96 Responses to “Willie Nelson Peace Video Contest”

1. A Peaceful Solution 6s and 7s | Willie Nelson says:

   October 8, 2007 at 12:04 am

   [...] Peaceful Solution   record a peace song click here for lyrics   make a peace video click here for contest   please link to us click here for link [...]
2. A Peaceful Solution Georgia Callahan | Willie Nelson says:

   October 9, 2007 at 11:19 am

   [...] Peaceful Solution   record a peace song click here for lyrics   make a peace video click here for contest   please link to us click here for link [...]
3. Wizauradpro A Peaceful Solution | Willie Nelson says:

   October 11, 2007 at 1:12 pm

   [...] Peaceful Solution   record a peace song click here for lyrics   make a peace video click here for contest   please link to us click here for link [...]
4. A Peaceful Solution Kevin for Peace | Willie Nelson says:

   October 12, 2007 at 10:02 am

   [...] Peaceful Solution   record a peace song click here for lyrics   make a peace video click here for contest   please link to us click here for link [...]
5. A Peaceful Solution Andy Franklin and Mark Strum | Willie Nelson says:

   October 19, 2007 at 12:08 am

   [...] Peaceful Solution   listen click here for music   look click here for videos   link click here for link [...]
6. Rockin Rob Hicks A Peaceful Solution | Willie Nelson says:

   October 26, 2007 at 9:52 am

   [...] Peaceful Solution   listen click here for music   look click here for videos   link click here for link [...]
7. Jenn Starr says:

   October 29, 2007 at 10:33 am

   Thankyou for your creative generousity and wisdom to network such a peaceful message in a fun and inclusive,interactive way. I wish i had gotten my song in on time. I’m new to use computers. ~~Jenn Starr
8. Liz says:

   October 29, 2007 at 11:46 am

   jenn, you still have time. it’s an ongoing process. we’d love to feature your video or song.
9. A Peaceful Solution Song Cal Jennings | Willie Nelson says:

   November 11, 2007 at 2:23 am

   [...] Peaceful Solution   listen click here for music   look click here for videos   learn click here for [...]
10. A Peaceful Solution Randall Lee Reiss | Willie Nelson says:

    November 16, 2007 at 9:34 am

    [...] Peaceful Solution   listen click here for music   look click here for videos   learn click here for [...]
11. A Peaceful Solution Rockin Rob 4 | Willie Nelson says:

    November 17, 2007 at 10:13 pm

    [...] Peaceful Solution   listen click here for music   look click here for videos   learn click here for [...]
12. Gordon Soderberg says:

    November 22, 2007 at 11:06 am

    What to do with the Thanksgiving cooking oil?

    You can dump it down the drain, but that would not be a good thing for your plumbing. You could put it in a land fill but that would not be very good use of it either and it will cost you money. There is another option. You could donate it to the rebuilding efforts in Louisiana by veterans! Now that would help allot of people and provide employment for a veteran.

    Bio Liberty LLC (http://www.bioliberty.net) has finished construction of their first Bio Diesel plant in Slidell, LA. The plant is capable of producing 2400 gallons of Bio Diesel every month. We are now looking for sources of used cooking oil to fuel our lot clearing projects in the St. Tammany, St. Bernard Parish and the Lower Ninth Ward.

    Our business goals are simple:

    #1. Turn used cooking oil into bio diesel.
    #2. Employ Veterans
    #3. Support musicians, veterans, elderly and disabled with lot clearing services at reduced rates.

    If you know of any restaurants in the New Orleans, St. Bernard or St. Tammany Parishes that would like donate their used cooking oil, please pass this on to them and/or post it to your websites.

    We will pick up the grease within 24 hrs and provide links to all the restaurants who donate to the cause on http://www.bioliberty.net.

    Thanks you, and happy Thanksgiving!

    Visit BIO LIBERTY at: http://www.bioliberty.net
13. A Peaceful Solution Pepi DePaoli | Willie Nelson says:

    November 23, 2007 at 10:26 am

    [...] Peaceful Solution   listen click here for music   look click here for videos   learn click here for [...]
14. Industrial Hemp Farming Act | Willie Nelson says:

    November 30, 2007 at 12:53 am

    [...] Peaceful Solution   listen click here for music   look click here for videos   learn click here for [...]
15. A Peaceful Solution Daniel R. Comeau | Willie Nelson says:

    December 5, 2007 at 12:06 am

    [...] Peaceful Solution   listen click here for music   look click here for videos   learn click here for [...]
16. Lucas James Xavier Kolasa says:

    December 5, 2007 at 12:43 pm

    I am Lucas James Xavier Kolasa
    – what do you say Willie..?
    we make this a tune.
    I won 3rd place in a world writting contest with this.
    *~* it has the power to change things..
    like your work: contact me.. it goes like this:

    Fix It
    earth spinning on its axis, while doing
    circles around the sun as if it were prey.
    with these affects, always, somewhere on
    the planet it appears as if the sun is
    always rising. night constantly falling!
    points of perception.
    day break! day constantly breaking into
    tiny pieces of imagination, and when night
    falls; it hits the earth in darkness.
    truth. humans have created too many
    weapons, too much destruction, too many
    pollutants… and witnesses every day watch
    the day break!
    another broken day.
    and “They” still don’t have the time to
    hear the tiny voices saying simple words…
    “fix it”!

