Cedar Valley has first Iraq war casualty

The first national guardsman from here in Cedar Valley was killed Saturday in Kirkuk, Iraq, when a bomb struck the Humvee he was riding in. Folks 'round here are saying the usual inanities about how this poor young hireling died protecting our freedom. It is actually getting me close to the boiling point, what with the heat wave and all, to keep hearing this idiotic propaganda spouted by a populace that hasn't a clue about the real truth of the matter.

I'd really like to ask these same people what they think would have happened to their precious freedom if the U.S. government had refrained from invading Iraq? Do they really believe that the destruction of Mesopotamia is in their best long term interests and is what is preserving their liberty? Is the senseless death of a young man in the Utah home guard something they are proud to bear up as a meaningful sacrifice to the enduring battle for what is morally right? How stupid and blind can these sheep be?

In this Mormon dominated community I am shocked at the un-questioning support shown to a government that openly participated in the persecution of their church in the 19th century and then later, in the 1950's and 60's, knowingly rained down the vilest forms of radioactive fallout from 126 above ground nuclear tests on the entire population of the church's home region of Utah. These nuclear tests were often delayed by the federal government when the prevailing winds were blowing towards California. The military would simply wait for them to start blowing towards Utah before detonation; with the net result that the state's southernmost counties of Iron and Washington possess some of the highest rates of birth defects, rare cancers and mental retardation in the entire country. For this sordid legacy a local boy has needlessly died in the torrid sands of Iraq, to preserve the imperial power of a U.S. government that has commited many harmful acts of tyranny against people of Mormon faith in the past.

I feel that they really should know better, but am beginning to see what several generations of government schooling has done to the entire country. Here, in the once proud Beehive State, it has nurtured to fruition a breed of scared, dependent, march-in-lock-step dummies molded out of a once strong and vigorous sub-culture based on piety and self-determination.

As for the Son of Man, whom the Church of "Jesus Christ" of Latter Day Saints is named, I would like to quote His views on armed conflict: "You have heard it said, 'An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.' But I say to you, do not resist him who is evil, but whoever slaps you on the right cheek turn to him the other also." Matthew 5:38

"You have heard it said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy'. But I say unto you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you in order that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous. For if you love those who love you , what reward have you? And if you greet your brothers only, what do you do more than others?" Matthew 5:43-48

Meanwhile I am truly sad that a young man in my valley is dead for nothing.

http://www.thespectrum.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050719/NEWS01/507190310/1002