It has taken me a while to write this piece, basically because of my respect towards the young men and women who are in the US Armed Forces, including my own brother Tom, and their families. Please understand, it is certainly not my intention to criticize or say anything disrespectful about those who have lost their lives or have been injured or killed in the Iraq conflict, and those who are still over there fighting and their families. It is also not my purpose to say whether the US and other countries should or should not be fighting the war in Iraq. I am not educated well enough on the subject to make that judgment. My simple aim is to try and raise a personal perspective of our involvement in Iraq to provoke reaction to and discussion about an undertaking (the Iraqi Conflict) I feel we can all do without. I will begin by pointing out my disappointment with the complete silence of our government, church and traditional leaders in Micronesia on the subject. Participating in an offensive/preemptive act, such as this war, goes against all the core values of Christianity and our Micronesian culture.

As I attempt to make my point, I wish to discuss several religious and traditional values of the Micronesian people that make our involvement in the war wrong. But before I go on to do that, I'd like to point out something that simply sums up our collective confusion about our "partnership" with the Government of the United States of America. In one of the Street Talks in the Kaselehlie Press, I was quite distraught to read and learn some of the answers of our young men and women concerning their support for the war in Iraq. Many of them answered, "Yes, I support the war because I want to fight for my country." What bothered me most about their answers was the casualness of the way they talked about war, an activity that usually results in the death of another human being (a child of God), and that there seems to be confusion in our young people about fighting for "our" country. Our young, including a large number of our older population, somehow need to understand the Federated States of Micronesia is a sovereign country and we are not at war with anyone. We are no longer a territory of the US and definitely not a branch of the Government of the United States of America. Like them, we now have the right and the ability to say no to some of the requests of our partner(s), most especially when it goes against our cultural and traditional values.

So why is our involvement in the Iraq war wrong? As adult Christians and Micronesians, we should never support anything we are not willing to do ourselves, most especially when it could mean losing the lives of Micronesians, who are too young and too na�ve to grasp the full extent and ramifications of going to war. As adult Christians and Micronesians, we are fully accountable for our youths' lives - even when they are over eighteen years of age. Ninety nine percent of our population, if not a hundred percent, are either Catholics or Protestants - Christians! And my understanding is that true Christians do not fight aggressive and/or pre-emptive wars. Please take a moment to imagine the life of a mother or a father in Iraq, with three young children (a six month old baby, a three year old girl and a five year old boy). Hold that thought. Then imagine it's you over there in your little rundown house. Then imagine the long dark nights, the eerie sounds of sirens and gunfire, the roar of the jet fighters and helicopters, the BOMBS! Then imagine your little family, your own children, crowded in the corner of your little house, and you looking at the fear in their little eyes, their little pale lips, and the silent tears coming down their little cheeks, with little trembling hands trying to grip onto a part of you for security. Imagine the total confusion. Why is this happening to us? Where are you God? Why are these Christians bombing me, and my little babies? When does this stop? Lord, why have you forsaken us? Then the big bang, with your door ripped from its rusted hinges and falling right into your living room, with half a dozen uniformed men with big guns storming into your house and pulling you away from the trembling little hands of your babies. You are dragged a few feet away and you can hear the terrified cries of your babies, and you are powerless. You want to cradle and feel the little bodies of your young, but you can only see them in the corner of your eyes as you lay there on your stomach weeping. Then imagine a young Micronesian man, standing in full military uniform pointing a gun at your head. How unchristian. How un-Micronesian!

I have three children, whom I love with all my heart, and I would never wish fear onto any parent in this world. And I can certainly feel for the parents in Iraq. In Pohnpei, and this is probably true in all of the FSM, we only fight or draw blood for two reasons: sahpw (family/clan land) and nta (blood of our lineage). I do not know of a single Iraqi trying to take my family land or who has killed a family member. Come to think of it, I don't think I've ever met a single Iraqi in my life. Have you? Why are we there helping to kill some of them when we do not even know who these people are? What did the Iraqis ever to do we Micronesians that has gotten us so angry that we want to go fight and kill them? Tell me one thing that justifies our involvement in Iraq. Well, aside from the $$$$ we get from the US Government. And again, how unchristian and un-Micronesian to be fighting and killing so we can have just a little more money.

I ask all of us today, is there really not a better way to get our young employed? Have we exhausted all the opportunities for our young men and women? Could we get our young who are attracted to the military lifestyle to join the UN Peace Keeping Forces? And could we get a willing country to sponsor our young so they are not part of an offensive armed force? Or are we content with the idea of more of our own (our sons, brothers, nephews, nieces, cousins, best friends and neighbors) ending up maimed or dead? Or worse yet, in our culture, ending up taking somebody else's life? A life so far away our families will never get to make amends or ask their families for forgiveness. How unchristian. How un-Micronesian. Imagine putting a young man or woman from a Micronesian village, in this situation�a situation where he or she could end up killing some other human being - the guilt and lasting pain that will haunt this individual for ever. And then imagine the young man or woman comes from Ifaluk, or Iras, or Utwe, or Sapwehrek, and that you have known them and seen them grow up in your village. How unfitting is that? How unchristian. How un-Micronesian.

Today I ask all Christians and all Micronesians, and most especially all mothers, our traditional and church leaders, to speak out against sending more of our young to the war. We must do something because our government leaders (I've talked to several) are not going to do anything about this wrongdoing. It is not "diplomatic" and they are simply too busy trying to balance the budget. I understand I am asking you to carry out an extremely daunting task. The US government is a big monster to tangle with or disagree with. But as true Christians and Micronesians, we cannot afford to have the blood of our young, as well as those Iraqis we do not know, tainting our souls forever - it is not right by us. I have confidence the American people will understand and respect our religious and cultural values, and our principles and decisions not to partner with them on certain undertakings. In his inaugural address on Capitol Hill, Washington D.C., January 20, 1961, President John F. Kennedy stated, "To those states whom we welcome to the ranks of the free, we pledge our word that one form of colonial control shall not have passed away merely to be replaced by a far more iron tyranny. We shall not always hope to find them supporting our view. But we shall always hope to find them strongly supporting their freedom - and to remember that, in the past, those who foolishly sought power by riding the back of the tiger ended up inside". We need a national referendum to make sure our constitution prohibits our young from going to war (preemptive wars) against any country, unless it is absolutely, and I mean absolutely necessary. Fighting in this war is wrong, and is un-Christian and un-Micronesian, and therefore should not be allowed to go on.

God bless and kalahngan!