    Lucas James Kolasa

    Copyright ©2006 Lucas James Kolasa

    I am Lucas James Xavier Kolasa
    Willie Nelson may email me at:
    Luckasa@aol.com
    from:Lucas
17. fiona tierney says:

    February 25, 2008 at 3:43 am

    when does the contest end? is there a date entries must be recieved by?
18. Liz says:

    February 25, 2008 at 10:02 am

    Fiona, there is no cut off date. It is an ongoing project. All videos and songs will be featured on this site. Let me know if you need more info. Love to feature you. Thanks for connecting.
19. Jamie mcginnis-willits says:

    March 6, 2008 at 5:20 pm

    my son chris has prepared a recording of the somg that he’d like to post, but does not have a video. How can we post that?

    jamie
20. Liz says:

    March 7, 2008 at 8:29 pm

    Hi Jamie, just let me know like you just did here and we will contact you. Or you can use the contact button on the left sidebar under resources and let us know. We will email you back and you can send the mp3 as an attachment to the email. BTW, Chris has now sent us a great version of the song. Thanks.
21. Leslie Egerer says:

    April 11, 2008 at 1:08 pm

    Hello, is there still time for a VERY new & beautifull version? Let me know asap!!

    Thank you on behalf of Mr. Leslie Egerer.
    Stefania J. Fodor/TAA
22. Liz says:

    April 11, 2008 at 9:22 pm

    Yes, absolutely. We’d love to feature your version.
23. Leslie Egerer says:

    April 12, 2008 at 4:03 am

    Thank you Liz for responding so quickly. Will be speaking very soon. Liz, one question, would it ALSO be possible to send a good demo of a song recently written for Mr. Willie Nelson with his voice & talents in mind? If not permitted or possible throught this site, be kind enough to give me the correct site.

    Mr. Leslie Egerer (bergenmusic.com) also is an expert violinist among other numberous musical talents. His flavors include classical, country, etc., is known by many to compose without boundries. Mr. Egerer’s “style” is what captures the audiences. He has a unique ability to have the crowd cheer with awe. In addition, he is a superb “saw” player.

    His site, http://www.bergenmusic.com shows only the superb classical but don’t let that stop you – he is being discovered as the new rising star in his country.

    His absolute respect & honor for Mr. Willie Nelson’s contribution to the world of music is unsurpassed. All words & music have been done for the very sought after “I Need You”. Of course, since it was with Mr. Nelson in mind, we are not realeasing it anyone else until further notice from the very great Mr. Nelson.

    Furthermore, Mr. Leslie Egerer would like to send a “private” copy of Mr. Willie Nelson’s Golden Earring. Mr. Egerer added his “gypsy style” violin to the piece ONLY for Mr. Nelson’s listening pleasure.

    Any assistance, advice by you Liz or Mr. Nelson himself would be greatly appreciated. Thank you for your time and consideration. Like i say, “you’ve got nothing to loose but alot to gain for a listen”!! Thank you, again.

    All my best to you,
    Stefania J. Fodor/TAA,TSA
    On behalf of Mr. Leslie “laszlo” Egerer & bergenmusic.com
24. Liz says:

    April 12, 2008 at 12:43 pm

    Stefania, on the left sidebar under Resources click on Contact to see contact info for Willie.
25. Leslie Egerer says:

    April 13, 2008 at 3:21 am

    Dear Liz, i’m emailing you on a Sunday…busy for all of us right? Thank you again for responding to my questions. Will contact Mr. Leslie Egerer re: same. After consulting with him, you should be hearing from us no later than Monday afternoon.

    Have a great weekend, thank you again and we’ll see what can be done.

    Stefania J. Fodor
    On behalf of Mrs. Leslie “laszlo” Egerer & bergenmusic.com
26. leslie egerer says:

    April 14, 2008 at 9:19 am

    Dear Liz, spoke with Mr. Egerer..who has to perform a concert at Congress Center. Will get back to you asap.

    Stefania J. Fodor
    On behalf of Mr. Leslie Egerer & bergenmusic.com
27. lucas says:

    April 20, 2008 at 6:25 pm

    hey.. when is this video due by?
    i will participate.
    thanks for the invite.
28. Jay says:

    April 20, 2008 at 8:30 pm

    Peace is long over due, until it arrives we will be accepting videos. Thanks for participating. Every voice counts.
29. stillisstillmoving.com » Blog Archive » Guy Barnes, for Peace says:

    June 8, 2008 at 1:44 pm

    [...] Barnes, of the United Kingdom, has submitted his version of “A Peaceful Solution” to the Willie Nelson Peace Research [...]
30. Christer "redneckswed" Edman says:

    July 8, 2008 at 2:32 pm

    Hi It’s the redneckswed.
    My connection to peace?
    I was born and raised in Sweden, Sweden is a neutral country and is a big diplomatic nation in peace negotiations. We were in the middle east in the mid 80′s with our primeminister Olof Palme. He was assasined in March 1986 if my memory serves me right. He was one of the greatest politicians Sweden ever had.

