A Saturday with Soldiers
Our group just had a very lively and interesting information stand in the old town of Tübingen, Germany. We set up a table with books, flyers and brochures addressing the issues of war in Iraq, militarisation, war spending and the like. Our goal was to get our group known, converse with the public and tell folks about our coming activities.
We realize that we are kind of preaching to the choir when we protest the Iraq War in Tübingen, a very liberal college town. We hope, though, to get more in touch with American students in Tübingen and, perhaps, US military personnel in the area. At our stand on the Oct. 14 we did have some great discussions and there was a lot of interest, mostly, though, from Germans. It wasn't til the late afternoon when a couple American-looking guys showed up and started reading our flyer.
We quickly struck up a conversation with them and found out that they were soldiers and that one had spent a year in Iraq. We now definitely weren't preaching to the choir. One of them was more talkative and told us about all the great things the army is doing in Iraq. "Especially the children love us", he explained. Asked why he thought the US was there he said, "To get rid of a brutal dictator and install democracy." He also argued that the US was only there to serve the people and had no interest in taking over a country with no valuable resources. [He seemed to have forgotten about the oil and strategic location.]
I must say, however, that these two guys didn't come across as some uneducated, "red neck" soldiers. They were able to express their arguments and were open to hear what we had to say. I myself was quite moved by the encounter and was happy to be flanked by four articulate, non-threatening women. Both of the soldiers were officers and in one of the guy's face I could clearly recognize that our statements were causing some serious contemplation.
The one less talkative officer made the point that if what we're saying is true, then his job and his putting his life on the line must be wrong and worthless. I don't think he was convinced of this idea, but it must be a very powerful thought for him. He even continued to say that he didn't think our info stand would have any effect here in Tübingen. He said we should go and protest in Washington, or better yet, in front of a military base in Stuttgart.
Perhaps we'll take him up on his second proposal....
- Gus
NeckarAmis - 16. Oct, 17:14