Why not lob a nuke at the war profiteers?
By Tim Martin, Eureka Times Standard Newspaper
America is like the school bully that didn’t evolve after graduation. We are still beating up on weaker life forms and acting like we’re the toughest kid in town. Thanks to the dangerous and regressive thinking of our country’s leaders, we are hung up on power and colonialism … Whoops! Excuse me, I mean national security. We’ve been in an almost constant state of war since the 1960s. The U.S. spends close to a trillion dollars a year on our military but the war lobby believes this is not enough. Their mantra is more, more, more.
We have the scent of death in our nostrils and the stain of it on our hands. Why is America so addicted to bloodshed? Who’s in charge here? Why, it’s our military of course, a taxpayer-funded Ponzi scheme with an allegiance to the ultra-rich and a license to kill. Their adventures have become our burdens. Their profits are our sacrifices. Even worse, our paint-by-numbers politicians are either too dumb or dishonest to understand the damage this is causing.
We’re sick of the constant ruses, dodges, and lies from our military leaders. They create imaginary enemies to justify future increases in war budgets, enrich the MIC, and further impoverish our nation. We need to get out of the Toppling Dictators and Empowering Rebels game and stop arms manufacturers from dictating our foreign policy. It’s a recipe for disaster.
We’re tired of the depths of insincerity within our government. The amount of blood letting and de-humanizing of people who live outside (and inside) of the U.S. is sickening. America cannot solve religious war in other countries. Besides, we have terrorists to fight here at home. The KKK, the Family Research Institute and the Family Research Council immediately come to mind. These hate groups claim to be Christian, but they are to Christianity what al-Qaida is to Islam.
We’ve had it with conflict. It’s destroying our young men and women. Sending soldiers off to war and telling them to come back sound of mind is like telling a person heading out in a rainstorm not to get wet. Our troops return to us from countries where the ground can no longer soak up the blood that’s being spilled. They arrive home angry, frightened, and wrapped too tight. Others come home wrapped in body bags.
We’re nauseated with battle. We no longer fight for freedom, liberty or the pursuit of happiness. Our wars are waged to maintain an empire of banks and multinational corporations. We can count on one hand the number of times U.S. military intervention has worked since the end of WWII. We worry deeply about the unintended consequences of the next military venture, and the part our young men and women will play in it.
One does not have to be Sun Tzu to understand that the best way to win a war against terrorists is to stop making more terrorists.
We’re burnt out on hostilities and the lame reasons our leaders keep coming up with to start new ones. Crying wolf about “weapons of mass destruction” doesn’t cut it anymore. Chemical weapons are no different. It’s odd how chemical war becomes a “game changer” when small, powerless countries engage in it. Remember how we dumped Agent Orange from one end of Vietnam to the other? How about Israel and its horrifying use of white phosphorous on Palestinian civilians, and the chemical weapons we supplied Saddam with to use against Iran?
Is this a pathetic case of the pot calling the kettle black, or what?
We’ve had our fill of war. Americans are no longer in a blissful stupor of cheering on our favorite hawkish politician. We want to end the military bloodletting and our mounting war debt. We want to stop slaving and dying for greedy national security contractors. We realize that missile technology has made war seem “cleaner” and “more sanitized” in our collective minds, but only because we’ve become jaded by the horrendous collateral damage caused by a drone strike. We know that war does not create jobs or provide us with cheap oil. It only benefits companies like United Technologies, the Carlyle Group, L-3 Communications, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon, General Dynamics, BAE Systems, and Halliburton.
So let’s turn off that patriotic music and put away those flag magnets. Banging the war drums is doing nothing to advance peace or preserve our national security. It’s time for Americans to forever say no to war. Are you ready to give peace a chance?
Tim Martin resides in Fortuna and writes this column for the Times-Standard. Email him at tmartin@northcoast.com.
I couldn't have said it any better. Other than add, if you really want peace stop cooperating with the psychotic police state and its lawless impunity. Stop voting for the corrupt liars and their arrogant gods.
--Joe
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