    In late 80′s i was involved in a youth program for peace, i went to several seminars to develop as a peace worker.
    After school i went in the service. I did a year in the army. It was mandatory at the time.
    I had ideas of joining the Swedish UN but i had gotten married to my lovely wife and now we have two wonderful children. What better reason to be a promoter of peace can there be? I want my children to grow up and get old. I havent seen a world war and i hope i never have to, I also hope my children never have to experience it either.

    So join me and all these great artists in celebrating peace and a safe return of our armed forces. Thy shall love thy neighbour.
    If you watch my videos “Killing me” and “I already know” you will see that i support our troops. It doesn’t mean i support the war. Just the guys who was sent over there.

    So lets pump out our own oil so we can pull out of the middle east.
    Stop wallstreet from raising the fuel prises, and join the global kisses.
    Love thy neighbour.
    So give a Canadian a hug!!

    Peace and cheers
    Chris
31. Shas Cho says:

    October 2, 2008 at 10:05 pm

    Well, we proved that voting doesn’t change the system.
    Even if our votes are counted correctly, no candidate of the two-party
    system will bring about the necessary root-level change.
    We proved that truth-speaking candidates cannot participate
    when Ron Paul was excluded from mainstream media coverage.
    And now we proved that “contacting your Congressman” doesn’t work.
    Diane Feinstein boasted that she received 91,000 telephone calls,
    85,000 of which asked her to vote against the bailout,
    yet she boldly announced that she would be voting for it.

    Thge options remaining, as I see them,
    are to

    1- submit to the loss of the Constitution,
    submit to total government control of the citizen

    2- rise up against the government with weapons
    and start over with new Constitutional leaders

    and 3- refuse to comply, to co-operate, to support the system
    until the truth is told and the liars removed from office.

    The first option is unthinkable.
    To give away all that our founding fathers created,
    all that our fathers and grandfathers fought and died for,
    all that has made America the land of freedom and opportunity
    simply because we are tired or fond of our comforts
    or afraid of repercussions is to betray our ancestors,
    our nation, this earth, our children, and ourselves.
    We have seen totalitarian governments before.
    We can look around and see them today.
    And we will surely lose our comforts and our safety anyway
    if we do nothing to keep them.

    The second option is attractive to many.
    After all, we are told, this is the very purpose
    of the Second Amendment to the Constitution.
    And this is true. Our forefathers explicitly stated
    that the right to keep and bear arms was enshrined in law
    so that the people would never be hostages of the Government.
    But we must consider the consequences.
    The government controls the US Military,
    the most efficient, the most ruthless,
    the most brutal killing machine ever devised by humans.
    The people at the top will not hesitate to use that machine against the citizens
    if by doing so they can retain, yes, and even consolidate
    their absolute power over the finances and lives of the people.
    The outcome of an armed uprising will surely be terrible.

    The government would very likely win a rapid victory over the people,
    with mass arrests and huge numbers of dead and wounded.
    Not to mention this administration’s commitment
    to pre-emptive killing and the routine use of torture
    for any enemies they choose to label “terrorists.”
    And if the government did not win a prompt victory
    the people would be reduced to guerrilla warfare,
    fighting from house to house in small, poorly organized groups.
    Once again we would have a civil war, with fathers and brothers
    under orders to kill their own sons and daughters and wives.
    And as we have seen in Baghdad, this administration is willing
    to bomb entire neighbourhoods and cities
    to break the will of the people to resist.

    And even if the people were to win a surprise armed coup,
    what then?
    Who would become the new President, Vice President, Congress, etc?
    History demonstrates that the power will always end up
    in the hands of those who most want that power.
    In the hands of the most ruthless, the most duplicitous,
    the very persons least equipped to restore limited, representative,
    Constitutional government of a free people.

    No, armed uprising must be avoided at nearly any cost.

    The remaining choice is peaceful resistance and persuasion.
    This needs to be both effective and undeniably nonviolent.
    We have seen in the past month, at the political Conventions,
    that under Homeland Security jurisdiction
    the police have responded with teargas, concussion grenades,
    pepper spray, tasers, batons, mass arrests, and implacable hostility
    to even the most innocuous gatherings of protest.
    Indeed, crowds of uninvolved bystanders have been attacked and arrested.

    I am not saying that marches and sit-ins and signs are wrong.
    These are traditional tactics of protest that have been quite effective in the past.
    But this is a new situation for North Americans.
    This administration has turned the police into militaristic tools of oppression.
    The news media can no longer be relied upon to report the truth
    nor to be at all sympathetic to anti-government gatherings.
    And the government never seems to be short of agents provocateur,
    law enforcement members to blend into a crowd of protesters
    and provoke or initiate violence, providing the government with plausible
    cause to move against the protesters with overwhelming violence.
    This is a highly effective, extremely cheap, and very common technique.

    What then remains?
    How can we, the people, express our outrage
    at the hijacking of the American dream,
    the theft of America’s future, the destruction of the Constitution?
    How can we speak out in a way that cannot be construed as violent
    yet cannot be ignored by those in seats of power?
    How can we ensure that Congress will dismiss the will of the people
    as mere background noise to their project of empire building?

    Many people are beginning to call for a General Strike.
    A Global General Strike, ideally.
    To simply refuse to go to work, refuse to attend classes,
    refuse to shop or buy gas or rent movies or eat at restaurants
    until the scoundrels are expelled, transparency restored,
    and the Constitution established once more
    as the sole legitimate basis of federal authority.

