…I am a Vietnam veteran who came back to the United States to be greeted by a country that wanted to sweep Vietnam veterans under the carpet…. The anti-war effort of the 1960s had had a great effect on the attitude of the entire country; in fact, the effort was, to a great degree, directed against the U.S. service people serving in Southeast Asia. This is not the case now.

I am a part of the Persian Gulf peace effort. I wouldn’t be were it directed against the service person. This pease movement is an attempt to change the views of the world in the area of conflict resolution. None of the people involved in the peace effort with whom I have spoken at rallies, prayer vigils, marches or in informal groups has spoken out against the American service person. What we are speaking out against is the use of mortal combat as a means of conflict resolution….

This peace movement is for future generations, in the hope they will not have to prepare themselves for the loss of a mother, brother, father, sister, or friend either to mortal combat or to the knowledge of having killed.

If you support death as a means to peace, my heart goes out to you. You have not yet learned the joys of life. It you tell me war is justified by the Bible or other authority, I will tell you that you are part of the problem. If you invoke the name of God to justify death, I will tell you that you are part of the problem. This peace movement is an effort to help the world find a paradigm that does not condone war as a means of conflict resolution. This peace movement is a search for an ethic that does not see death and the threat of death as a legitimate means of achieving peace.

If you believe there are other ways of handling situations leading up to conflicts such as Desert Storm, Panama, Grenada, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Lithuania, and the Falklands, then join us. You can rest assured that the majority of service people who make it home from the gulf will join in time, just as I have 22 years after coming home from Vietnam.

This is a better way. This I believe with all my heart. Max E. Soucia Bangor