It's in our power to end all wars

Man is not wired for war.

Newsweek recently featured "War Stories." As a World War II veteran I was stationed at the Newton D. Baker General Hospital in West Virginia. In 1944 our 2,000-bed hospital opened and within several months it was filled with American wounded GIs.

Sadly, 80 to 90 percent of people believe we can't stop war. Isn't war a man made disease? God doesn't start wars men do. In the charter of the United Nations is this theme. "War begins in the minds of man and war can end in the minds of man."

At the Jefferson Separation Center in St. Louis I talked to close to 2,000 soldiers being discharged. Sadly most reported man can't stop war. I raised the question, "Is man like a grain of sand to be blown around by the winds of war?"

Finally after close to 20 years in the mid-eighties, I visited Veterans for Peace in Philadelphia. For the first time I was not alone. The majority thought we could stop war. In fact they have in their constitution "to banish war." I became an active member of this group.

I have in my files an article called "Scientific hope for peace." As stated above "War and violent behavior are not genetically programmed into human nature."

We need the public to put pressure on our government and the military to stop these wars that kill our young soldiers as well as civilians.

Robert Pendleton

Elk Grove Village