WHEN I WENT to war, at the naïve age of just 18, I had no idea, really, what the difference was between a "Just" and "Unjust" war. It was 1971 when I volunteered, to avoid the military draft, and America was divided over civil rights issues and the war in Vietnam. All because a little black lady, Rosa Parks, refused to move to the back of a public bus, she took a stand by sitting down and insisted she was equal to white folks. All because America had become involved in a war, in Southeast Asia, that would prove to be unjust—and cost way too much. For me it was a matter of duty, honor and country!

My Mom, a Republican, supported the government, the war and the wealthy with little or no regard for the principals concerned, those in harms way, or the costs. While my Dad, my Uncle and Grandfather, all Democrats and WWII combat vets, supported the civil rights of all peoples and opposed the Vietnam War quietly. My Step-Dad, also a WWII combat vet, and a Republican at the time, stood in quiet opposition to the war.

My Step-Mom wasn't sure of what to put on our next grocery list—let alone how to form a philosophical or political opinion. Like too many, she just didn't want to talk about anything stressful and just hoped somebody else would resolve the big problems.

Yet, all, having lived through the horrors of the Ku Klux Klan and the era of fear with Hoover's FBI violating people's privacy during the "Red Scare" McCarthy years, were very careful how they exercised their First Amendment rights and only voiced their opinions in private. They had seen the high price paid by those who spoke out publicly.

It became clear, within my family, that there were some racists and those strongly opposed to racism. There were those that truly cared—and those that could not care less.

There were those that really believed in trying to lead a selfless life—and those that were only selfish and self-serving. These glaring differences separated my family for decades and, ultimately, divided and destroyed many family relationships and friendships.

America was divided and polarized—and many, like me, were confused. So, too, we were all at war with ourselves, our own values—and, truly, our very souls. Sadly too many were those that simply lived in denial and wallowed in their ignorance. But, every single one was being affected, disaffected and changed, by the times—as Bob Dylan's song reminded us all, "and those times, they were a changing." Today, it is Déjà vu!

My older brother had used every deferment possible to avoid military service, but had been eventually drafted and was safely assigned in Germany. There was a great deal of talk on ending the draft, but it hung over my head like a hatchet! So, I decided I would enlist and become a combat medic. By volunteering for Vietnam I could also help keep my younger brother, next in line, out of harms way. He, too, ultimately ended up serving safely in Germany. But, I had become the sacrificial lamb in my family—and I suffer to this day. My first great decision as a young adult proved to be a major, costly, mistake!

I hoped America's involvement in Vietnam would prove to be right. In training I tried to keep an open mind. As a soldier, I was expected to keep my philosophical and any political opinions to my self—as most military service people still do to this day.

It's easy, and acceptable, to make positive statements in support of the chain-of-command and the current President. But, any criticism, or dissent will get you punished quickly, even court-martialed. So, when you here military members speak out in favor of a war, remember to listen to the deafening silence of others—and make it a high priority to proactively listen to what our retired military are saying on the subject. Dissent really is, still, the highest form of patriotism and critically essential to any healthy democracy.

The Anti-War movement has begun, again, and I'm sadly compelled to join it. It always begins with the rancor of rhetoric. We must separate fact from fiction and ask all the hard questions—again. I'm dismayed that the media has yet to clearly articulate the difference between "Just" and "Unjust" wars. The American media is still failing us all!

There is a very American process for sending young Americans into harms way! It should be the foundation of the debate on the war in Iraq! The criteria for a "Just" war, as set forth by our fore-fathers was very clear. America should only go to war when all political and diplomatic avenues had been fully exhausted—that did not happen with Iraq! A NIE (National Intelligence Estimate) must be done thoroughly and objectively by rigorous standards of intelligence analysis—that did not happen with Iraq. There must be a "clear and present danger" to America—there was not with Iraq! The success of the war must be outweighed by all of the projected costs in money, disabled veterans and all lives lost. When these criteria are met, then, and only then, does America go to war as a last resort—that was not and still is not the case with Iraq! Therefore, Iraq is an "Unjust" war! No matter how well things may go, eventually, in Iraq—this war will go down in the analogues of history as an unnecessary, unjust and un-American war. We have failed to learn from our historical mistakes—and we have, sadly, erred terribly by invading Iraq.

