Betrayal of Principles

At the end of World War II, 1200 heavy bombers flew over the vicinity of Royan in western France and dropped napalm, killing German soldiers and thousands of French civilians, destroying what was once a beautiful little resort town. This was April, 1945, and the German soldiers were stranded, left behind, waiting for the war to end.

During the Korean War, a surprise U.S. air attack on east Wolmi island on Sept. 10, 1950, killed 100 or more South Korean civilians. In clear weather from low altitude, U.S. forces napalmed numerous small buildings, strafed children, women and old people in the open area.

In November, 2005, U.S. Marines shot 24 Iraqi civilians, killing men, women and children at close range. Aws Fahmi, a Haditha resident who said he watched and listened from his home as Marines went from house to house killing members of three families, recalled hearing his neighbor across the street, Younis Salim Khafif, plead in English for his life and the lives of his family members. "I heard Younis speaking to the Americans, saying: 'I am a friend. I am good,'" Fahmi said. "But they killed him, and his wife and daughters."

In war, there is nothing noble. In war, there are only betrayals of the principles for which the war was supposed to have been fought. I don't want to honor military heroism -- that conceals too much death and suffering. I want to honor those who have opposed the horror of war.

Buddhists believe that all life is precious. "No killing" is the First Precept. For those who have, with intent and foresight, harmed or caused harm, their future is determined by the law of Karma. There is no exception.

However, Buddhists don't believe in passivity. We believe we should do something about the conflicts in the world. But we should not do war. Because war makes things worse than they were before. War has consequences which you cannot predict.

What we can do is change from a military superpower to a humanitarian superpower. We are enormously wealthy. Let's use that wealth to help change social and economic conditions around the world. Is this less of a goal than is war?