    If it is money that greases the wheels of government,
    money that pays for the killing of innocent people in our name,
    money that pays for the surveillance of honest citizens,
    money that builds more prisons to be filled,
    perhaps the most effective thing we can do
    is to deprive the Machine of its money.

    For how long?
    Some are calling for a General Strike from November 02 to 05.
    Some for a single day only.
    Some for as long as it takes, returning to work and spending
    only when Bush is impeached and charged with War Crimes,
    Congress is responsive to the will of the People,
    and government’s house generally cleaned and put in order.

    I don’t have the answers, and I am not calling for any specific action.
    I will work with my fellow citizens to advance whatever peaceful solution
    we can reach a consensus on.
    I’m just trying to elucidate some of the options and their likely consequences.

    Years ago when I was working on my university degree
    I became intrigued with the notion of cheap and rapid refrigeration.
    I looked at microwave ovens, which heat food very quickly
    without the scorching and dehydration of convection and conduction.
    This is done by bombarding the target molecules (of water, particularly)
    with high-energy waves of short and rapid oscillation.
    Heat, after all, is a function of the speed of molecular motion.

    Starting from this definition, I conceived the idea
    that bombarding target molecules with long and slow oscillations of energy
    would dampen the ambient molecular movement,
    imposing slower motion and hence by definition lower temperatures.
    A macrowave freezer, so to speak.

    I worried away at this project for some time.
    It never went anywhere, and I could not find the obstacle.
    Many of you are no doubt laughing at me already.
    The penny never dropped until a colleague pointed out
    that I was using a sloppy and faulty definition.
    Heat is NOT a function of the speed of molecular motion.
    Heat is a function of the ENERGY of the speed of molecular motion.
    And I was trying to DECREASE the energy in a casserole
    by bombarding it with still more energy!

    The reason I tell this embarrassing story on myself
    is to illustrate a parallel truth:
    Peace will not and can not be achieved by applying violence.
    War can bring submission, destruction, defeat,
    but war can never bring about peace.

    Let me say this again.
    Violence can not achieve peace.

    Martin Luther King, Jr. knew this.
    Mahatma Gandhi knew this.
    Pete Seeger knows this.

    Whatever we do, and we must certainly do something,
    we must do it together as a people
    and we must do it in a peaceful way.

    Here are a couple of possibly helpful links

    http://www.votestrike.com/

    http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=RTfqIpUiKcY

    What we most need is a leader, or a group of leaders
    to direct the reconstruction of the government.
    I would recommend Ron Paul, Dennis Kucinich,
    Willie Nelson, Steve Earle, Melanie Safka, and Neil Young.
32. Habib Ahmadzadeh says:

    February 14, 2009 at 11:29 pm

    Sallam & Greetings
    In a past 50 days almost 1370 innocent civilians died in Gaza. The pain and sadness of these days make us all to do something. In my part as a writer, I want to share a true story I wrote many years ago.
    The story is based on a true experience during another disastrous war. A war, which was supported by the United States of America and its allies and was forced to the both countries of Iraq and Iran.
    Gaza and its news made me to think about this old story of mine and wanted to share this with you, a group of concern citizens of the world.
    Lets have hope we never see violence, lets have hope we reach peace for everyone and Lets have hope for a better world for everybody.
    Sincerely,
    Habib Ahmadzadeh,
    Tehran, Iran
    PS. I will appreciate if you share your thoughts with me after you read the story.

