I have just returned from a convention in Boston – no, not the Democratic Convention, the Veterans For Peace convention.

Veterans came from all over our nation to speak truth to power. Faneuil Hall was full as veterans who had fought in America’s wars begged our nation’s leaders to support our troops and bring them home; to stop the lying; and to stop the killing.

Men and women who have worn the uniform described the horrors of war. They talked of burned-out villages and cities destroyed by America’s bombs. They talked of pain, loss, death, children and women left homeless, and of their own friends’ funerals. Many cried. Cried with pain and suffering and cried for America – the land we loved.

The theme of this four-day convention was: “We The People: Defeating Militarism and the Politics of Fear.”

I have come to believe that it is wrong, ever so wrong, to recruit our young men and women while they are still in high school, to indoctrinate them when they are at a most impressionable age, and to send them to foreign lands to kill and be killed.

Our young men and women in uniform are brave and honorable, and I don’t believe we dishonor them by demanding that our government tell them the truth and tell us the truth. And bring them home.

I am so proud of the veterans who are now committing themselves to working for a peaceful nation and a peaceful world.

Joe Sirois, Rumford

Copy the Story Link