A speech Bart Tippets gave during the MESJ Utah County Sept 21 2007 Peace Vigil .
Many people at the event requested a copy this speech.

The Church Is and Must Be Against War

When I was young I rushed off toward Vietnam thinking I was serving my
country, fighting communism and being part of those good patriotic things.
What I saw and what I did was evil. I was part of war killing machine. We
were told to kill many Viet Cong as possible as to maximize a body count in
hopes to demoralize the enemy. After the battle of Suoi Tre during Junction
City operation around March 21, 1967, we slaughtered 800 Vietnamese during a
human wave attack; all mangled and blown to bits. We buried them into two
huge pits., so I guess we got our body count. Previously when I landed on a
rice paddy before the big battle, there were other body parts of American
dead solders scattered all around. I had to carry body bags back to a
helicopter; some containing only fractions of human beings. . These images
often haunt me today.

As a Latter-Day Saint, as a follower of Jesus Christ and because of my
experiences in Viet Nam, I must be an advocate in opposing un righteous
wars.

In 1942 , the LDS First Presidency declared that,"the Church is and must be
against war.... It cannot regard war as a righteous means of settling
international disputes; these should and could be settled--the nations
agreeing--by peaceful negotiation and adjustment." President Harold B. Lee
also reaffirmed this position when he spoke about the Viet Nam conflict.
If it applies to Vietnam it also should apply to the Iraq conflict.

Spencer W. Kimball, N. Eldon Tanner & Marion G. Romney also declared ... "
While recognizing the need for strength to repel any aggressor, we are
enjoined by the word of God to "Renounce War and Proclaim Peace! We call
upon the heads of nations to sit down and reason together in good faith to
resolve their differences. "2 (See Messages of the First Presidency)

Nations should not to rush to war when prophet Moroni "…taught never to give
an offense, yea, and never to raise a sword except it were against an enemy,
except it were to preserve their lives". (Book of Mormon: Alma 48:14)

We should have never attacked Iraq under pre-emptive war doctrine when that
country was not a threat to our security nor being responsible for the
attacks during Sept 11, 2007. We took an offense and now we our bogged down
in a sectarian conflict. US occupation of Iraq needs to end. This conflct
was based upon deception and fabrication. United States military invasion on
Iraq was naked aggression committed against another country. We took an
offense and a sword was lifted not to preserved our lives.

In Vietnam we tried to kill many so called enemy soldiers as we can to
defeat the enemy, and in Iraq tens of thousands of Iraqi civilians are dead
mainly because of the US invasion has breed nothing but conflict and
sectarian hatred.

We are reminded by the remarks of President Gordon B. Hinckley, "War I hate
with all its mocking panoply…. War is Earth's greatest cause of human
misery. It is the destroyer of life, the promoter of hate, the waster of
treasure. It is man's costliest folly, his most tragic misadventure." (Salt
Lake Tribune, 2007) This is so true in Iraq. It is our most tragic
misadventure.

As Latter-Day Saints we must be against this Iraq war. We should renounce it
and work toward a peaceful solution. Nations go to war but this Church nor
its Saints should not perpetuate violent conflicts but stand apart from the
world and lift an ensign for peace. Zion is our quest. Come to Zion as we
try making a state of things to unite all people toward peace and encourage
nations to turn their war machines into pruning hooks.

Bart Tippetts
801-859-8150
barttip@msn.com

President Marion G.Romney:
"When I was in the military service during the First World War, we were told that we were “making the world safe for democracy”; we were fighting a war to end all wars. When my eldest son was in the military during the Second World War, he was told that he was preserving the cause of liberty and freedom. The same rationale has continued for the past several decades." (Marion G. Romney, "The Price of Peace," Ensign, Oct.1983, 3)