over people's

houses...........Such delusion...........ONS..Tony.

[Guest guest]

, "Tony OClery" <aoclery>

wrote:

> , Michael Bowes

> <rmichaelbowes> wrote:

> > Dear Friends,

>

> Namaste,

>

> This is typical military intimidation.

 

Tolkien's orcs...

 

 

 

 

I have just returned from

> visiting my mother and sister in Ireland and had cause to visit

our

> old family farm over the border in Armagh. There were watchtowers

> and electronic echelon stuff and helicopters circling over

people's

> houses...........Such delusion...........ONS..Tony.