I am on record as a Conscientious Objector. Although officially denied by my draft board in 1969 because of having been raised in the Catholic faith (which is actually another interesting story) the fact is that when one declares oneself a Conscientious Objector one doesn't need an outside organization to verify that status.You are against war or you are not. Pretty simple designation. You can be selective when it comes to certain wars and choose not to support a particular encounter but, in my opinion, that doesn't make you a conscientious objector.Definition of CO has changed since the Vietnam war.WikipediaA conscientious objector (CO) is an "individual who has claimed the right to refuse to perform military service"
[1] on the grounds of freedom of thought, conscience, and/or religion.
[2]In some countries, conscientious objectors are assigned to an alternative
civilian service as a substitute for conscription or military service. Some conscientious objectors consider themselves
pacifist,
non-interventionist,
non-resistant, or
antimilitarist.
The international definition of conscientious objection officially broadened on March 8, 1995 when the
United Nations Commission on Human Rights resolution 1995/83 stated that "persons performing military service should not be excluded from the right to have conscientious objections to military service."
[3] That definition was re-affirmed in 1998, when the
United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights document called "Conscientious objection to military service,
United Nations Commission on Human Rights resolution 1998/77" officially recognized that "persons [already] performing military service may develop conscientious objections."
One of the important aspects of having an individual awareness of knowing that I intrinsically oppose the art of war is that I respect each individuals right to choose their position on the subject. That basically means if someone chooses to participate in the military experience, than no one should object to their decision.
The individual right to choose a path of action is, in my view, the basic concept of freedom. And that form of freedom naturally belongs to each and every person. I suspect that in a country such as Afghanistan the concept of freedom varies quite a bit from the concept of freedom in America. Most likely the difference occurs because of 240 years of concentrated effort by one system to establish a pattern of individual freedoms. America has worked at that goal from the outset, even though interpretations of those freedoms has been debated over and over and over. Mistakes might have been made and errors might have occurred along the way, but the fact exists that the attempt to establish individual freedom has been a primary goal for the United States of America. The Afghan people need to figure out what they want as a primary goal. And since the country is a country of villages and tribes the idea of a general consensus is probably an impossibility.
Wikipedia
The decades of war made Afghanistan the world's most dangerous country,[23] including the largest producer of refugees and asylum seekers. While the international community is rebuilding war-torn Afghanistan, terrorist groups such as the Haqqani network and Hezbi Islami[24] are actively involved in a nationwide Taliban-led insurgency,[25] which includes hundreds of assassinations and suicide attacks.[26] According to the United Nations, the insurgents were responsible for 75% of civilian casualties in 2010 and 80% in 2011.[27][28]
Currently an American soldier named Robert Bales is being condemned as a war criminal by certain groups within the Afghan community including the President, Hamid Karzai. The facts have not been determined but Sergeant Bales is accused of killing 16 civilians.
1,893 American's have lost their lives since 2001 trying to protect the Afghan people from the Taliban.
The Taliban (Pashto: طالبان), alternative spelling Taleban,[5] (ṭālibān, meaning "students" in Pashto) is an Islamist militant and political group that ruled large parts of Afghanistan and its capital, Kabul, as the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan from September 1996 until October 2001. It gained diplomatic recognition from three states: Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. The main leader of the Taliban movement is Mullah Mohammed Omar,[6] and Kandahar is considered the birthplace of the Taliban.[7]
While in power, it enforced its strict interpretation of Sharia law,[8] and leading Muslims have been highly critical of the Taliban interpretations of Islamic law.[9][Need quotation to verify] The Taliban were condemned internationally for their brutal repression of women. The majority of their leaders were influenced by Deobandi fundamentalism,[10] and many also strictly follow the social and cultural norm called Pashtunwali.[11] The Taliban movement is primarily made up of members belonging to Pashtun tribes, the largest ethnic group in Afghanistan.[12]
DO THE AFGHAN PEOPLE WANT TO BE UNDER THE CONTROL OF THE TALIBAN?
DO WE HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT THE MAJORITY OF THE AFGHAN PEOPLE WANT?
SHOULD AN AMERICAN SOLDIER, AFTER THREE TOURS OF DUTY, BE CONDEMNED FOR A MILITARY ACTION WHERE CIVILIANS LOST THEIR LIVES?
The answers to those three questions are.....
UNKNOWN......UNKNOWN.....AND YES, but the condemnation should only come from the United States military and the Afghan President and the Afghan people should simply note the 1,863 American lives lost and simply shut the f..k up.
First and foremost the United States military will investigate the matter and they will reach a decision based on facts. The fact that a person of the military might snap is simply common sense. Teach a human being how to kill and then put them in a hostile environment with people trying to kill them and most likely someones going to get killed.
DUH!
I would never put myself in that situation but that's my decision. Robert Bales put himself in that situation and he will be prosecuted if his behavior proves to be criminal.
Obviously behavior within a war environment can prove to be criminal but there has to be an extremely loose interpretation of the word criminal. What if one person among those 16 wasn't a civilian and simply tried to camouflage themselves with the civilians?
What if Sergeant Bales simply became temporarily insane due to environmental circumstances?
What if his immediate commander told him to clean out an area?
What if John Wayne, Audie Murphy and Sergeant York just filled Robert's head with visions of military dominance?
PUT SOMEONE IN A WAR ENVIRONMENT AND WAR CAUSALITIES WILL RESULT.
If the Afghan people don't want America's help then they should rise up and tell us to get out.
The Taliban don't have that right anymore simply because of their treatment of women.
I am a Conscientious Objector but first and foremost I am an American, and I acknowledge Robert Bales right to become a part of the military complex. If he snapped and had no reason for his behavior then the military should be held responsible for not recognizing his approaching personal storm.
If his action had any justification related to a war experience than so be it.
WAR EXPERIENCE basically refers to staying alive and trying to stop the opposition from killing you or your fellow soldiers.
A VERY IMPORTANT ASPECT TO CONSIDER......
THE ENEMY IN AFGHANISTAN DOES NOT WEAR A UNIFORM.
Sergeant Robert Bales has proudly worn an American Army military uniform since 2001. He has had 37 months of combat-zone experience and after four years of being in that form of environment his peers should be extremely sensitive to any abnormal behavior.
IS THERE ANYTHING BUT ABNORMAL BEHAVIOR IN A WAR ZONE?
The concept of war is obviously a normal process in the historic annals of human experience, but as the human species evolves the concept of war must become an obsolete gesture.
The quality of the current weapons produced must make the concept of war obsolete or the word obsolete will simply apply to.........US .
I don't support that concept.
My dream for the human species is much bigger and brighter than an environment where war is the final answer to different life styles and different belief systems.
In the meantime I suggest that we treat Robert Bales as an entity that we created in our current environment and give him the proper channels to rebuild his life.
That would be the action of an advanced human evolutionary mindset....so why not get started on the right path and use him as a symbol of our ability to operate on a higher level of consciousness?
Yeah....sure!
So many things happened in 1969 besides figuring out that I was a Conscientious Objector, and some of those things just keep me high as a freakin kite.
I'm a product of my environment just like Staff Sergeant Robert Bales.
I think I could help him.....does anyone have his cell phone number?
Michael Timothy McAlevey
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