
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, March 2, 1991                   TAG: 9103040273
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A-11   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

CAN'T BE PROUD WE STILL RESORT TO WAR

I WILL BE expected to feel pride in my country for this "mighty military victory." I feel no pride. What I feel is a great sadness, as well as anger, that nothing has changed over many centuries.

Leaders still send their peoples into battle to kill or be killed. What good are human achievements when warfare is still the way to do business?

Please don't ask me to feel proud of a military victory when so many options for a less-violent solution were ignored. President Bush now wishes to see Saddam Hussein deposed as a leader, no matter that tens of thousands of Iraqi citizens and soldiers are dead and dying.

I do not blame American soldiers for this carnage, for I know that soldiers are trained to follow orders, not to make individual decisions. I do blame the war promoters of our country as well as others - those who profit from the sale of arms, those political leaders who cooperate with them to keep warfare a way of life. And yes, I blame the present administration of our country, as well as that of Iraq.

There are times when I do not even feel proud of being a human being. Please don't ask me to feel proud of being American right now. EVA LOEWY ROANOKE

by CNB