by James Glaser
October 4, 2002

I must start this column by telling you that I have a sister that reads my column every day. She and her husband both think the world of George Bush and she tells me that if the column is going the wrong way she just stops reading, but she is a great friend, she helps me any time I ask, and when I was little, she beat up Stevie Rubins, who was picking on me when I was in second grade and she was in fifth. Jean will always be my hero for that.

This weekend I am going to a rally for Fair Trade in Duluth, Oct. 5th. Some of the Speakers are Senator Paul Wellstone, who just today stood up for every service man and woman in the American Armed Forces. Senator Wellstone said that Saddam and Iraq are a world problem and that America should not go alone and attack Iraq, but if inspections don't work, then the United States with the rest of the world should take military action. Later in the column I will tell you why that is so very important to every one that is in the service.

Also speaking at this "rally" will be Dave Frederickson, President of the National Farmers Union, Leo Gerard, President, United Steelworkers of America, and Lori Wallach, Director, Public Citizen's Global Trade Watch. To be honest I am not that up on global trade/fair trade issues and will post anything I learn next week.

In the past I have talked about how Northern Minnesota has so many Christians of the far right and how some of them think that George Bush is the Antichrist. Well it is hard to say one church is right of another, but just today one local church lady was so happy to stop me and share this bit of news she had. It seems that Jerry Falwell has decided to tell America that the Prophet Mohammed is a terrorist!

I told the woman that I don't think that Mohammed is alive anymore and that I had no idea if he was a terrorist, but with those words Jerry Falwell had become one. Northern Minnesota is a different place to live because it is so small in population and people of far ranging beliefs talk to each other. People disagree, but seldom get outright mad at the other person. In a major city it would be strange to be talking religion in a serious way with a person that lives ten miles down the road, while buying screws at the hardware store. Here it doesn't even seem out of place.

This women gave me a sheet of paper she got at her church telling how Mr. Falwell said that the President is afraid of the wrath of the Christian Right and he does what they want. According to this paper what they want is a big war in the Middle East that will kill lots of Jews and those remaining will convert to Christianity.

As a side light Israeli political analyst, Yossi Alpher says, "God save us from these people." He goes on to say "When you see what these people are encouraging Israel and the U.S. to do...ignore the Palestinians, kick them out...they are leading us into a scenario of out and out disaster."

This lady said that God wants this war and the killing that goes with it because that is part of the Bible. Well I got my screws and left, you see, you can't really argue with these people as they have God's word that those people over there have to die and George Bush is doing God's work by helping it all along. So what can you say?

Now back to why it is so important that our Service people don't go to war right now. In the last Gulf War it is true that we only had 147 killed and 457 wounded men and women in combat. A real sorrow for their loved ones, but very light causalities. However in just a few weeks after getting home, first tens, then hundreds, and now thousands of those same veterans that fought for us started getting sick

Colonel David H. Hackworth, a stanch conservative released a report today that tells of 7,758 Desert Storm Veterans that have died of Gulf War Illness and how 156,031 of those same veterans are now permanently disabled from this same Illness. Every day more veterans are getting sick and after spending over 150 million dollars, a definitive cause of these Gulf War Illness has yet to be announced.

Adam T Smith, whose unit fought alongside the U.S. Army's storied 1st Infantry Division during Desert Storm says, "The American people seem to have forgotten or don't know how sick many of us are." Totally disabled Smith adds, "Out of my 150 member unit close to 70 are or have been treated for some sort of illness related to Gulf War service"

We don't know what happened to these men and women. Until we do know and develop equipment and tactics that can better safe guard them, we should not send our young people to Iraq. The real causality rate for the Gulf War was 28%, much higher than World War 2 or Vietnam . So I must thank Senator Wellstone, when he has the integrity to stand up in the Senate during an election year and tell America we should not rush into this war.