Who sends the nation’s youth off to war?

Is it a mistake to hope for a world without war? I hope not. Distressingly, we continue to send young Americans overseas to war. Afghanistan and Iraq are prime examples. At these times I wonder what a person can do and how I can be a peacemaker.

War should be a rare event, an event we, as a nation, cautiously and carefully consider. The Founding Fathers knew this and in the Constitution they placed the power to go to war in the hands of Congress. This was affirmed in the War Powers Act of 1973.

Then came 9/11. In 2001 and again in 2002, Congress gave the president authorization to use military force against anyone threatening America. During the past 17 years this authorization has been used by both Democratic and Republican presidents to send our youth off to war - wars that have become the longest in our nation's history.

Congress will soon consider bills that cancel this permission and return the power to Congress alone.

Now is the time to talk to our representatives and ask them to put a stop to our endless wars. Now is the time to tell our representatives to revoke the 2001 and 2002 Authorizations for Use of Military Force.

George Bergus

Iowa City