Lloyd Kaye--Lives lost to knee-jerk militarism: There are still some people unwilling to walk down the
path of militarism. I am one of them.
Vietnam was insane. Iraq was a crime. And what we have
done and doing to the Middle East and its people is simple indiscriminate
bombing of huge populations of civilians. There is no justification, only
families left lifeless in their own homes as a result of 500 pound bombs from
U.S. aircraft or drones. Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan and now Syria. Justifying
this policy of militarism has never been and will never be acceptable.
The result of such large-scale bombing has already
left millions of refugees all over the borders of Jordan and other nations
unable to provide the services needed for so many. The unwillingness of the West to reform the
Picot-Sykes borders or to stop supporting dictatorships for decades at a time
has resulted in a societal destabilization of the Middle East and is now
spreading to Europe and Asia. One of the problems related to all this is the
unwillingness of the West to admit publicly what they have done in the Middle
East the past 40 years.
Sadly, I am hoping mature diplomatic negotiations and
agreements will take place and prevail. However, the knee-jerk reaction of
militarism has again taken the West down a path of wasted time and resources
and lives.
My Response:
Lloyd, another wonderfully written opinion by you and
one to which I agree most profoundly. Nations it seems rarely admit fault or
guilt for the heinous actions of violence they employ in war unless they are
roundly defeated. With the exception of Nazi Germany I am having a hard time
coming up with ones who admit guilt.
Every war you site in which the US has engaged in
merciless tactical killing of innocents I believe is correct. At least the
obliteration of the hospital of Doctors Without Borders engendered an apology
and an admitted mistake by US military brass but that is rare. Not only does
the US not apologize for is gruesome mistakes of waging futile wars it does not
usually even admit the mistakes exist.
The Middle East mess is courtesy of a George Bush
administration -- a man who did not have the cerebral capability needed for a
president of the most powerful nation on earth. It was chilling that man who
did not even get the popular vote was elected by a politicized Supreme Court.
Now we pay the price when we elect clearly unqualified leaders.
The chickens are coming home to roost even to our
allies because this nation post WWII is addicted to war that makes millions of
bucks for our Washington entrenched military industrial complex. The first rule
of an alcoholic addiction problem is to admit one has one. Now we suffer not
only in trillions of bucks wasted but so many lives lost and other lives by the
tens of thousands perhaps if one counts those who are on the receiving end of
the bunker busting bombs millions ruined. It is a tragedy, an American tragedy,
of Shakespearean proportions which still has no end in sight.
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