    artman2030@gmail.com
    A City Under Siege: Tales of the Iran-Iraq War (Thinking of Gaza)
    By Habib Ahmadzadeh;
    Eagle Feather
    I see you being dropped off. I stop the movement of my scope and then I center the crosshairs on you…and on you waving the driver goodbye. He drives away…leaving you behind at the place where three roads meet, behind the date grove on the other side of the river. Now you’re not certain which road to take! The main road where you’ll wait for the next vehicle to come by or… the road that I want you to take? Hurry up and choose. My whole job today depends on your decision. It’s not clear from far away, but you put something on your back and move off.
    You’ve chosen and my happiness is boundless. You’ve eased the burden of waiting for me …and now you’re continuing along the paved road that will end up at your first route. You just continue moving along that line and I’ll sit in this lookout, waiting on this side of the river, a wait that should take no more than twenty-five minutes and which will reach its climax in the last seventeen seconds. And, during these twenty-five minutes, at least we can speak frankly to each other, though you will never hear what I have to say, but, perhaps, after those last seventeen seconds are over, all of what I say will reach your ears. How? I don’t know. Whatever the case this is the way we think on this side of the river in this completely surrounded city …and in any case you are not aware of me sitting here stalking you….and in this dark keep, with the entire plain, date grove, the roads you’ve crossed on the other side in sight…and especially…I keep every step you take under surveillance, and within my sniper scope lest I forget you. Yes, I am sitting here stalking you and there’s a shell in a mortar, waiting for my order, an order that will be broadcast on invisible waves through the air at the promised time via this radio. Your side’s radios may even receive the signal and then the waves will pass by your body and you luckily will be deprived from receiving it and then the radio of our mortar…then the firing…and it will take seventeen seconds for the shell to pierce the air, reach its apex and then like a gull diving for fish, fall on that stretch of road…and then…and then thousands of pieces of shrapnel both large and small will embrace you…but now before you reach that point in the road, which will perhaps be the last place in your life, there are twenty-three minutes left…the highs and lows of the time depends wholly on the speed of your steps,…go slower and you’ll add a few seconds to your life…go faster and you’ll shorten it by a like amount…and now you are moving. You want me to tell you more precisely how long you have before the shell that awaits you arrives?
    I have only to keep you within the crosshairs of my sight and then press the button on my stopwatch…but it’s better not to lose time. Perhaps this twenty-second friendship will become timeless with the shell. Would you like to know what the first question is that I ask after I climb up this tower and have selected a prey like you? It is: Where are you from? Khanaqin, Baghdad, Kirkuk, or Basra?…And, as always, Basra concerns me the most. Perhaps I should tell you why…and the moment the promised shell hits the ground…What are your parents doing at that moment? Is your mother making bread in one of those mud houses in a village along the Euphrates? Your father…What does your father do for a living? What is he thinking now? Could it possibly cross their minds that I am sitting here waiting to take the life of their child in less than nineteen minutes? And, if there is that odd feeling that exists between a mother and her child, how your mother will curse me at that moment? But I made my decision ages ago; at the time your forces surrounded this city. Want to know where I’m from? It’s not necessary to go very far from here. Maybe only a kilometer in that direction along this very boundary river, several years ago, my birthplace was at the hundred meter point along the river…yes and had I been born just seven hundred meters in the other direction, I now would be one of you, at the height of military prowess with those endless munitions which are more than enough to destroy a city far larger than our small town…and ignoring the screeches and howling of the women and children of the city…and drunk with power…I would be shelling them night and day, but now I’m happy…happy that I was born just seven hundred meters in this direction and that I am fighting for several things. My mother…Want to know what my mother is doing now? Like always she’s reciting the Throne Verse…for me…for my brothers and her brothers and all the people on this side of the river. What about your mother? Is she praying for you also? Whatever she prays or has prayed, in about fifteen minutes more it’ll all be for nothing…

