War crime accounting due

The March 2009 issue of Handful of Salt, the newsletter of the Peace and Justice Action League of Spokane, began by asking, “Why are we still marching even after the war criminal George W. Bush has left office?”

I suspect one reason is that for years peace organizations like PJALS put little or no effort into mobilizing their members against U.S. war criminals and their accomplices.

As one who flew over 60 combat missions aboard an airborne command post during the Vietnam War, I participated in U.S. war crimes. Later in life, I opposed those “promoted” by the U.S. and her allies in Chile, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Panama, Iraq, Palestine and elsewhere.

Hopefully, current U.S-Israeli war crimes in the Middle East will not escalate to the level of Vietnam. Four million Vietnamese civilians were killed during the war. In addition, 20,000 Viet Cong and Viet Cong “suspects” died, some from torture, in the infamous Con Son tiger cages – the prisons administered by the U.S. and South Vietnam.

Richard Harger

Spokane Valley