It is evident in this, the final will and testament of Aaron Bushnell, that he is going to die an excruciating death. It is his wish to have his ashes so created scattered in a free Palestine.
Indeed, he screamed aloud as he burned alive:
“Free, free Palestine!”
There is no higher nobility than this, to give your life for people you never met, that your heart is so pure and uncorrupted that you would give your life for these people. If only there were more Aaron Bushnell’s in the world!
Aaron Bushnell embodied the best in all of us!
Some of us still refer to those who put on this country’s uniforms as heroes. With few exceptions, this is true. No judgement should ever be made of anyone who puts on the uniform of their country to defend its national interests. Indeed, many bumper stickers read “We support the troops”. Who doesn’t support the troops? We all do, more or less.
In the same breath, we should always challenge the wars these brave individuals are asked to fight and die in. For what causes do they fight, do they (the soldiers) have a vested interest in the outcome, what are the military objectives? These questions should always be asked and if any answer is dubious or if the soldiers or their families have no vested interest in the outcome, then the officials who set policy and ask the soldiers to enforce it should be removed from power by
We, The People!
As Thomas Aquinas once said:
Lex Iniusta Non-Est Lex (Latin)
An unjust law is no law at all (English)
This is the foundation of the moral imperative to not follow an immoral or unjust order or directive.
Napoleon Bonaparte famously said:
War is when your government tells you who your enemy is
Revolution is when you figure it out for yourself
A government big enough to give you everything you want, is a government big enough to take away everything you have
A revolt, Thomas Jefferson argued, was lawful only if, “after a long train of abuses and usurpations,” a government continues in its refusal to respect and secure the rights of its citizens. The leadership in this country is ok with tent cities and homeless veterans, gentrified urban areas in most major cities such as Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle and now, New York. They’re ok with a starving population, no public health care option where an insurance company comes between you and your doctor. Most industrialized nations in the world provide better healthcare than this. Does this constitute a “long train of abuses and usurpations”?
What should always be challenged are the policies and those who craft them, and the laws we live by that the soldiers are asked to protect and defend. NEVER should they be asked to defend the capital interests of any corporate or special interest. NEVER!
All soldiers swear an oath to “Defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic”, so no claim can be made against the soldiers or the oath they take. No mention is made of the nation’s laws in the oath, only the Constitution — a wise construction. It was crafted in such a way as to minimize the effects of a corrupt administration. How? Laws come and go, are changed or rescinded, but the Constitution remains in spite of the congress or the president.
Congress, and only congress, crafts the nation’s laws and has the authority to declare war and take the nation into battle. Yes, the President is the Commander in Chief, but he is not a king. At the moment, Congress is putting the brakes on how much of the Public Treasure the War-Monger in Chief is sending to Israel and Ukraine. Mind you, I’m no fan of the Republican Party but shame on the Democrats, the party of FDR and JFK, now the biggest warmongers!
In the case of Aaron Bushnell, he took it upon himself to protest the money laundering and pilfering of the US Treasury by the current administration in their support of an illegal military aggression against a peaceful civilian population.
The Biden Administration is laundering billions of dollars of public money through the Military Industrial Complex and is complicit in the ongoing Israeli genocide in Gaza and Greater Palestine. They have been sending billions of dollars in military aid to an openly apartheid regime who is engaged in a genocide against the Palestinian People. The Israeli Regime is in flagrant violation of International Law, the UN Declaration of Human Rights and the UN Convention Against Genocide. Aaron Bushnell gave his life for the Palestinians as a witness to Israel’s crimes and his government’s complicity in them!