US Solider Testifying to Murder and Issues of Violence and Problem Solving

This testimonial is very courageous and outlines a former marine John Michael Turner statement on his acts of terror in the war in Iraq.  Terrorism in my view is when a person or group inflict terror on any other person or group.   It is using terror to control others and win battles. In my viewpoint it doesn’t matter if it is a solider or civilian.  I see war as not a problem solver but an escalator of violence through hatred, revenge and national interest.  Violent conflict is still endorsed, it hasn’t stopped around the world and is seen as normal.  As Scott Ritter indicated (former CIA/Senior Weapons Inspector in Iraq) the war in Iraq was an illegal war of aggression. The young former marine in the video below indicates how he inflicted aggression when choking people to death.  He made clear and gave testimony that the kills were of innocent people and that kills were rewarded.  How is war not murder? How can society say it is wrong to kill a civilian on the streets of Melbourne yet it is okay when governments decide they want to join in wars or start them and kill civilians in other countries, how is that just?  Our government certainly got involved and Andrew Wilkie a former intelligence officer made clear that there was no threat to our country.  It is clear from Scott Ritter that the war was about name change not regime change.  He indicated there was no threatening nuclear weapons program in Iraq which was justification for the US to gain access to Iraq.  In addition, he made very clear that the weapons inspectors were used to spy on a head of state (palace) of another nation and that the US government did not care, if once deposed, another Saddam Hussein type character came into power.  He pointed out that Saddam Hussein was made into a Hitler like character to create an enemy.  This enemy was demonised as evil (non reformable), indeed when they are targeted as evil then any means necessary becomes acceptable to get rid of them, murder is saliently sanctioned and supported by the public as he is evil.  Certainly he was violent and cruel, but law in my view, should take precedence, not the law of tooth and claw (law of the jungle).  This of course is hardly democracy nor living the principles of democracy many say they fight for.  If a head of state was in truth a criminal then the International Criminal Court must be given international support to try that person or persons, justice must happen to send messages to others about governance, human rights and laws all agree to adhere to, this ensures international security in my view.  Scott Ritter indicated this strategy of demonisation was to do with domestic US politics.  It was about elections not justice or fair play or international security.  So it is hard to believe when so much subterfuge is happening.  If truth is not a central determinant of who we are, otherwise we can become deeply lost in the games, the deceptions, the influence, impressions and forget about what is real and meaningful.  That is what dishonesty, vested interests, greed and those pulling the strings like puppeteers in the background creates.  The public loses confidence in leaders and become disheartened in their society and world.

What was interesting about this brave young marine (in video below) was that in the end he chose to reclaim his humanity and reveal the injustice and cruelty that is often touted as heroism.  He chose to be open and fair, that for me was the beginning of democracy in the US military.  If more soldiers come clean, then society has an opportunity to understand what war does, instead of the sanitised version often reflected by embedded journalism.  I recall being in the US at a community fair and there was a veteran selling his book.  I asked him about peace and he immediately became defensive.  I asked him what is peace?  He didn’t know how to answer.  He had a narrative about war and he was sharing his story.  He was not interested in a peacenik asking him about peace.  He actually got angry with me which I found interesting.  I realised in the US there was great patriotism around the military and it is an unquestioned institution.  It is here in Australia, although I heard quite a few Australian soldiers disagree with the war in Iraq, which I found interesting.  I was told by one that the Americans were more gun ho, whereas the Australian soldiers apparently wanted better planning and strategy.  Obviously I can’t validate that, it was something I was told.  However, my experience in the US made me feel uneasy bringing up peace, which was seen as unpatriotic and the feeling of treason was there.  Whenever I hear unquestioned beliefs, I know that power is not being checked, it is very important that people are questioned, and democracy is meant to give freedom to that speech, what I experienced was the shutting down of what would be viewed unpatriotic questions.  I thought of Marcarthyism and where anyone seen as socialist was a communist sympathiser or threat.  They were outed and demonised as traitors.  This of course is military training, you are either with us or against us.  Yet in truth it is not democracy and that is where the confusion is in my view.

