Jason Moon's Response to the Northwestern

[note: Jason Moon sent this letter to the Oshkosh Northwestern on February 6th, 2003. He forwarded a copy to Commentary]-Tony Palmeri

Dear Editorial Board of the Northwestern

Namaste’. In response to your editorial about me on 2/5/03, I would like to extend to you my most esteemed gratitude for pointing out the flaws of my compassionate approach to military service. You are absolutely correct in stating that there is no room in our military for compassion. We need a military filled with soldiers who will, on command, disregard their morals, ignore their conscious, and willfully kill women, children, and other innocent people. From the Commander in Chief to the Sergeant Majors right down to the lowly Private, we need soldiers who can look through the sights of their M-16’s and not see a fellow human being at the other end. We need pilots who will cheerfully drop bombs on enemy, even if that means killing a couple thousand Iraqi children at a time. I assume that we as a nation don’t want our soldiers to question the justness of their actions. We will also as a nation not hold them accountable for those same actions no matter how atrocious or inhumane they are. And as the soldier lays foaming at the mouth and convulsing from exposure to a chemical agent which the United States invented, perfected, and supplied to Iraq, they will die with a clear conscious and the knowledge that every American citizen will save $0.03 a gallon on gas. I have served my country faithfully for the last 10 years. I had planned on continuing to serve for at least another 10. However, I am in agreement with your opinion and I cannot bring myself to ignore my conscious and so I will not be reenlisting when my contract ends this July 2003. Their will be one less compassionate humanitarian in the US military. And the nation is doubt in your debt.

Sitting on the “Group W” bench,

SPC. Jason Moon

(Please note: The term Namaste’ is a Hindu greeting which means: “I give respect to the Divine within you, which is in all of us”)