My father built Navy warships during WWII. My old college German roommate's father was a Luftwaffe pilot trainer. They were enemies, but 20 years later, their sons (Winfried and I) were college roommates in Hamburg. Hmmm.

In 1966 I was drafted because America had a new enemy: North Viet Nam. As an Army musician, I played the troops out on transport ships from the Port of Tacoma. Then for 2 years I played for numerous closed-casket funerals of soldiers killed in a senseless war. Mothers and fathers on both sides grieved because they lost their precious children due to war.

Thirty years later, my daughter can study or do business in Vietnam. She taught 4 years in China. I grew up indoctrinated that the "Red Chinese" were our enemies. But they were not for my daughter! Hmmm.

Why is it that every other generation chooses war? It's nonsense. Now we are told that our enemy is Iraq. Hmm.

Officials of this administration have stated that "pre-emptive strikes might sometimes be needed to safeguard Americans against adversaries" Well, this American and former veteran from the Viet Nam era will not feel one bit safer if we drop bombs on a country that has not attacked us. Our dismal foreign policies have already created a very dangerous world.

Last March I visited Ramallah Friends School in Palestine. American made weapons were pointed at me by Israeli soldiers at checkpoints. Palestinian homes, buildings, and utilities were destroyed by American-made D9 Catepillars. Three American-made rockets missed the targeted Palestinian police station and hit the school. (see the attached "destroyed police station" photo.) I saw my tax money and our foreign policy at work firsthand! Ordered out of Ramallah by the IDF, I stayed in Jerusalem for several days. Before I flew out on Easter morning, three suicide bombings happened in reaction to Israeli military incursion. In a country that gave birth to the Prince of Peace, there was no peace to be found. A strong military has not produced a sense of security for any Israeli. It won't for Americans, either! (See photo of 5th graders. I interviewed the teacher in this picture. Many children at the school have lost a friend or relative to violence)

Our local newspaper, The Olympian, recently ran the headline: "U.S. has plan for nukes in Iraq." Paul Richter, LA Times, reported "military planners have been actively studying lists of potential targets and considering options" My God, haven't we learned the horrors of nuclear warfare since Nagasaki and Hiroshima! Let's drop the political correctness of minimal "collateral damage" and just say our military leaders are planning to incinerate thousands of human beings created in the image of God. For what purpose? The White House spokesperson said "the United States reserves the right to defend itself and its allies by whatever means necessary."

If there is a United States 30 years from now, I wonder who the next enemy will be? Hmmm.