What can I say, olliamh? I seriously considered filing as a Conscientious Objector, but at that time in the U.S., C.O. status required total pacifism. At the time, I could not honestly say that I would be a total pacifist if my country were attacked, and I could not bring myself to oppose what I still believe to be true about Western participation in World War II.

But in good conscience, I could not bring myself to participate in the Vietnam War. So, I enlisted for a job I could agree with, for a 4-year commitment instead of 2 (and then was released after 3 years). After training, I went to Berlin and studied the Communist government of East Germany for two years. One goal I set for myself was to find out why it was we were supposed to hate communists. I found out the East German Communists were just plain folks, although they tended to be a bit bureaucratic.

In the meantime, I have become more stubbornly a pacifist - but it doesn't cost me as much now, since they can't conscript me or imprison me for opposing warfare. So, olliamh, what price did you pay to resist the (admittedly) immoral draft for Vietnam? I paid with four years of my life instead of accepting the 2-year draft. What did you do?

Gee, am I required to state that I have never supported child rapists or Nazis? It seems that to deny an accusation like that, is to give credence to it. I wonder where olliamh gets those accusations from.

I'd like to believe that today's society has a more realistic view of the horrors of war, and that is no longer considered unpatriotic to describe war as horrific. But I'm not so sure. It was not so long ago that the U.S. Department of Defense prohibited the press from taking photographs of the caskets of soldiers returning from the Middle East to Dover, Delaware - that was during the George W. Bush administration, when it was important to the Administration to convince American voters that we were winning the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

-Joe-