    And you keep moving…perhaps wanting to reach your front line faster to shell or fire on our city at night again. When you put your finger on the trigger and the stock shakes on your shoulder, do you have a sense of power?…Or does the sound of larger explosions thrill you? Do you dance up and down and clench your fist futilely, when the mortars, shells, and missiles explode on our side …but when the time comes and I hear that promised detonation, I will not jump for joy…and you are still walking toward the chosen spot…you still have fourteen minutes before I switch on the radio and the sounds form in my larynx and on that side a mortar round comes to greet you. Can you recall all the shells and mortars you have rained down on our city day and night, annihilating anyone and anything in range of your batteries? Is there any goal in the world more pointless than obliterating a city? Continue on your path. I have only have a daily ration of three shells, and, as on the first day, I have already used up one. Would you like to know how? You’ve stopped, why? Oh, I see, you’ve put your pack down. So you’re tired! What could be in the pack that has made you so tired? Your clothes? A souvenir maybe, for your foxhole buddies? Maybe some of those homemade cakes your mother makes? You want to know what I would bring if I could leave this besieged city? My souvenir would be some more rounds for the mortars. You tired? Sit! A few minutes either way will make no difference to me, but continue on your way. I fired my first shell into the middle of this very roadway, and the second one is ready to strike the same spot. You’ll be there in a few minutes and you’ll see the powder burn from the first shell on the ground, and, like your comrades who were there before, you’ll slow your pace…and, stunned, you’ll stare at the place where the shell hit, not knowing whether the second shell is coming or not…and this question will always remain for me: After seeing where the first shell landed, why didn’t you get scared and start running? You probably thought that it exploded and that you were so lucky not to have been there when it did…this is what caused you to be so calm but when the second shell comes crashing down…why will you still be sitting? You want to know more? What will you see if you reach the place where first shell hit and look at it carefully? Yes, that it’s one of yours…but make no mistake…it’s not part of the spoils we’ve taken from you. Look at it more carefully! It’s one of the dozens of shells that you have brought down on our heads, one of the few duds that lands here every day. They just have to be dug out from the ground, their fuses set on safety and their casings changed for a filed-off fifty-caliber shell…and then…three shells are the daily allowance; three shells that until yesterday were in your hands and today are in ours. By the way, your national symbol is the eagle! Maybe the same eagle that had thought that all of our cities would be under its wings. On this side of the river we have a tale known to all about an eagle pierced by an arrow… they say that when the eagle looked carefully seeing that its own feather…it said, why shed tears? we are our own undoing?…What are you doing? Those minutes added to your life aren’t to your liking? You’ve put your pack back on and you’re moving…yes you’ll go down the road and I, like yesterday and all the previous days, will lie in wait for you until you reach the zone of your last seventeen seconds…seventeen seconds to your death…and seventeen seconds till the time when the mortar round reaches its target…so I must recalculate how many steps you have to take during the seventeen seconds…and the radio will have to be switched on seventeen seconds sooner than the shell hits and, seventeen seconds later, a crater will be made where it impact the earth. My eyes, in addition to the scope, your body, the seventeenth second, the shell burst…and the launching of thousands of pieces of shrapnel all around and into your body…every day or so this scene must be repeated several times until you also on that side of the river are robbed of your security and realize that every time you go on leave your death will come…and this thought is many times more agonizing than being killed at the front itself. The insecurity of the back lines, those tributaries leading to family and normal life, so tied up with a sense of safety…but only a daily rations of three shells will cause that insecurity…and during that entire time you have no choice but to run down this road…3.5 kilometers of road…even when we are not manning our lookouts, you must be anxious…anxious that there is somebody waiting to switch on the radio…yes, with only three shells…and not with those thousands of shells…and we have decided to haul the fear and terror from this side of the river to that…and you’re still on the road, looking up at the sky and perhaps enjoying it! What wonderful, brisk weather! If I were in your shoes the only thing I’d want from God is a breeze so that the shell might be go slightly off course before it hits the road…or that the charge in the mortar round doesn’t work and the shell doesn’t fire in the chamber. Ten minutes to go before the seventeen-second zone. This is probably what you’re thinking: How long will the roads remain insecure? With ten, twenty, forty more people killed, you’ll doubt the safety of other roads. Yes, it’s a good question, you have every right to ask it, and I have every right not to answer. Today it’s your turn to find a strategy. Likewise it could be the turn of one of your comrades, someone just passing a few minutes before you and you would probably be inspecting his spattered blood on the ground; but today everything has conspired to make you the subject of the conversation. Want me to answer your question? You have the right to know! In the future if this method doesn’t work, I’ll find another way. Now everything is in place for the old method. Do you know what that is? Keep walking along the path and just listen. “The Mousetrap” is what we call it. At the same level with the road you are on and the others that go off into the desert behind it is a telephone pole. We just have to bring the first shell down on the telephone wires…and a break in communications…and then the poor lineman who will have to come and reattach the frayed cables…exactly at the point of impact…and here a seventeen second wait won’t be necessary…and the second shell…and the interesting thing is that I had never seen this break in the lines myself and only became aware of it from the movements of your linemen.
    Taking into account the extra time accrued when you stopped, we have another eight minutes to chat. It’s an interesting sort of friendship, don’t you think?
    Know how many people are sitting around our battery waiting for my radio signal? Five…five artillerymen…Want to know who they are? You have a right to. One of them is Mehdi who lost his father before the war. His mother was laundress at the hospital…until one of those thousands of shells landed on the hospital laundry. Want to know how long it took before those bloody sheets were white again? And then there’s Hoseyn who’s only thirteen and keeps the artillery clean. He had to bury his sister with his own hands; can you understand how hard that was? Bury bits and pieces of her, that is? Enough or should I say more? Thousands of rounds launched at the city just to kill a handful of non-combatants and all we have is three shells at our disposal and, when today’s work is done, all of us without the slightest remorse or pangs of conscience will sit down to lunch and then rest and once again track down some more of your duds so that we can prepare another three shells for the coming days. We, in fact, don’t even need the three shells to weaken your resolve. All we have to do every so often is to mount the kind of action we carried out two months ago when we got a battalion of your soldiers to turn on one another. Yes, the same battalion that was sent away from the front lines and was replaced by your battalion. Nobody on your side knew the secret behind those leaflets. The leaflets that angered the leadership of your third army. There shouldn’t be any secrets between us during these final minutes. In a few days it will be your battalion’s turn. One of those shells that dispense leaflets…leaflets that are simple on the surface, promising amnesty…amnesty with pictures of the Imam…the man that terrifies you…yes, you have rained thousands and thousands of leaflets on our homes in the besieged city…give up…until now none of them has done any good, but our leaflets have alarmed many of you, one little shell at that…and you never caught on to the trick we played on your forces! You weren’t in the old battalion, but your comrades in your present battalion will soon see a shell will open in the sky and pour leaflets down on them…each leaflet containing a picture of Imam Khomeini and the promise of amnesty. When we mount our operations, each leaflet will count as a writ of asylum…and your commander like the commander of the previous battalion will order that the leaflets, especially the writs of asylum, be collected and those in your battalion that don’t give up the writs will be reprimanded severely; and that in an army known for its collective punishments. Watch what happens when your battalion commander finds leaflets without amnesty writs! What’s he supposed to do? He’ll wonder who’s picked them up. Maybe a number of soldiers have actually taken them! There’ll put more pressure on the battalion to find them…If Baghdad gets word of this…your commander will be under pressure…collective punishment…maybe members of the battalion will start accusing one another to escape the punishment… bad blood and suspicion…and in the end a lack of trust in a battalion some of whose soldiers have hidden the writs of amnesty, even with their pictures of the Imam…and a lack of trust in war means laying awake at night fearing betrayal and expecting something bad to happen. But do you want to know the truth of the matter? It’s likely that nobody on your side picked up one of those amnesty writs, because from the very first we made a number of leaflets without pictures of the Imam and the writs. See how we use our wits and talents in a city under siege? O Mr. Iraqi eagle! How could one of your own feathers be the agent of your death? We never learned to fight anywhere except here during these last few months and if it weren’t for the war, we’d be in high school in this very city…and which class would we be in?