Support creation of Department of Peace

Almost 50 years ago, President Eisenhower warned: "In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist."

How prescient he was. March 19, 2008, will mark the fifth anniversary of the disastrous invasion of Iraq. Once again, we have failed to learn from history. The cost in American and Iraqi lives, the cost in billions of dollars, the cost in the loss of America's position in the world and only the contractors profit.

We have to change the Washington mindset that thinks going to war is the only solution to our national security problems. We have to end the fear-mongering that feeds this mindset.

To that end, U.S. Congressman Dennis Kucinich from Ohio has introduced H.R. 808 to create a cabinet level Department of Peace in the executive branch. To learn more about this bill go to www.thepeacealliance.org.

So far, all the co-sponsors of H.R. 808 are Democratic congressmen. In the spirit of bipartisanship, I urge all my neighbors, Republicans and Democrats, in Wheaton, DuPage County and the 6th Congressional District, to encourage Congressman Peter Roskam to become the first Republican co-sponsor of H.R. 808.

Diane Niesman

Wheaton