This message of course applies to all sides of war, when people truly believe in a god of love, they will never murder or harm any person.  If they believe in democracy they will change society through elections, debate, freedom of speech, international diplomacy and mediation rather than using violence and murder to force others to comply rather than resolving the conflict.  What I find very interesting about violence is that there is no problem solving to actually solve the core conflict issue.  What I know about violence is that abuse or bullying (the repeated desire to hurt)  is projected onto others through brain washing that incites hatred.  In my training in mediation and conflict resolution it is important to teach children and adults that if you have a dispute to sit down and discuss differences and find peaceful ways to resolve the conflict.  On a higher level that was the purpose of the conflict, to grow.  Always in war there is strategy to defeat the other side (win/lose) no-one is trained to solve the problem (win/win) this of course is power sharing and the basis of democracy which we identify with.  Once the ‘other’ has been identified and demonised as an enemy then cruel acts are justified.  This is contrasted with a democratic society whereby a violent act would be criminalised, in a war zone the myth of defence (fighting for your country) seems to have protection of rules of engagement, just war theory etc. when in truth killing is killing.  This is so, as war is unquestioned as to whether it truly creates peace or generates more violence and instability.  What does war teach? In my view it generates the latter, most fatalities in war are civilians. There is no friendly fire or collateral damage, interesting sanitised terms, but in truth there is only terror and more terror and that undermines democratic values and international security as the hatred is not forgotten. It is passed on.  Fear generates hate and revenge, it creates refuge flows and completely disrupts civil society creating chaos.  The emotional damage is irreparable and children grow up with deep trauma as fears and phobias.  My friend, who is a clown just produced an art exhibition on images that were haunting, symmetrical and symbolic of inner darkness. People were surprised as he is a happy clown. Yet as a 5 year old he witnessed the bombing of London by the Germans.  He still carried the scars of the bits of humans he saw and frightening bombing. The exhibition helped him integrate the darkness he had carried and integrated it in his psyche, it was a powerful exhibition.  He was making peace with war.  Many soldiers return traumatised with post traumatic stress disorder as they go through inner conflict in terms of knowing in their hearts what they did is wrong, it was against their humanity yet they are emotionally torn as they received encouragement and orders to kill and that it is the right thing.  I spoke to a veteran in Australia who told me he was a child killer.  I saw clearly that he was traumatised.  I asked him why he did it, he was worried she had a hand grenade so had to kill her to be safe.  Yet he was haunted by killing an innocent child.  I asked him why he went to war, he said to protect his country.  All soldiers truly believe this and I suspect do go in with honourable intentions, however when they realise the true horror of it they can never reconcile the violence and their inner humanity.  They suffer deeply with guilt, shame and sorrow.  They go through the hell their whole lives and for them the war never ends, so they too are casualties.  Many are starting to understand that they have been lied to and that killing is not honourable, you can’t restore honour through revenge, you can only gain it through saving life, acts of kindness and importantly adhering to your own truth in the face of opposition.  I always remember Simpson and his donkey, he was an Australian solider who saved lives in the first World War.  He was used as an icon on the values curriculum for Australian schools.  I found that interesting. Here is a quick rundown of why he was admired.

In what is best described as odd, Australia’s most publicly venerated soldier was also one of Australia’s least decorated. Over time, John Simpson Kirkpatrick has come to be seen as the embodiment of the ANZAC spirit of selflessness, larrikinism, determination, mateship, humanism, courage, and improvisation; however, he was never promoted and never received any war medals in either life or death. In fact, there is even debate about whether he should be defined as an Australian and whether he was worthy of special commemoration at all. http://www.convictcreations.com/history/simpson.htm

What the above shows is the heroism of humanism through saving lives.  Imagine if video games were created for children based on problem solving and saving life rather than winning and destroying life to feel strong. Imagine if true strength was values of honesty, responsibility, integrity and courage (facing inner fears).  What if we allowed emotions to be shown, feelings to be expressed and tears to fall, then a persons pain is owned and empathy is experienced.  You can only feel for another if you know the pain, if you suppress it then it becomes aggression at some point, it has to surface.  Thus I wonder if children were educated differently to see true strength in higher virtues and feeling emotions, I wonder what that would change in the future?  What we focus on we create and when we teach young people that killing is strong or violence is tough, we are teaching them hatred, discrimination and demonisation which will lead to a life of conflict and pain.  When we teach peace, problem solving, humanism, courage through truth, following one’s own conscience, cooperation, self esteem then we are returning them to themselves, which is where they will find the highest truth.  Inner guidance is always available when people seek it.  What is the right way to go?  What do I truly want? What is the right thing?  They have their own answers.  I would never say believe me, I would say follow your own truth.  This is my expression given my truth.  It is living democracy.  We can’t fight for this, we can only live it by allowing others who differ to have their views without violence.  We are still learning what true democracy means in practice.  None of us have lived it given the autocracy of work and family life, we have never known true respect, our views listened to and being loved without condition.  Democracy shares power and allows all to voice their views.  It is through contrast that wisdom appears like the pearl emerging from the hard shell.  That is the bounty of freedom awaiting us.

