6/7/2024

JRB,

            As I write this you are about to give your speech at Pointe du Hoc. I told my students about that spot yesterday. It’s similar to Pointe Reyes with its bluffs & steep cliffs. Many have seen the bunkers that still remain along the CA coast so they could imagine the challenges Rudder’s Rangers had when they attacked that location.

I also shared the SEA quote about the autonomy of the US soldiers. The room was quiet so I have no idea how they may have taken that in.

            I did get nods when I followed it up with Ike’s quote about the dangers of our military-industrial complex & the dangers of profiting from war. I suspect that resonates with things they are hearing about Gaza. I cautioned against glorifying war. I encourage you to do the same.

            I wish I had more time, but alas attention spans are short & we had other things to do. If we weren’t rushed, I would have shared this quote from one of the members of Easy Company AKA Band of Brothers, that SEA wrote about. "I know what war is & I try to teach other people: Stay away from war. There’s never a winner in war. The winners lose & the losers lose. War is hell, period."

            The BBC provides another accounting of the hell of war in Burma today. I can’t even share the headline describing what happened on 5/29/24 when more than 100 junta soldiers raided the village Byai Phyu, which is just outside the Rahkine state capital of Sittwe. No one is winning in Burma!

            Please take note of Ike’s sentiments about our investments which he shares in this statement: “"Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger & are not fed, those who are cold & are not clothed. The world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children."

            WINTA,