…Probably math…and here I am calculating the three minutes you have left to live. Now it’s time to tell my five comrades down below to get ready. They have to be at the ready with a tight grip on the chord, as the seventeen seconds begin. Well, they’re ready…everything’s set against you. Do you know what I always think at such times? That you and those before you and those who come after you are probably Basran. I have a somebody there, or had, I should say, a person that I never saw…my mother’s sister…who years ago, long before she died, married a man from there. I always wonder whether you, if you are Basran, know anything about her or her children. They say she had two sons several years older than me. Sometimes at such moments like this I have the feeling that I have those two boys in my sights. Now there are only five steps before you enter the zone. Four steps, three, two, one.
    Seventeen seconds.
    I’ve turned the radio on. The chord is being pulled and the machinery of your death has been set in motion. Now a shell that for years remained hidden underground in the form of ore…was extracted, refined and then forged…and then made into a container for shrapnel and steel, brimming with explosive powder…and conveyed by boat over miles of ocean, is on its way to rack up your death; a shell that has been ordered twice to kill: once, when used on our city and twice, when used on you. O Iraqi eagle, here’s your feather back!
    Sixteen seconds.
    From this moment on the shell is making its way through the sky, under no one’s control, not even mine. Our friendship didn’t last very long. You probably would be in school now…and I, if I could, would take you prisoner to that after the war you could return safely to your family; but now your are on that side of the river and I am on this side.
    Fifteen seconds.
    You’ll have one chance at the thirteenth second when the sound of the shell reaches your ears. If, and only if, you pay attention…and stop for a second and sit…when the shell’s course is fixed…maybe you’ll survive the explosion…get ready to take that chance.
    Fourteen seconds.
    If I were in your place and knew what was coming, I’d spend these last moment asking God’s forgiveness…for everything and everyone…perhaps God…whatever the case you won’t need sermons from me when you’re dead.
    Thirteen seconds.
    The sound of the firing…and you are still determined to follow the same path. The sound of the shell didn’t attract attention. What are you thinking about? But there’s still a chance…the last chance…maybe a breeze will blow at the last moment, but I pray it doesn’t.
    Twelve seconds.
    As boldly as possible I must admit that after killing you and climbing down from this perch, I will have forgotten the whole thing. By donning that uniform, you have signed a contract to kill and to be killed.
    Eleven seconds.
    Clear your mind of everything except the wind…and me with my allotment of three shells…and that I have used up one of them…the other is on its way…the third?
    Ten seconds.
    The seconds remaining in your life have gone from two digits to one. Death is on the way, my friend.
    Nine seconds.
    The shell is also on its way. You are also on the way and my scope is trained on the spot where the shell will explode. The windfall outcropping whose sole cause is human, on that side of the river.
    Eight seconds.
    See: there’s no breeze to make the shell go off course and the blasting powder in the shell, though it’s handmade, has performed perfectly, propelling it from the artillery. Now only a miracle can help you…and, maybe, your mother’s prayers.
    Seven seconds.
    How many days will it take for your family to get word of your death? Two days, five? When it comes, what will your father be doing? For me it wouldn’t be more than twenty-four hours. My brother will be the first to know.
    Six more seconds.
    Time is short. Whenever one of your soldiers comes from that side of the junction in the direction of the riverbank, I say to myself, “Chalk up another enemy for our side.”
    Five more seconds.
    You may be wondering whether I would have called in the strike if you had been my cousin. Yes, I would have and I’d be waiting another four seconds. No in another four seconds you will be at the place where the shell is going to land and four seconds more before your rendezvous with it.
    Four more seconds.
    See the waterway for the last time? We call it the Arvand River and you the Shatt al-Arab. In any case it won’t make the slightest difference to you. Whatever happens the fresh water of the river will spill into the sea, becoming salty; as in the past, the present, and in the future. See how foolish it was to start killing the people of our city, in the hope of trapping a river that has never been captive to the man-made?
    Two more seconds.
    Again, you hear nothing I say; you just keep walking to the place where the shell will explode at the same pace. In one second you’ll hear the explosion, but you’ll only have part of a second to hit the dirt. So get ready and use the last chance to save your life.
    One second.
    Our friendship is in its last second. What are you thinking about during the last moment of your life? Your intended, who waited until the last second to say farewell? Your mother? The cold weather? There’s nothing else to do! My eyes are fixed on the point of impact and you are caught in my crosshairs and, in this half second, the sound of the shell…and…it’s all over. The blast happened exactly where it was supposed to, covering the place in a cloud of smoke and dust that made you disappear. I sit waiting for it to settle. What happens next means nothing to me, but for you, if you’re wounded…it is vital…every second you’ll bleed more than before…and I know exactly what you are thinking about during this time…about your friends helping you…but if it’s all over and your soul has taken flight…now your friends have a dilemma…should they rush to help you? I also have a friend who could come to your aid…don’t get me wrong…not to save you…I’ve let you in on our whole strategy…the third shell is already in the tube so that your friends will suffer the same fate as you.
    The smoke has cleared and you’re lying on the ground not moving. Your friends are observing from far away. You’ll be the bait for the next hook and I’ll remain here waiting for your friends so I’ll use the third and last eagle feather…
    And again another second.
    Our friendship is in its last second. What are you thinking about during the last moment of your life? Can you imagine how much the firing of one shell, only one shell, has caused me to think? Where do you come from? I wonder. Who’s thinking of you? And this is what I do every day, for every one of you who goes down this road. Do you, before firing all those shells at us, give my mother the slightest thought? So why is launching these three shells so painful for you? Three shells with so much thought versus thousands of shells without any thought, if those thousands of thoughtless shells had not been fired, then these thoughtful shells would never be launched. My eyes are fixed on the point of impact and you are caught in my sights and this half-second…what happened? Why are you lying on the ground? What are you looking at? At a dud? So the shell was a dud again! So now I’ll give you five seconds to get up and run away; if not, I’ll switch on the radio so and tell them to send the third your way.
    I start my stopwatch…one, two, three, four…run faster! You put my mind at ease! Don’t get me wrong: I’ve haven’t said this so you’d get away ahead of time. My third shell needs to fly seventeen seconds, and, if you were late to escape, it’s possible that there’ll be no one where the shell hits…now, perspiring, you’ll join your friends…without your back pack which you left in that appointed place…and now you’ve seen death with your own eyes…will your finger squeeze the trigger of your gun again tonight? Will you give the mothers on this side of the river a thought? Absolutely…so you’ve got my message loud and clear. With death or fear, it doesn’t matter which, you’ll transmit you fear to your comrades…like the leaflet-scattering shell that will explode over your heads in a few days…and maybe you are one of those who out of fear kept one of those writs of amnesty. Whatever the case I’ll be waiting for you, until at the crossroads…someone else is dropped off…perhaps in a couple of days…and again you my friend
33. A Peaceful Solution Karl Dallas | Willie Nelson says:

