Voicing Your Opinion on Military Operations

There is an old saying: “Opinions are like noses, everyone has one.” This is true of any subject, including military operations, and no two are going to be alike. You may have strong feelings about the War in Iraq or other military operations that our American service personnel are involved in right now, but aren’t quite sure how to go about voicing them. Thanks to austinagainstwar.org, you have a forum for letting others know how you feel. You can speak your mind about either your support or opposition; we want to hear both sides.

No matter where you stand, however, the fact remains that our service personnel need support. Many of them are returning from Iraq and other places—some with injuries you can see; others with injuries that aren’t so evident. Some may be having trouble getting the proper treatment for these injuries, while others may know about treatment options but may not know how to go about taking advantage of them.

This is where you can come in. You can help returning veterans take advantage of the programs offered by various government administrations. austinagainstwar.org can provide information on these and how to get in touch with them.

If you do help someone find the treatment needed and you can, take it one step further. Offer to help that person get to and from the treatment site. If you can’t do that, ask if you can help with family situations such as child care or meal preparation so that a family member can be free to provide the transportation and support.



Filed Under: Operation Freedom, Training Tagged With: , ,

Make Peace Not War: Volunteer Organizations

Cover of "Peace Not War"
Cover of Peace Not War

People ask all the time if there is a way that they can help end the war or help soldiers fighting in the war for Americans. Helping veterans can be as simple as signing up to volunteer at your local VFW or veterans’ affairs office. Getting to know a veteran can be a learning experience and a can gain a person a plethora of knowledge. Every volunteer should know how to contact the American Red Cross for volunteer efforts. All of those offices have local branches and are a great asset to veterans and active duty soldiers.

Befriending and listening to a soldier home from war can help not just the soldier but the volunteer as well. Most civilians cannot fathom what the veteran has been through and being home from such a hostile environment can be a challenge to the soldier. Whether the veteran has been disabled or just in need of someone to tell their stories to; a volunteer is what is needed. Once the soldiers are home it is time for them to learn how to make peace not war.

Making peace not war is a state of mind in some cases when dealing with veterans. Gaining and going over hurdles in this challenge is hard won and can be respected by volunteers. Not all volunteers have to be physically with a veteran or active duty soldier. One can donate monetarily or household goods to support veterans and their loved ones.

Volunteering to make peace, not war and helping veterans, active duty soldiers and their families and loved ones is something that most everyone can do. There are so many ways and so many organizations it’s easy to find the right one with which to volunteer. All it takes it a bit of compassion and patience to help these veterans and soldiers feel safe and welcome in their own homes and hometowns

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Filed Under: Operation Freedom Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Liberty at Risk

Like every U.S. citizen, I was shocked and revolted beyond comprehension by the attack on our nation last week. We need to do everything within our power to find the responsible persons and parties, bring them to justice and end the blight of terrorism.

At the same time, we must all remember that just as this horrendous act can destroy us from without, it can also destroy us from within. Historically, it has been at times of inflamed passions and national anger that our civil liberties proved to be at greatest risk, and the unpopular group of the moment was subject to prejudice and deprivation of liberty. In 1798, Congress enacted the notorious Alien and Sedition Acts, making it a federal crime to criticize the government. In 1861, at the beginning of the Civil War, President Lincoln suspended habeas corpus, citing the need to repress “an insurrection against the laws of the United States.” Ulysses S. Grant sought to expel Jews from southern states. World War II brought about the shameful internment of Japanese Americans, which even the Supreme Court failed to overturn.

Unfortunately, our response in 1996 to the Oklahoma City bombing and to the first bombing of the World Trade Center does not portend well for today’s discussions. Legislation that began in good faith as an effort to fine-tune our anti-terrorism laws turned into a legislative race to the bottom. It contained sweeping new limitations on habeas corpus for death-row and other inmates. The legislation also severely narrowed the ability of persons fleeing for their lives from dangerous regimes to seek asylum. I sat through the hearings on this legislation and did not hear a single shred of evidence that proved that a single terrorist act could be prevented by limiting the ability of persons convicted in state court to obtain relief from unconstitutional convictions or by denying immigrants their due process rights.

Meanwhile, many laudable provisions were dropped from the 1996 legislation at the behest of the gun lobby. We tried to include a provision allowing for broader roving wiretaps, as has been recommended by Attorney General John Ashcroft, but the conservatives could not stomach this expansion of government power. An exasperated Henry Hyde, who as chairman of the House Judiciary Committee had worked to keep some of the better provisions, was quoted as saying that many in his party “trust Hamas more than their own government.” We also failed in our efforts to ban dangerous “cop-killer” bullets and to require that “taggants” (tracer elements) be attached to explosive materials and that unregulated explosive material (such as the fertilizer bomb used in Oklahoma City) be rendered inert. Instead, we were forced to settle for an ineffective study of these issues.

Certainly, we must update our counter-terrorism laws so that they reflect 21st century reality. But new expansion of government authority should be limited to properly defined terrorist activity or threats of terrorism. And with increased federal power, we must ensure accountability and oversight. We also need to drastically improve airport security by increasing the training and wages of airport personnel. That will mean increasing the role of the federal government and allocating more federal dollars to these needs.

I urge the attorney general to take a fresh look at expanding the federal law to cover hate crimes. Recent days have seen a spate of hate crimes against Muslims, Arab Americans and South Asian Americans. Two persons believed to be of “Middle Eastern” descent were killed in likely hate crimes over the weekend. If we are going to expand law enforcement’s ability to pursue terrorists, we must not neglect the government’s role in protecting Americans from vigilante violence. We are a nation of immigrants, and we are all in this together.

The keys to success in developing anti-terrorism legislation will be balance and prudence. History has taught us that we should not use the threat of violence as an excuse to suppress legitimate constitutional rights and liberties. As Benjamin Franklin stated, “They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” We must ensure that these acts of terror do not accomplish in a “slow burn” what the fires of the World Trade Center and Pentagon could not — subversively destroying the foundation of our democracy.

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The writer, a Democrat from Michigan, is ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee.

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