In my view it is important to understand universal laws.  The law of attraction is a natural law that what you focus on you attract to yourself (or create).  Our thoughts are electromagnetic and this can be best understood when you are thinking of someone and they ring.  Therefore if thoughts are negative – hating another, demonising them, fighting them, bullying your thoughts actually draws what you fear or think about to yourself energetically ie. terrorism.  This is not a few thoughts but it must be a frequent pattern and felt emotionally and seen visually.  So it is a powerful thought form.  The more you speak of it, live it, imagine it, the more it is made real.  It is a bit like the red car analogy, you want to buy a red car, suddenly you see them everywhere as your mind is selecting, then eventually you see it in a window and finally buy it.  We create what we focus on.  What you fight against you make stronger or another way of putting it – is what you resist persists, what you look at disappears (problem solve).  It you want peace you have to focus on it, feel it, see it and whallah peace is there.  Moreover, another important aspect to know about the mind is that we engage in projection towards others.  It is a bit like the mind is the projector and the screen is what we see as other people or situations.  That is why group think is so powerful, if everyone believes a lie and it is repeated eventually they will find evidence to prove it true.  So you have to be careful about beliefs and how the mind projects.  It can be hard to see that you are in projection, you have to become really honest to notice.  You will be aware as you know it is a negative belief or a shadow that comes over the other person, in truth it is your shadow or negative belief, that seems real.  Thus what we hate in another is always a mirror of ourselves.  This is a new way of seeing that most don’t understand as we are so used to believing the media, the government and our own beliefs of hate, denial, vilification, revenge and abuse.  We have to find reasons why doing a hurtful or murderous activity is right.  We have to find the other wrong in order to justify the crime, we have to put it under a flag so that others feel it is their war when in truth it is not.  It is a war concocted by politicians and carried out by soldiers who have no idea who the other is. They are taught to hate them.  Therefore violence is given credibility and revenge is the norm.  Gandhi stated ‘an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.’  But no-one deserves to be killed, it is a sign of incredible immaturity (no responsibility) that we resolve disputes or control issues through violence and murder sanctioned by government and yet are told by that very government it is wrong in a civil society to kill but on a minimal scale.  There is a lie in this and it shows denial at the highest levels.  I have met professional soldiers and have been helped to understand the comraderie and friendship as they face a common enemy.  I get that bond, but as painful as it is, it is time to face that murder is murder and it is done at the behest of government to rid an evil.  What I know as a peacemaker the evil is within and it projects, the only way to stop war is to question the thinking of war.  Byron Katie I’ve mentioned many times, I feel she is correct.  All war should be conducted on paper by questioning politicians thoughts, questioning military commanders thoughts and seek for truth.  The truth will indeed set people free and the monies spent on defence and violence could be redirected to peace education and harmony in society and between societies.  That would be money well spent.  Still fear is generated and people are terrified to drop the arms, they are terrified to feel defenceless, yet those who know spirituality and philosophy will be the first to tell you, the greatest security is inner security and peace.  When you feel and think peace you will not create through the law of attraction, war.  I challenge those reading this to check out the law of attraction and consider dedicating their lives to speaking and living the truth but never in opposition to anyone, only as an example of what reflects them.  Each person must make a decision about who they are, you can never force change.  We are all at different levels of awareness and some may not be ready to face their past or shadow, when they are ready they will come to their own truth, we all have equal wisdom. Those who do choose to live by personal truth will lead to learning, growth, understanding, forgiveness, reconciliation and peace etc.  It is my dream we learn from returned soldiers and those brave enough to speak the truth about war who no longer glorify murder but reveal what is really happening.  They are not traitors for speaking the truth they are democrats and global citizens who choose to ‘be the change’. They are choosing truth over crimes against humanity (killing innocents). In my work in bullying the whistleblowers are the bravest and often ridiculed for following conscience, as there are those who don’t want truth revealed.  Be mindful and discerning of rhetoric.

I send love to all soldiers on both sides who have committed atrocities and those who armed them and made decisions that put them in harms way or encouraged the way of harm.  I ask those suffering to doThe Work (www.thework.com) of Byron Katie, questioning your thinking and beliefs and free yourself.  To thine own self be true, to betray the self is the highest betrayal.  It is your truth that sets you free not anyone else’s.  Forgive yourself. What has happened has happened but when you face it, like many veterans you may return to the country of the misdeed and make amends.  Do something kind, loving and caring for the person’s family or country to show you have changed. Like many other soldiers work on peace in the world, for real, this is another way.  People will respect that.  Peace can only come from peace.  It will never ever come from war.  Instead of defence being the first act of war, why not love being the first act of understanding and reconciliation.  Let’s learn to deal with conflict and resolve it, so we can all breath easy and ensure a future that is happy, peaceful and civilised.  The world is to share not control.  Let’s work together in peace.  Let’s start with the truth.  That is my dream. I look forward to our collective awakening.  Love was always the answer to all problems.

Here is the testimony from Democracy Now.