Re America Loving Its Trained Assasssins - Seal Clergyman - Bob Kerrey of 19 Fame

We have to face it. This is what America is in the second millennium. This writer has a nephew, who as a teenager was a Ninja enthusiast back in the '70s. We tried to not take it seriously, we had played  cowboys and Indians, (not very acceptable anymore either). We tried to see his wanting to kill bad guys in third world nations as showing toughness and bravery like most youngsters (we had wanted to shoot  Germans and 'Japs.'). But no! Now we know something more insidious is being inculcated into the minds of America's children - a love of violence for violence's sake. A kind of Clockwork Orange mental imbalance permeates the air the in the U.S. even in church: an acceptance that millions have fallen in the way of U.S. citizens in uniform with weapons of mass destruction - no matter that they were killed in their own beloved countries, very often in their own homes. There is a pride in their United States presently bombing six Muslim nations that had nothing to do with 9/11 - and threatening to bomb others. Michael Moore's Bowling at Columbine 's graphic description of love of war spread to children made no difference.

And who is going to cure us of this insanity. Most men of the cloth lead an affluent existence that could be compromised if they did not continue to avoid teaching the Gospel of Jesus as applied to the treatment of people in other countries? They are pals with the war promoting investment community, its media and politicians.  They bless those that are trained to kill before they leave, bless them while engaged in the killing, and bless them when they come home whether dead or alive.

" Now Hiring Pastors" reads the advert on the Internet
"Receive Excellent Salary and Benefits as a Navy Officer."
http://www.navy.com

" Pastor Job Opportunity" read another.
"Secure a Better Future For Yourself By Serving in the Navy Reserve."
http://www.navyreserve.com

JOB DESCRIPTION
"Serving as a Chaplain in the Navy Reserve will give you a tremendous opportunity to provide a meaningful service in the lives of others. Recall your purpose as a servant of God. Be the moral anchor for young Sailors and Marines. Discover the pride of serving your country -- looking after those who preserve our faith and our freedom with their lives."

SPECIFIC RESPONSIBILITIES
"As a Navy Chaplain, you will be the one other servicemembers will seek when they need someone to listen or someone to guide them. You will be a trusted outlet when they struggle with personal issues or search for answers at crucial moments in their lives. And often, you will be the constant support for young people away from home for the first time."

Imagine, a kid, maybe less than a year out of high school and "away from home for the first time" in Afghanistan, comes to you, a graduate from a Theological Seminary, where you studied the Gospel of Jesus Christ from every angle, and this young man before you looks pale and is beside himself after taking part in a raid on a home in which children were killed and men and women died before their screaming children's eyes. [See heart-breaking photo front page New York Times 5/9/11]

This boy in front of you, his chaplain says, 'Father,  these people are poor and so beautiful. And he is sure this is not right,' and he mentions knowing that no Afghanis were in the planes that hit the World Trade Center buildings and his having read or heard 'Taliban' means 'students' who formed to protect women that were being raped and whole cities bombarded by infighting between the non-Pashtun warlords armies funded by CIA and CIA drug trade money to fight the Russians who were on the side of Kabul women liberating government, and now he is really angry.

The young soldier has come to you for help to get out of being involved in this un-Christian war of occupation and killing Taliban fighters opposing the US invasion. He feels he has been had. He asks you, his Navy Pastor to help him transfer out, or he will just refuse orders and willing go to the brig. He asks you for your own opinion of our right to kill Taliban and others in their own country and homes?

He questions whether the church can bless him and how to ask for God's forgiveness. He is afraid of going to Hell. He asks your guidance. What answer or council will you, his military pastor give the kid?

Off a major highway in Florida stands a billboard about the U.S. Navy Seals Museum just at the next cutoff. Yours truly didn't go, but would imagine that there (hopefully) would not be anything about Seal Kerrey's Thanh Phong massacre of 18 women and children and one old man (not the "21 Vietcong soldiers" reported killed, which got Kerrey his decoration).

Seals were once thought of as an adventurous underwater team, handy in operations during real war time when their nation was under attack from other powerful nations. Now the Navy Seals have risen to hero status as nighttime assassins sneaking around in easily invaded poor former colonies of the white empires of the plundering industrialized and militarily powerful, cheered on by a bloodthirsty audience at home.

P.S. The seal is a lovely and charming creature we love to watch for its grace as it glides effortlessly in the water and then leaps out so clownishly.