Senseless War
By EMILIE HANNON

February 3, 2003   

To the Editors,

Last Saturday, I, like many Americans, wept over the loss of the Space Shuttle Columbia. I  watched the news coverage and saw how our nation, as I, was moved by this tragedy. That is as it should be. Death should move us.

We are preparing to go to war. I don’t know why. We have seen no evidence that Iraq poses a threat to us, or even to their neighbors. Saddam Hussein is a tyrant who hates America. Unfortunately, there are other countries run by tyrants, many of whom also hate America. We’re not going to war with them. Our congressman, Christopher Shays, when asked if in these economic times we could afford this war said, “Well, we’ll get their oilfields.”

Perhaps that’s why.

We are mourning the loss of seven fine people. How will we react when other fine people begin to die in this war? Will we see their pictures on the news?

Will we hear about their accomplishments, their aspirations, and the families left behind? Will we be moved by their deaths? Or will we need to reduce them to lists labeled “casualties”, “body count”, or, in the case of Iraqi civilians, “collateral damage”?

On February 15 there will be anti-war rallies in NYC and around the world. This is America. Our voices count. We can still stop this before it begins. As we mourn the tragedy of these accidental deaths, let us not race into the deliberate tragedy of a senseless war.