What our military, and too few civilians, learned from Vietnam was that there must also be a clear plan for equipping our troops and winning the war, keeping the post-war peace, and a clear exit strategy—we have none of these in Iraq! Ironically, when we first invaded Iraq, in the first Gulf War, we had met all these criteria. We fully exhausted every avenue of political and diplomatic resolution. We went into that war fully justified, fully prepared, fully equipped and fully committed to winning with over-whelming force and getting out as quickly as possible. It is almost unbelievable, upon returning with all that solid experience, that we could blunder so terribly at every stage of the process now!

Thus, the dilemma of the day, what to do now? We have to make a major, social and political, paradigm shift. Let us begin by re-learning our own "Just War Tradition"! We need to also recognize and accept that America can not be the "Big Brother" to every nation in trouble. Sure, Saddam Hussein was a terrible dictator, but there are dozens of such despots and dictators throughout the world. We can not rationally, morally, legally or ethically, nor financially, afford to continue to invade other countries without a clear and just cause. Less we risk becoming misperceived in the world as terrorists ourselves!

One man's rebel is another man's freedom fighter—but, using terror tactics in a war is not what America is about! It is not what Americans do! It is not what Americans want our country to do—ever! Much of our honor is dependent on how we wield the terrible broadsword of war for the ultimate power of peace—we can not become bullies!

Our leaders have committed a major mistake and they must now honestly humble themselves and admit the truth to the American people. It is time for every member of Congress to admit the error and take corrective action and develop an exit strategy. The old "Peace with Honor" plan, that ended Vietnam so long ago, again, comes to mind.

We begin by saying we were mistaken, misinformed, manipulated and misled into an unjust and, ultimately, an un-American war. We owe it to the Iraqi people to, now, help in their fight for their freedom and repair the damage we have caused. Often I'm reminded by war supporters that the media isn't covering the positive things we are now doing in Iraq feeding the people and building schools. I'm quick to remind them that the Iraqi people were not starving before we invaded and repairing the infrastructure that we destroyed is the responsibility of any invader—that usually shuts them up! We are doing a great deal of good work in Iraq—but, it is work we are now obligated to do! While we have homeless veterans starving in America and our schools are crumbling from being under funded, and going year after year and decade after decade, without needed repairs.

Now this fight has to be an Iraqi fight—fought by Iraqis—not Americans. We saw what happened when we did too much for the South Vietnamese. They became co-dependent, not independent, and they lost their chance at freedom, because we did too much—and did too much way too wrong—for way too long. We must not make that mistake again! If the Iraqi people want a stable and free society they must fight for it!

We can not, now, "cut and run"—but, we can pull back to protect American lives.

We can establish "safe zones" where our troops can supply, support, train, and help the Iraqi forces win their own freedom. We must send Iraqi military teams and units into harms way to take the fight to their enemies—not American units. Sure, for a while, they will need the expertise of our Special Forces as advisers, and we'll need our best to help evaluate how the engagements shake out. But, very few Americans should be put at any further risk! Iraqi forces do need close air support until they can get their own Air Force trained up and in a mission capable posture—but, that needs to happen quickly as well!

When the Iraqi's ask about our change of heart we should be honest and candid with them. It is clear they are not forming a true democracy. Rather, they're forming a new theocracy based on majority rule—with no regard for the rights of minorities. It is a very sad reality. But, we must respect their culture, and religion, and explain that we, as Americans, only support efforts to form true democracies—and apologize for not better understanding their culture and intentions. We must put the Iraqi's on notice that we will not support them indefinitely. It must be made clear, painfully crystal clear, that now all Iraqis have a date with destiny—and this may very well be their only chance at freedom.

There should be little, if any, unemployed in Iraq—it's their time to fight the good fight!

We must continue to provide infrastructure support to repair the damage caused, by our war in Iraq. But, only in areas that have been secured—it is part of the price we Americans should pay for the damage we have done. But, it's past high time we get the American taxpayers a little help with paying the bills associated with security. Iraq needs to bear their fair share of the financial burden for their freedoms. Maybe we can get the Saudis to co-sign on the Iraqi debt much as they did in Persian Gulf One. That could solve a large portion of the American economic concerns. Doing so, would be the only rational and reasonable way to pass more responsibility—and help us to get out sooner.

