BigJoe
Joined: 07 Dec 2002
Posts: 1602
Location: A Remote/Well Fortified Complex |
Thich Nhat Hanh talks on prisoner abuse
 Sun May 30, 2004 5:10 pm
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Thich Nhat Hanh is a Zen master in the Vietnamese tradition, a scholar, poet, and peace activist. He is the founder ot the Van Hanh Buddhist University in Saigon, and has taught at Columbia University and the Sorbonne. Known for his outstanding role in working to relieve the suffering caused by the Vietnam War, he was nominated for the 1967 Nobel Peace Prize by Martin Luther King, Jr., and was chair of the Buddhist Peace Delegation to the Paris Peace Accords during the Vietnam War. He is the author of more than 75 books, including the bestsellers "Living Buddha, Living Christ", Peace is Every Step", "The Miracle of Mindfulness", and "Old Path, White Clouds" (a biography of the Buddha).
What is the Buddhist perspective on the abuse of prisoners of war in
Iraq?
Recent news about the abuse of prisoners of war provides us with the
opportunity to look deeply into the nature of war. It reveals the truth
that has been hidden to many of us about what actually goes on during
war and conflict. This is an opportunity for us to be more aware. This
is not new; everywhere there is war, these kind of things happen.
Soldiers are trained to kill as many people as possible and as quickly
as possible. Soldiers are told that if they donąt kill, they will be
killed by the so-called łenemy.˛ They are taught that killing is good
because the people they are trying to kill are dangerous to society, and
that they are demons, that our nation would be better off without them.
Soldiers are trained to believe they must kill the other group because
they are not human beings. If soldiers see their łenemies˛ as fellow
human beings just like them, they would have no courage to kill them.
Every one of us should know the way soldiers are trained in order to see
the truth about war. It is important not to blame and single out the
U.S. in this kind of situation because any country would do the same
thing under the same conditions. During the Vietnam war atrocities were
committed by both sides also.
The statement President Bush made that the U.S. just sent dedicated,
devoted young men, not abusers to Iraq shocked me, because committing
acts of torture is just the result of the training that the soldiers
have already undergone. The training already makes them lose all their
humanity. The young men going to Iraq were already full of fear, wanting
to protect themselves at all cost, so they are pushed to act quickly,
being ready to kill at any moment.
Why would the soldiers torture the Iraqi prisoners?
When you are engaged in the act of killing, aware that fellow soldiers
on your side are dying every day and that it is possible for you to be
killed at any moment, you are filled with fear, anger and despair. In
this state you can become extremely cruel. You may pour all of your hate
and anger on prisoners of war by torturing and abusing them. The purpose
of your violence is not only to extract information from them, but also
to express your hate and fear. The prisoners of war are the victims, but
the abusers, the torturers are also the victims. Their actions will
continue to disturb them long after the abuse has ended.
Even if the superiors of the individual soldiers have not directly given
orders to mistreat, abuse, or torture, they are still responsible for
what happened. Preparing for war and fighting a war means allowing our
human nature to die and the animal nature in us to take over. We should
never be tempted to resort to violence and war to solve conflict.
Violence always leads to more violence.
It is possible to achieve peace through peaceful means and there are
many examples of this in history.
Thich Nhat Hanh
May 18, 2004
Plum Village, France
[Edited 4 times, lastly by bigjoe on 05-30-2004] |
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