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News :: Miscellaneous |
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National Peace Conference |
Current rating: 0 |
by Durl Kruse
Email: durljan (nospam) earthlink.net (unverified!)
Phone: 217 234-4720
Address: 6398 LERNA Road Mattoon, Illinois |
02 Aug 2002
Modified: 03 Aug 2002 |
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A Peaceful Tomorrow |
This past Saturday July 27 I attended the National Peace Action Conference in Chicago. Many eloquent speakers shared their thoughts and personal stories. One person named David Potorti was especially poignant.
David Potorti’s brother was on the 97th floor of the north tower of the WTC on September 11th, the same floor that the terrorist plane hit. He has never seen or heard from his brother again. David shared the moment when he told his mother the news that her eldest son Jim was dead. He related how his mother groaned and bent over in anguish at the pain of losing her first born. She immediately stated to him: “I don’t want anyone else to feel this pain.” From her heart wrenching experience she cried, “We must seek justice, but not by killing other innocent families”.
From this realization and painful experience, David along with dozens of family members who lost loved ones in the WTC have turned their anger into a strong call for justice but not at the expense of killing innocent civilians in the process. They formed an organization: “9-11 Families For Peaceful Tomorrows”. In short, the organization strongly opposes a violent and militaristic response to 9-11. Their clarion call to the people of the United States states“by conscientiously exploring peaceful options in our search for justice, we hope to spare additional innocent families the suffering that we have experienced – as well as to break the endless cycle of violence and retaliation engendered by war.”
To increase understanding and to build human connections the group traveled to Afghanistan this past December to visit families who were victims of the bombing. David shared seeing shelled shocked children who could not speak and the devastation and relocation experienced by thousands. He reaffirmed the pain and suffering witnessed was no less for these families than the families of 9-11.
David adamantly stated that terrorism is NOT the problem, but only a symptom. Until the root causes of terrorism are addressed, terrorism will not end. “ Our families are not safe until families on the other side of the world are safe,” he affirmed. Our war on terrorism is misdirected. It is costing US citizens billions of dollars. It has put our own sons and daughters in uniform in unnecessary harms way. It is eroding our civil liberties at home. It is gradually isolating us from the world community as we act more and more unilaterally. It cannot be won militarily. It is a war with no end in sight.
In addition he only prays that we don’t use the war on terrorism as an excuse for a preemptive strike against Iraq. He asserts there is currently little evidence Iraq was linked in anyway to the 9-11 attack or that Iraq has the capacity to militarily threaten the US. An unprovoked unilateral attack of Iraq would be a gross violation of international law and a grave injustice against the innocent Iraqi people who would suffer the cruel effects of our violence upon them.
In closing he used a quote from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to summarize the group’s belief. “Wars are poor chisels for carving out peaceful tomorrows.”
David Potorti, his mother, and the many other members of “9-11 Families for a Peaceful Tomorrow” have given us something to pause and think about!
Visit “Peaceful Tomorrows” at www.peacefultomorrows.org |
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Very impressive man... |
by Michael Feltes
mfeltes (nospam) ucimc.org (unverified) |
Current rating: 0
03 Aug 2002
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I saw David Potorti on Donahue with Rita Lazar. Both were composed, passionate advocates against the war. I was glad to see them out there. |
