Elijah Lewis: “I rise today to speak for peace one more time, to speak against a rush to war. Our courageous sons and daughters have…”

“I rise today to speak for peace one more time, to speak against a rush to war. Our courageous sons and daughters have been placed in harm's way, and I will continue to support our young men and our young women, but I cannot in good conscience betray the nonviolent principles on which I have worked all my life. I cannot sit in silence when I believe there is still time. It is late, it is very late, it is midnight, but it is not too late for diplomacy, Mr. Speaker. War with Iraq will not bring peace to the Middle East. It will not make the world a safer or better place, a more loving place. It will not end the strife and hatred that breeds terror. War does not end strife, it sows it. War does not end hatred, it feeds it. War is bloody, war is vicious, it is evil, and it is messy. War destroys the dreams, the hopes, the aspirations and the longings of a people. I believe that war is obsolete. As a great Nation and a blessed people, we must heed the words of the spiritual, ``I am going to lay down my burden, down by the riverside. I ain't going to study war no more.'' For those who argue that war is a necessary evil, I say you are half right. War is evil, but it is not necessary. War cannot be a necessary evil, because nonviolence is a necessary good. The two cannot coexist. As Americans, as human beings, as citizens of the world, as moral actors, we must embrace the good and reject the evil.”