Warren Langley: An Unlikely Peace Activist

["Walter Lippmann" <walterlx@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

(A decent and principled person
coming out of a milieu where it
isn't expected. Good for him.)
=========================

March 27, 2003 6:08 p.m. EST
BATTLE POSITIONS

This is the third in a series of interviews
in which we'll explore viewpoints on the
war in Iraq. We'll speak with people who
have first-hand experience in the military
during wartime and with others whose
lives are affected by the war.

Conflict With Iraq Creates
An Unlikely Peace Activist

By JENNIFER SARANOW
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL ONLINE


Warren Langley, a former president of the Pacific Exchange
in San Francisco, was arrested March 14 while blocking the
entrance to the exchange during an antiwar protest. The
60-year-old Air Force veteran talked to us about why the
conflict in Iraq prompted him to protest war for the first
time, and what he is doing to get others in the business
community involved.

What's different about this war that led you to get involved
opposing it?

I was in my 20s and 30s [during the Vietnam War] and my view
of the world was different. I was in the Air Force and was
trying to do my job as best I could. . I didn't question
whether the war was right or wrong or any of those things at
that point in time. [Mr. Langley served as a U.S.-based
engineer and professor for the Air Force during the Vietnam
War.]

Now, I turned 60 in January so I have a different
perspective of the world. . I watched things unfold after
Sept. 11 and it seemed to be that we jumped from protecting
against terrorism to focusing on Iraq, and that never made
sense to me. As we kind of marched through the fall there
was this huge disconnect between what are we doing and why
are we doing this. . It started to feel like a political war
to me.

Fundamentally, I think war is the last resort. War is when
you can't find other ways to accomplish your means, and it
appeared to me there were lots of ways to disarm Saddam
Hussein without invading him. That just didn't make sense to
me and I always rebel against things that just seem totally
out of whack. I have to say that that feeling got stronger
on my 60th birthday in January. My wife said, "Well, what do
you want to do for your birthday?" And I said, "Well, I'd
like to march in this march they're having here in San
Francisco." And so on my 60th birthday I went down and
marched.

What was your role up until then in the antiwar movement?

I had been writing to [my senators] and asking them why they
haven't been speaking out more strongly against the war
because they're my elected representatives. I've always
followed the rules and that's what you're supposed to do.

WARREN LANGLEY
 . Retired from Air Force after 15 years
. 1987-96: Chief operating officer,
    Hull Trading Co., Chicago
. 1996-99: President, Pacific Exchange
. Currently: Managing principal, GuruWizard Fund,
    a venture-capital firm that emphasizes social investing

What made you switch strategies?

They just sent me the standard response they send anybody
who writes in. . And I thought I've got to do something
more. All I really have is my background. I have the
credibility of the fact that I've been in the military and
I've been a business person and that carries some weight
because that's not the normal pattern. A friend of mine
pointed me in the direction of the Direct Action to Stop the
War Web site and I read it, and I liked the idea of civil
disobedience from the civil-rights movement.

Did you participate in the civil-rights movement?

No, I didn't, but I'm from the South so I think I have some
guilt left over from not realizing that the world down there
wasn't right, and not doing anything about it. In the
civil-rights movement, civil disobedience was a very
effective, peaceful way of ultimately causing change, and so
I went to the Web site and [sent an] e-mail that just said,
"My name is Warren Langley. I was in the Air Force for 15
years." They had mentioned blockading the Pacific Exchange,
and I said, "I was the president and chief operating officer
of the Pacific Exchange from '96 to '99 so maybe I can be of
some help to you, let me know." They contacted me and
apparently when they got the e-mail they thought, "This guy
can't be for real ." So they checked me out on the Internet.
This was around the 25th or 26th of February, so this is
kind of a fairly fast track from passive writer of letters
to active antiwar demonstrator in about a month and a half.

What led to your getting arrested?

What I was cited for was blocking a public street and
failure to move when ordered by an officer.

How did it feel to get arrested?

It's one of those things where you're nervous because you've
never done it before and it is certainly something that
you've been taught all your life is wrong, so there's this
overhanging guilt. The police acted very appropriately and
it wasn't confrontational. There was a group of us sitting
around in a circle at the intersection and the police went
around with a last warning, and then you got up and they
handcuffed you. It was a bit strange to suddenly have this
helmeted guy with a face mask, a plastic face shield,
putting handcuffs around my arms and putting me into a
prison bus with metal barriers all around it. That felt
really strange. The next day I was actually riding in a taxi
someplace and I saw a police car and my stomach
flip-flopped. . I do look at the world slightly differently
because I went through that process.

How would you characterize the protesters?

There are a lot of different groups. There was a very strong
veterans' group and I kind of identified with those guys.
There were more traditional protesters, if you will, and
then there were some odds and ends like me. A trader I used
to know very well from the floor came and sat with me on the
street until the police warned us for the last time and then
he got up and left. People were mostly in their 20s and 30s
and my gray hair stood out.

Who was spearheading the movement?

I would say it's a really good example of what I would call
a modern organization. I always thought of the hierarchal
military organization as a very well defined, controlled
organization. This organization is of loosely connected
groups that couldn't have existed without e-mails or
cellphones. I think we saw it originally in the
antiglobalization stuff in Seattle that extended across the
world.

It always seems disorganized, but always comes out
more organized than you thought. When we did the civil
disobedience, in my traditional way of thinking I thought,
"Well why aren't we planning for this contingency and that
contingency?" But when something we hadn't talked about
happened, somebody there would help the group move in one
direction or another so it's not a command and control. It's
much more of an influence, and everybody chooses. It's much
more consensus and sometimes I guess that can be
frustrating.

But I have to say I've been very impressed, and you never
had this feeling that there was a big hand someplace that
you didn't know orchestrating all of this. Nobody could have
organized it that way. It just sort of came together at that
time.

Is the goal now still to stop the war?

You don't want to take on things that are totally
impossible. You need to take on things that are achievable.

What do you think the protestors will achieve?

I hope it makes politicians who are in office right now more
accountable and gives those who need it more courage to
stand up because they realize there are people out there,
more than they thought, who think a certain way. I hope in
the next year or two it affects choices we have to make
about supporting peace in Israel, about reorganizing Iraq,
about not going into North Korea and about not going into
Iran.

What have you found the reaction to the war to be in the
business community?

I think people who are in the middle of their careers, I
found a number of them who agree with me. But they are
reluctant to speak out because they see it as a risk. If I'm
running a business, what if half my customers don't like
what I say?

How long were you in jail?

We were just there for a couple of hours.  They processed
us, gave us a citation and a court date. I have a court date
the 23rd of April.

What's going to happen when you go to court?

I don't think I'll contest it. I did it. I'm used to
consequences. When you make choices, you have consequences.
[Protesting] is one of things I'm most proud of in my life.
I feel like my taking a little bit of risk myself has had an
effect. I certainly didn't stop the war, but certainly maybe
will add one stick to the pile of stopping the next war.

What's next for you?

I'm actively speaking and responding to any opportunity to
put forward the thoughts and ideas I have about why the war
was a bad thing. ... I'm reaching out to people in the
business community to see what they think about trying to
start an organization or a platform or a place [for]
business people and people with military backgrounds who may
oppose war in general, or a war of this nature. [Such a
group] might have some political power and certainly will
have some authenticity and credibility when speaking to the
public.

Write to Jennifer Saranow at jennifer.saranow@xxxxxxxx







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