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<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message -----
<DIV style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; font-color: black"><B>From:</B> <A
title=calltoconscience@yahoo.com href="mailto:calltoconscience@yahoo.com">Vets
Call to Conscience</A> </DIV>
<DIV><B>To:</B> <A title=calltoconscience@yahoo.com
href="mailto:calltoconscience@yahoo.com">calltoconscience@yahoo.com</A> </DIV>
<DIV><B>Sent:</B> Tuesday, March 18, 2003 4:40 PM</DIV>
<DIV><B>Subject:</B> letter from active duty reservist who does not want to
deploy</DIV></DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<P>This is from a young man I have been corresponding with. He has tried to get
out of the military many times. He might appreciate hearing from some of you
with thoughts of support.</P>
<P>terri</P>
<P>This is my letter I sent to my<BR>commander. The first part I got from Scott
Ritter and<BR>the second part I got from a combination of sources<BR>including
my head.I am planning on writing an essay<BR>called TURTLE AM
I.<BR><BR><BR>Jeremy W. Suggs<BR><BR>March 18, 2003<BR><BR><BR><BR><BR>Dear
Friend,<BR><BR> Originally
I requested a discharge but since<BR>you will not grant my wish. I must go to
the next best<BR>option. Which is the inactive reserves. The reason for<BR>my
should be apparent in my past actions. I have gone<BR>AWOL, countless negative
counseling statements, and<BR>disrespect towards NCO’s. I do not believe in the
war<BR>against Iraq and have rejected civilizations
work<BR>ethic.<BR> The
case for war against Iraq has not been<BR>made. This is a fact. It is doubtful
in the extreme<BR>that Saddam Hussein has retained any functional aspect<BR>of
the chemical, nuclear, and biological weapons<BR>programs so thoroughly
dismantled by the United<BR>Nations weapons inspectors who worked tirelessly
in<BR>Iraq for seven years. This also a fact. The idea that<BR>Hussein has
connections to fundamentalist Islamic<BR>terrorists is laughable. He is a
secular leader who<BR>has worked for years to crush fundamentalists
Islam<BR>within Iraq, and if he were to give weapons of any<BR>kind to
Qaeda, they would use those weapons on
him<BR>first.<BR> If
Bush decides unilaterally to attack Iraq<BR>he will be in violation of
international law. Saddam<BR>Hussein is a monster, by any definition, but he is
our<BR>monster. We supported him when he used chemical<BR>weapons against Iran
and in fact thwarted attempts by<BR>Iraqi insurgents. The only solution requires
time and<BR>patience. Through a gradual change. Muslim clerics<BR>have met and
decided that if the US attacks Iraq they<BR>will urge Muslims to commit Jihad on
US interests. If<BR>Bush does attack Iraq, he will precipitate the
exact<BR>conflict of cultures between the West and Islam that<BR>Osama bin Laden
was hoping for. War is horrible if you<BR>do not believe me talk to the Veterans
for Peace. We<BR>talk nothing of war anymore. I think this is good<BR>enough for
the purpose of this letter. If you want<BR>more I will give it to
you.<BR> What
is an idler? The word is most<BR>commonly used these days in its prejorative
sense: an<BR>idler is lazy, a good-for-nothing, a lay about,<BR>slacker, indole,
a slothful couch potato who<BR>contributes nothing to society, a sponging
lollygag<BR>without the wherewithal and discipline to put in an<BR>honest day’s
toil.<BR> It
is my belief that idleness has a rich<BR>and noble heritage dating back
centuries. Idleness is<BR>seen again and again for what it actually is:
a<BR>rejection of worldly pressures, an individualist<BR>revolt against
authority, a pleasure, a spiritual<BR>practice. The work ethic is revealed as a
relatively<BR>recent phenomenon, conceived to make people slave away<BR>in dark
satanic mills for puny returns.<BR>
Even now one is ashamed of resting: and<BR>prolonged reflection almost gives
people a bad<BR>conscience. One thinks with a watch in one’s hand,<BR>even as
one eats one’s midday meal while reading the<BR>latest news; one lives as if one
“might miss out on<BR>something.” “Rather do anything than nothing”:
this<BR>principle, too, is merely a string to throttle all<BR>culture and good
taste. Just as all forms are visibly<BR>perishing by the haste of the workers,
the feelings<BR>for form itself, the era and eye for the melody are<BR>also
perishing. The proof of this may be found in the<BR>universal demand for gross
obviousness in all those<BR>situations in which human beings wish to be
honest<BR>with each other for once-in their associations with<BR>friends,
women, relatives, children, teachers, pupils,<BR>leaders and princes. One no
longer has the time and<BR>energy for being obliging in a direct way
in<BR>conversation, and for any otium at all. Living in a<BR>constant chase for
gain compels people to expend their<BR>spirit to the point of exhaustion in
continual<BR>pretense and overreaching and anticipating others.<BR>Virtue has
come to consist of doing something in less<BR>time than someone else. Hours in
which honesty is<BR>permitted have become rare, and when they arrive one<BR>is
tired and does not only want to “let oneself go”<BR>but actually wishes to
stretch out as long and wide<BR>and ungainly as one happens to
be.<BR> If sociability and the arts still
offer any<BR>delight, it is the kind of delight that slaves, weary<BR>of their
work, device for themselves. How frugal our<BR>educated and uneducated people
have become regarding<BR>joy! How they are becoming increasingly
suspicious of<BR>all joy! More and more, work enlists all good<BR>conscience on
its side; the desire for joy already<BR>calls itself a “need to recuperate” and
is beginning<BR>to be ashamed of itself. “One owes it to ones health”<BR>that is
what people say when they are caught on an<BR>excursion into the country. Soon
we may well reach a<BR>point where people can no longer give in to the
desire<BR>for a walk with ideas and
friends.<BR> I would like to end with
a quote from Leo<BR>Tolstoy “ I only know that on the one hand, government<BR>is
no longer necessary for me, and on the other hand,<BR>I can no longer carry out
the measures that are<BR>necessary to the existence of a government. Settle
for<BR>yourselves what you need for your life. I know only<BR>what I need and do
not need, what I can do and what I<BR>cannot. I know that I do not need to
divide myself off<BR>from other nations, and therefore cannot admit that
I<BR>belong exclusively to any state or nation, or that I<BR>owe allegiance to
any government.” I breath only<BR>peace and freedom. I wish only to live
and remain<BR>idle. You in contrast, sweats, scurries about, and<BR>constantly
frets in search of ever more laborious<BR>occupations. Your kind toil until
death, and even<BR>hastens toward his grave in getting ready to live,
or<BR>surrenders his life to acquire immortality. He pays<BR>court to great men
he loathes and rich men he holds in<BR>contempt; he spares nothing to gain the
honour of<BR>serving them; he delightedly boasts of his own humble<BR>station
and of their protection, and, proud of his<BR>slavery, he speaks patronizingly
of those who have not<BR>the honour of sharing it. So let me go and leave
me<BR>alone.<BR><BR>Sincerely,<BR><BR>Suggs, Jeremy, W.<BR><BR></P>
<P> </P>
<P><BR>
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