Judith Kelly’s “Rivers of Blood” Statement
January 29th, 2008
Statement by Pax Christi Metro DC member Judith Kelly in DC Superior Court for September 20, 2007 “Rivers of Blood Start Here” arrest in the US Capitol Crypt
For more statements from the trial, please visit the Jonah House web site.
“Today the scale and horror of modern warfare—whether nuclear or not—makes it totally unacceptable as a means of settling differences between nations. War should belong to the tragic past, to history; it should find no place on humanity’s agenda for the future.”
—John Paul II (Coventry, England, 1982)
Pope John Paul’s words are crystal clear, but our country’s leaders cannot seem to hear, let alone honor, these words. As a US citizen, a peacemaker, a nonviolence trainer, a Catholic and a Pole–a Peace Pole–I stand with those who are clear about the need to speak up–with their whole bodies–to say “no”: I cannot accept any premise that allows for mass murder or even one more death in war.
Every night I watch the PBS News Hour, with Jim Lehrer, and often he ends the broadcast with these haunting words: “Once again we bring you our Honor Roll of US military killed in Iraq and Afghanistan. We add them as their deaths become official and their photographs become available. Here, in silence, are 11 more.” MORE. I have kept count since 2003 and it is always more.
I make myself watch the screen, to read each name and age, service branch and hometown, and I whisper “Sorry, Pfc. Peter, age 19. Sorry, Staff Sergeant Dan, age 22…” Sorry we didn’t stop this horror five years ago. Sorry you are all in an impossible situation where your young, healthy bodies have been destroyed, where your comrades are stuck fighting for some very dubious goals, where our country and Congress are in the same quagmire with no end in sight. I am so sorry for your parents and your kids, for your unit, for all the friends and family who were at your funeral, crying their eyes out. You were a hero for putting yourself out there and risking your precious life, no matter what you thought of this war. I know you believed in duty, honor and country.
I also believe in duty, honor and country. This bloodstained shirt is my uniform and I feel I do my duty by honoring those who have died in this miserable war. Whatever the consequences of the “Rivers of Blood” action, I will keep on saying “no” – no to this war and no to all war. War is a totally unacceptable way of settling differences. War is always a failure for humanity.
Princeton University Professor Cornel West once said that, as a Christian, he was “a prisoner of hope.” I, too, am a prisoner of hope, and I cannot stop hoping that somehow this witness for peace in the Capitol Crypt will make sense to those who have the duty to de-fund this war and save lives, and to those who have the duty to uphold justice and extend mercy in this courtroom.
Today, January 18, 2008, the US military casualty count in Iraq is 3926.