    August 12, 2009 at 11:22 am

    [...] Dallas sings his version of “A Peaceful Solution” directly from his heart. This shining light of the International Peace Movement creates a moving [...]
34. A Peaceful Solution Kimmo | Willie Nelson says:

    August 24, 2009 at 3:42 pm

    [...] created an hypnotic version of “A Peaceful Solution” that wants to carry you away. The video images of moving quickly beneath a gray sky produce a [...]
35. Lend A Hand To The Farmers License | Willie Nelson says:

    March 16, 2010 at 6:55 pm

    [...] may already be familiar with the Willie Nelson Peace Research Institute “A Peaceful Solution” project. This project will be handled in much the same [...]
36. A Peaceful Solution Jan Verner-Carlsson | Willie Nelson says:

    July 8, 2010 at 12:51 pm

    [...] much to our friend JVC from Sweden and Calz from Norway for being part of A Peaceful Solution. Will you add your peaceful [...]
37. Mae Bell says:

    July 28, 2010 at 9:08 am

    dear Liz (or Jay),
    What a great website. I have a question related to a peace song by a local guy (and longtime peacenik in Seattle) Mike Stern, who wrote (and has sung/recorded/performed) a song called “I Didn’t Stand Up.” Everytime I hear it, it renews my own commitment to peace in (my) and the broader world. And being raised in Texas and going out to hear Willie before folks really knew he was, I almost always hear Willie Nelson singing that song. Is there a way for me to get Mike to give Willie a copy? Or am I incredibly naive? I note that Willie Nelson will be in our part of the country Sept. 16 for the Pullayup Fair; any chance of a face-to-face hand off then?

    thanks,
    mae
    • Liz says:

      July 30, 2010 at 5:24 pm

      Mae, Jay and I don’t handle that. You could try info@willienelson.com. Good luck.
38. A Peaceful Solution Gary Block | Willie Nelson says:

    August 1, 2010 at 8:04 pm

    [...] A Peaceful Solution might just keep the middle class from joining the poor people in the United States of America. Make no mistake, the United States Armed Forces represents the largest portion of the government debt. [...]
39. A Peaceful Solution Kyle Andrew Scott | Willie Nelson says:

    August 22, 2010 at 9:04 pm

    [...] Andrew Scott created the milestone #200 version of A Peaceful Solution. It sure is nice of Kyle to do this for peace, especially since no one we knew thought this project [...]
40. Michael says:

    September 14, 2010 at 10:32 am

    Hello, The yin yang on the front cover is upside down.
    What do you think happens when you put water on top of fire.
    If you look up the I CHING you will find the end result is not in the best interest of what the endeavoured outcome is to be achieved.
    Regards, Michael
    • Liz says:

      September 14, 2010 at 7:04 pm

      Don’t understand. Front cover of what?
41. Michael says:

    September 15, 2010 at 1:34 pm

    The symbol in the word TAO which I think is the front cover of the DVD
    • Liz says:

      September 16, 2010 at 1:27 pm

      What DVD?
42. The Next Level | Willie Nelson says:

    December 22, 2010 at 1:11 pm

    [...] was not just for a few dreamers. As of today, we have had 199 music videos and 62 mp3 versions of A Peaceful Solution recorded by the most conscious musicians in the world. And I have no problem with saying they truly [...]
43. A Peaceful Solution Jan Verner-Carlsson 2 | Willie Nelson says:

    December 22, 2010 at 1:16 pm

    [...] of the links in the article, please scroll to the bottom of this page and see a button dedicated to Willie Nelson’s A Peaceful Solution project. That button is on every one of our 720 page web [...]