what anti-war means today

I ran across this incredible article that talks about the parallels between the 1968 election and today:

Beware of Politicians Co-opting Your Movement

Which got me to thinking about what anti-war means today. What it means to most of my friends is that we should withdraw from Iraq, but very carefully, so that it doesn't descend into chaos, keeping 'non-combat' troops there to occupy the country and 'fix' the mess. There is no mention of the dozens of other countries where we have military bases and troops around the world and where we interfere with the installation of leaders favorable to our government and our corporations.

That's not what anti-war means. Anti-war means never using weapons, military or economic, against any people in any country in the world. Anti-war means peacefully resisting violence of any kind. Anti-war means forming friendships with all leaders and people in the world, regardless of whether we disagree with their policies or governments. Anti-war means creating a country that is a shining beacon to the world, an economic and social powerhouse that others will want to emulate. Anti-war means never intentionally killing another human being.

Life is full of suffering and you can certainly argue that there are cases where people will suffer if we don't kill people to help them. But I think history offers compelling proof that more suffering is caused by war and violence than is caused by peacefully resisting war and violence. Also, helping nations and peoples that ASK for our help does NOT require that we provide troops and weapons of war.