It's not worth the life of one of my children. If you don't have kids then how about a family member? This is the way that every American must start looking at Iraq and the WOT. If you believe that the War on Terror (WOT) is for the future of freedom and civilization as we know it, similar to the cause of WW II, than it should be worth that sacrifice, right? History cycles, maybe that is an oversimplification for what follows but it's true. After Vietnam most people in this country we more willing to look at what we did there and understand that it was wrong. But then we cycled from that point, America can do wrong, to now, America is never wrong. We had free reign because everything changed after 9/11. Well it was that way before all these pictures came out. So why isn't the WOT worth the sacrifice? It's because it is not a war to save civilization it is a war fought to spread freedom and democracy around the world. That sounds oxymoronic doesn't it? The reasons are starting to appear more and more unworthy of sacrifice by the day.

Vietnam was not a war for civilization. Neither was Korea for that matter. These were wars we were fought on behalf of another population to save them from tyranny and give them democracy. Sound familiar? That's a noble idea but eventually didn't seem worth the sacrifice. That combined with the fact that these two wars did not end in an American victory made the horrors of war less palatable and seem more inhumane since the cause was not worth it. When we are all in it together against a force that threatens our very existence then we are more willing to sacrifice. Whether it is an actual threat or one that is trumped up doesn't matter.

The point about Vietnam I'm trying to make is that it all seems like such a waste when the cause is not just. The Bush administration since September 11th has tried to turn this into a WW II-like war but without the sacrifice. It is lost on succeeding generations just how much was sacrificed during that war. I only know from what my father has told me from back then. Bill Maher has been saying something to this effect since this all started. He even wrote a book about it, When You Ride Alone You Ride With Bin Laden: What the Government Should Be Telling Us to Help Fight the War on Terrorism. He relates it to the sacrifices made by Americans during WW II. New cars were no longer in production, sugar, coffee, tires, gas and many other things were rationed. Can you imagine this President telling people they will have to sacrifice to win the WOT. I mean he did the unprecedented thing of lowering taxes on the rich during a war, that was a sacrifice. The only people sacrificing for this war are people that didn't vote for or bankroll this President. Look who has lost a job and got a new one paying less, if they were lucky, since this President took office. Look who is fighting the WOT. Look whose expenses are going through the roof (gas, tuition, local taxes, health care, etc..) I think it is obvious who is doing the sacrificing and more importantly who isn't. This President has done very little, if anything, to create a sense of we're all in this together.

If this war is being fought to save the world for freedom shouldn't those who benefit the most from that freedom be made to pay if not at least an equal share a few percentage points more than those at the lower end? This war is right now benefiting some more than peace would. This has always been the case though. Then there is this quote:

"Why of course the people don't want war. Why should some poor slob on a farm want to risk his life in a war when the best he can get out of it is to come back to his farm in one piece? Naturally the common people don't want war: neither in Russia, nor in England, nor for that matter in Germany. That is understood. But, after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the peacemakers for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country." - Hermann Goering, April 18, 1946, while awaiting the Nuremberg trials.

This quote has been making the rounds quite a bit in the last few years. Not in the mainstream media though because who do you think is reponsible for bringing the people along to do the bidding of the leaders? Don't forget who owns the media. The corporations who own the defense companies that get rich from the war also own the media. Do you remember where your Vice President worked before becoming Vice President? Is Halliburton getting any work in Iraq? All of this is getting pretty close to fascism. Or what Mussolini called Corporatism,

"Fascism should rightly be called Corporatism as it is a merge of state and corporate power."

I started off talking about cycles of history. I think we may be cycling back to an era when America can be wrong again. Al Franken in his latest book talked about a concept that was something to the effect of grown up love and having grown up love for your country. Which in effect means owning up to mistakes and accepting the consequences. If one is to believe that 19 terrorists flew those planes on 9/11 one also has to own up to the fact that they didn't do it because they hate us for our freedom. They did it because we have used our power, at times, to do bad things.

This is where it all starts to fall apart. This WOT. For those doing the sacrificing are starting to realize, let's hope, that it is only making them worse off and those they are sacrificing for better off. Hmm, maybe war is a racket after all and it's definitely not worth one of my children.
- posted by Mom/Dad @ 8:08 AM