02-26-2003, 10:10 PM
Actually, I was under the impression that most pacifists who entered wars did so as members of the Red Cross or any one of the international humanitarian organizations who did their best to ensure that casualties were kept to a minimum or as a member of the national guard. (For example, I believed Ghandi fought for the British Army as an ambulance driver. He even got a medal.) At least, this is the opinion of the pacifists I know and tallk to. Do not make the mistake of confusing pacifists for chickenhawks: pacifists know when they have to fight. Pacifists fight in self-defense, never in aggression, and they are certainly not anti-patriotic (whatever that idiotic emotive "patriotism" is supposed to mean), since patriotism is more than shooting at any foreigner your government says is a threat.
Oh, that reminds me. An earlier post gave three options for an American solider when given orders by the Commander-in-Chief: obey, quit, or be jailed for subordination. There is a fourth option: conscientious objection. You fill out a form listing your reasons of conscience for refusing to fight a war, and you don't fight. Simple. This is currently a common practice in Israel (with over 200 or so soliders objecting agaisnt what they see as the domination of Palestinians), and from what I've heard, a few American soldiers have already objected to a war in Iraq.
Oh, that reminds me. An earlier post gave three options for an American solider when given orders by the Commander-in-Chief: obey, quit, or be jailed for subordination. There is a fourth option: conscientious objection. You fill out a form listing your reasons of conscience for refusing to fight a war, and you don't fight. Simple. This is currently a common practice in Israel (with over 200 or so soliders objecting agaisnt what they see as the domination of Palestinians), and from what I've heard, a few American soldiers have already objected to a war in Iraq.