Statement before sentencing in
U. S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia
June 20, 2008
Susan Crane
Judge Jones, when I came to the Pentagon on Good Friday, Peter DeMott and I were holding a sign that said, “Love your enemies.”
I was thinking about the Iraq war where 1.3 million Iraqi people and thousands of US soldiers have been killed. I was thinking about how violence always creates more violence, how hate creates more hate, and how the teachings of my faith are that only love can drive out hate, and only nonviolence can create the peace we all want for our children.
On Good Friday, I was thinking about the use of radioactive and chemical poison weapons that the US has used—depleted uranium—which has caused cancers and birth defects in Iraq, and has made many of the veterans of the first gulf war sick…., so sick that they have died…the more I reflect on this, the more I am convinced that we need to stop all this warmaking and begin to care about other people.
I was thinking about the 10,000 nuclear weapons in this country, and we spent more than 5.5 trillion on these weapons. If every dollar had been invested in human needs, we would have a safer world without extreme poverty and homelessness. We use these nuclear weapons to threaten other countries, and it's curious to me that our nuclear weapons are “good” and the nuclear weapons of other countries are “evil.” Maintaining our nuclear stockpile is expensive. This year alone, just maintaining these weapons will cost the US taxpayer 6.5 billion or 18 million dollars a day.
I was thinking about global warming, and I know that the Pentagon, the US military is the biggest polluter in the world. What sort of air, soil and water are we leaving to future generations? Some scientists tell us that change has to happen now…or, the damage to the environment will be irreversible damage to the environment.
I was thinking about international law, and how, according the the US constitution, the treaties that the US has signed become the highest law in the country to be upheld in every court by every judge. I have understood that weapons that are indiscriminate, that kill and poison soldier and civilian without distinction, are illegal. Consequently, depleted uranium weapons are illegal. I understand that according to the UN charter, the Iraq war is illegal. And, according to the Geneva conventions, the US treatment of the prisoners in Guantanamo , Kandahar and Bagramis illegal.
On Good Friday, I was thinking about the torture in Guantanamo , Kandahar and Bagram. Torture and cruelty carried out by American soldiers. I think about the men who have been tortured, and the veterans who now have nightmare after nightmare because they have done things that sicken their conscience. Killed children, tortured parents, crashed into homes, destroyed the dignity of people made in the image of God.
Lastly, as a citizen of this country, I feel responsible for what these soldiers are doing. I feel responsible for their nightmares, too. I understand that just as I personally am held to certain moral standards, so collectively we are held to these same standards. And the most basic standard is NO Killing. And I went to the Pentagon, once again, to plead with the people who work there to STOP the madness.