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An often recurring question among peace advocates is, “How do we succinctly present the case against war to others?” I believe our best approach is not to attempt to convince others as to our position. Rather, it is best to simply present the arguments for it in as unthreatening a manner as possible. The most I hope for in these conversations is to bring others a little closer to understanding why we are against war. When they have opened themselves to hear enough convincing arguments, they will convince themselves.
In such conversations, I usually question the legality of killing others. For 60 years I have been married to a man “learned in the law,” which has caused me to examine questions of the law in my work as a peace activist. So when the George W. Bush announces we are in a “preventive” war, I discuss with others how that justification would play on the individual level in a court of law.
“Mr. District Attorney? Yes, my name is I. M. Bueno…Yes, I shot my neighbor, Gary Garbajj, but I had to protect my family and myself. He said the only good Mexican is a dead one . . . Me, yes, I’m Mexican. He was very violent—beat his wife…No, I never actually saw him hit her, but I heard them quarreling. On this particular Saturday his kids and mine were playing and he sent my kids home and said if they came into his yard again he’d call the police.
“Did it make me angry? Of course. I knew I had to cool down so I went in the house and didn’t come out till he was gone. Then I went out to change the oil in my car and the next thing I knew he was standing there with this gun in his hand, scowling and cursing, stumbling around from all the beer he’d had. My kids were screaming as they ran into the house. I kind of went crazy then. Who did this guy think he was?
“There I was in the garage with my hunting rifle in the rack and I reached for it—mainly to show him two could play at that game—and all of a sudden I fired…No, his gun wasn’t aimed at me, but he was waving it around, and drunk as he was, well, I thought he was going to kill me. This guy was a threat not just to my family and me but to all the neighbors. Hell, they thanked me.”
Was Bueno’s a “preventive” action? Not by legal standards. A court of law might rule that there was no proof that Garbajj would have killed Bueno. Why didn’t Bueno go into the house as his children did? Bueno would be found guilty of murder because the law does not allow one to shoot one’s neighbor because of threats.
Yet, George W. Bush contends that the U.S. was justified in attacking Iraq because that little country was a “threat” to the most powerful nation in the history of the world. The U.S. justification for killing Iraqis is not a concept that would stand up in a court of law.
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