Then, we the people need to do some house-cleaning and repairs of our own. We need to hold every member of Congress accountable for abdicating their duty to insist a full National Intelligence Estimate was objectively developed (not "cherry picked"), and vaguely authorizing the executive branch to exceed the parameters of their power. Only a few Democrats, and one Independent and a Republican voted against the war in Iraq—they should be celebrated! The others should be chastised and compelled to drive the process of cleaning up this mess. Those that are willing to humble themselves and do the right thing should have a fair chance of being re-elected. Those that insist and persist in this insanity ought to be voted out in of office in 2006 and 2008—never to serve again!

As for President Bush—it's time to empanel a bi-partisan grand jury to investigate this administration's questionable actions regarding Iraq. If warranted, we should start the impeachment process with fully public hearings. I, like many Americans already know enough (and I'm convinced) "W" needs to go out like Nixon—and the sooner the better! As well, many of the "President's Men" if found guilty, should also be impeached, like Cheney, or fired and many should spend some hard time in a federal prison! We need our media to do a much better job (this time around), than they did with Vietnam. Far more coverage, more accuracy, more timely, no spin—Americans have every right and a need to know the full unvarnished truth about how this terrible debacle occurred in Iraq!

I remember, in 1972 in the middle of battle, how much I was praying that the American media, and the American people, would do what ever it took to get me and every other American, out of Vietnam as soon as possible. In the mean time, all I could do was do my duty—and pray I'd live another day. That's what is really happening in the hearts of our troops. They are fighting, first and foremost, out of a deep, committed sense of duty, for honor, for country and for one another, their unit and their mission. We owe them everything! The concepts of democracy are a far distant second. Third, they are fighting for the innocent Iraqis they've been sent to help, with a great deal of empathy and compassion for, especially, the poor suffering children, women and elderly. I so very vividly remember just trying to defend the innocent and limit damage. But, believe me, in their hearts every one of them desires to come home as soon as possible—with honor!

I know I've done it—and I've heard from many soldiers serving today in harms way. We must support our troops, continue to get them whatever they need to survive, to fight and win—but, the most important thing we can do to support our troops is bring them home! Anyone that tries to tell you that dissenting on this unjust war is "unpatriotic and hurts the troops" is delusional—these "armchair pseudo-patriots" are pathetic frauds!

It's time to look at the end game and coming home—with honor. That should start with our National Guard units. Their primary mission is here at home! Hurricane season will be here, again, shortly! Then, we bring home our Reserves, followed by our Active Duty units. Then, we, finally, fix the Veterans Administration once and for all!

The only real shame should be shared by us, as citizens who sat back and watched while a well-known group of incompetent political representatives and lousy executives (behaving like a bunch of bully frat boys) sent our most cherished treasure, our own next generation, into an unjust war! We owe every veteran, everything, until the day they die!

The Global War On Terrorism (GWOT) is going to go on for a long, long time. Everything you may have heard about these terrorists is true. Military folks have been trying to raise the growing concerns about terrorism since Munich in 1972. They do consider us infidels and want only to eradicate us from the face of the earth. That's why going into Afghanistan was and remains a just war. We absolutely must continue to hunt down Osama Bin Laden and his cronies, and kill or capture as many of these terrorists as we can—we have every right to defend America, Americans and our American interests! But, we should not have invaded Iraq. Had we concentrated all of our efforts on the 9/11 terrorists, and stayed out of Iraq, we would be capturing or killing most of these same terrorists (the vast majority who are not Iraqis), in the open areas of Afghanistan, far away from innocent children, women and the elderly—who knows where we might be today had we not gotten so terribly side-tracked? Clearly, we would be far better off.

On a personal note, I'm paying a price for my position. I've had to resign from all the key roles and many positions I held in a number of local veteran's organizations—so, I could speak and write freely as a former professional soldier and as an Anti-War Activist. Already friendships are fragmenting and the trash talking has well begun. The pro-war factions do not want to discuss and debate the real issues, or ask and answer the hard questions. Especially from a former "reformed Republican" that has become now a "New Democrat." They don't want to see the facts clearly. To this day, I have former friends and family, refusing to admit we were wrong for going into Vietnam. There over 58,000 American lives lost, and nearly 1,000,000 were wounded in Vietnam—for what? Let alone the millions we killed? Vietnam was a "Bright Shining Lie"! So was "the war on drugs" and "the war on poverty." When are we going to stop lying to ourselves?

So, how many names will "We The People" allow to be on some future Iraqi Veterans Memorial? It's time for every American to take a stand—and sit down! Write your representatives and voluntarily get involved in the upcoming campaign events—it's now your civic duty to sacrifice a little! We have a war to fight here at home—again!