By Bernice Vetsch

MnSF health action committee

We recently passed the fifth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center in which almost 3,000 Americans died. This horrific act was carried out by followers of Osama bin Laden. America's leadership responded by declaring a war on terror that they used to justify invading a country that had no part in 9/11. Iraq had no terrorists then, but has perhaps thousands now. Iraq has become so violent that in July more than 3,400 Iraqis died of violence, much of it from warring religious factions (Sunni vs. Shiite). More than 45,000 Iraqi citizens have died since our invasion. We have lost 2,700 soldiers; around 20,000 are wounded in body and/or mind. Has this war helped to create a more peaceful world? I don't think so.

And is a war like this a wise use of our tax money? As of May, we had spent $315 billion. Minnesota's share was $7.2 billion with which we could have provided free health care to 939,457 people OR hired 164,970 public safety officers OR built 56,760 affordable housing units OR 677 new elementary schools  (see Center for Budget and Policy Priorities, www.cbpp.org).

Iraq has become the perfect example of how not to make peace. Can we learn to prevent such debacles? Can we build in America a “culture of nonviolence” in which our rates of violent crime, including domestic assault and child abuse, would no longer far outnumber those of other countries? Perhaps we can if we study methods of peace-building instead of war.

Sept. 11 is the 100th anniversary of another milestone in human history, the date when Mahatmas Gandhi launched the nonviolent movement that later allowed India to throw off British occupation. Gandhi and his most famous American follower, Martin Luther King Jr., were not just leaders but teachers who taught people how to create change without violence, to use anger constructively to build peace, to maintain hope in the face of powerful resistance. 

Many members of Congress believe America can learn from these heroes and that we can build peace by establishing a cabinet-level Department of Peace to educate Americans in nonviolence. Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich has written legislation (HR3760) to create this department; Sen. Mark Dayton has submitted identical legislation to the Senate (S1756). Read the legislation at http://thomas.loc.gov and learn about the organization formed by supporters at www.thepeacealliance.org).

I hope you will vote for a resolution in support of this legislation at the Oct. 11 MnSF state convention. It is our opportunity to help “give peace a chance.” And, at only 2 percent of the current defense budget, it is quite a bargain besides.