“My God, what have we done?” – Robert Lewis, the co-pilot of the Enola Gay, the B-29 that dropped the first atomic bomb.

In the past few years I have tried to determine why our country goes to such great lengths to demonize countries who try to pursue nuclear technology; the adage, “all’s fair in love and war” comes to mind. In the cold war years during the 1980’s, I recall flipping through Time and Newsweek magazine, which gave shocking details as to what The United States and the former Soviet Union’s nuclear capabilities were. During my stint in the U.S. Air Force, I came to work on installations with incredible weaponry, finding a hard time believing that such destruction was so mass produced and only a button away.

Nations like North Korea and Iran have been deemed part of an “Axis of Evil.” I’m not certain what makes a nation evil, but I have some ideas. This notion intrigued me because many citizens were, or are, very much in favor of bombing or invading either country. I keep coming back to the time in my life when I had viewed such weaponry. I wondered why a country that prevents others from having nuclear technology would be the only one who ever used it against another people. Twice.

This isn’t an easy fact to forget, either.

President Eisenhower’s farewell speech, given before I was born, serves as a warning, but also reminds me of the Mutually Assured Destruction, or Mutual Deterrence, which would be as funny as snippet from Dr. Strangelove, if it weren’t true.

Eisenhower seems like an ancient soothsayer to me. This old man, fumbling his words without a teleprompter gives me pause. The speech is well known for his viewpoint and warnings of a “military-industrial complex,” but there is genuine compassion for his citizens, reverence for the position of which he was stepping down from, and most certainly a fear of Corporate America. This fear wasn’t just of any corporations; but of those who create the guns, bullets, gasses, tanks, bombs, ships and planes. His fear was rightfully placed back on January 17, 1961.

Forty-six years later, we are dependent on corporations like Halliburton, General Electric, or the thousands more like them, to manage our defense, lately under no-bid contracts.

As Eisenhower warned, universities would clamor to open their doors for research, as it would be easy revenue. It is clear that subsidies in research ought not to be for military gain, but that is exactly where we are. It makes for a lazy military and puts the scientists on morally ambiguous ground. After the atomic bomb was developed, many scientists disagreed with the way in which their work was being used. On July 17, 1945, Leó Szilárd, a scientist on the Manhattan Project, drafted what came to be known as the Szilárd petition. The document was signed by over one hundred fifty-five contemporaries (seventy in Chicago alone) working in Oak Ridge, Tennessee and Chicago, Illinois. The petition was subsequently shelved by director J. Robert Oppenheimer; perhaps never given to President Truman (this information is in dispute).

The petition in part, stated, “[W]e, the undersigned, respectfully petition: first, that you exercise your power as Commander-in Chief, to rule that the United States shall not resort to the use of atomic bombs in this war unless the terms which will be imposed upon Japan have been made public in detail and Japan knowing these terms has refused to surrender; second, that in such an event the question whether or not to use atomic bombs be decided by you in the light of the considerations presented in this petition as well as all the other moral responsibilities which are involved.” 

Albert Einstein urged Szilárd to pen the document, and signed the petition himself, though he did not work on the bomb directly. Szilárd would later say about the petition, “I knew by this time that it would not be possible to dissuade the government from using the bomb against the cities of Japan…I thought the time had come for the scientists to go on record against the use of the bomb against the cities of Japan on moral grounds. Therefore I drafted a petition which was circulated in the project.” 

 Einstein and Szilárd recreating the document signing moment for photographers.

Image source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leo_Szilard

Japan tried to surrender, but it is widely held that an excuse was needed to test the bomb and make an example.  I support a global ban on nuclear weapons. It’s not my agenda to weaken America by giving terrorists atomic bombs, but I cannot understand telling someone on their own soil what they can and cannot produce. When the statement is made from Americans who spout nationalistic ideals of freedom; it seems like hypocrisy to me. Either we must get rid of our own weapons of mass destruction, or stop holding them over other nation’s heads as the bargaining chip of fear. Even after all the SALT agreements and non-proliferation agreements, The United States of America has approximately 10,455 nuclear weapons, according to the Nuclear Threat Initiative. The figures below are rough estimates in April 2004.

*Asterisks represent best estimates. See Nuclear Threat Initiative link for more information.

America still has more nuclear weapons than the rest of the world combined; that’s a scary thought when you consider that it is the only country to have the audacity to use them…twice. 
 

According to research done by The Brookings Institution in 1998, America spent $5.821 trillion from 1940 to 1996 on nuclear technology. Perhaps these funds could have been better spent developing better care for our citizens: affordable housing, nationalized health care, free college tuition, cures for diseases, conservation of our wildlife and their habitats, environmentally safe waste disposal, and alternate fuel sources are just a few that come to mind. 

I don’t know what $5.821 trillion buys, but I imagine that it could train a few diplomats. When you have diplomacy, you don’t need the bomb. Diplomacy is always in need, that is, unless you have the bomb.

I was a few days shy of fifteen years old visiting my father in San Francisco when James Oliver Huberty killed twenty-one in a McDonalds outside of San Diego on July 18, 1984. I was from a small town, but on that day, geographically, I was relatively close to the crime. I was shocked and so was the nation. At least the media could get the facts straight back in 1984. Today, facts aren’t checked, American’s are misinformed, and some citizens retaliate against innocents who had nothing to do with the crime.

Virginia Tech’s recent tragedy was just another in a long string of workplace and school shootings that seem to make no sense. What is it about Americans, or our culture, that makes us so prone to violence of the worst kind? Are we prone to it in ways that other cultures are not? Or is it simply that we lack the civility to air our differences without such aggression? Perhaps a better question might be why our society demonizes those who seek treatment for mental disorders, depression or mere counseling. If it were not demonized as such, then we might be better prepared for handling those who need our help; and they would not be afraid to seek it when necessary.

Violence is an American pastime, dating back to the time of colonialism. That is why I was also disturbed by the way in which the media described Cho Seung-Hui’s desperate and selfish act as the “deadliest massacre in America.” On a college campus, of that I am certain, but I can think of many massacres in American history that dwarf this in spectacle, blood and sadness. Of course, you probably don’t remember those, because the media isn’t reminding you of them. 

The media is privy to same the historical documents that I am, so why the omissions? It occurs to me that this was stated by the media in this way to make the issue socially relevant and to keep people in fear. 

The Nat Turner Uprising cost over fifty lives, of which the website Globalsecurity.org, states, “The most famous African American revolt was Nat Turner’s rebellion of 1831. Set again in Virginia, Turner and five other enslaved cohorts began with the murder of Turner’s master’s family. As they traveled through the countryside, their numbers grew to nearly sixty, and they left behind them at least fifty murdered whites. After several days, Turner’s band was hunted down and destroyed. Turner was captured and later hung, though not before he described divine inspiration as his motive for rebellion…A feeling of paranoia and fear descended over Southern slaveholders as never before.” This event was before my time, but the paranoia sounds vaguely familiar to me.

From 1622–1890, whites killed thousands if not millions of American Indians. The Indian Wars were full of killings, culminating with the Wounded Knee Massacre on December 29, 1890, when three-hundred unarmed Sioux men, women and children were shot down by U.S. soldiers on a cold winter day. Their crime was practicing their religion as they were murdered.

If you’re looking for school related violence, then look no further to Andrew Kehoe. According to Crimelibrary.com, Mr. Kehoe bombed a school on May 18, 1927, where ”a total of 38 children were killed, 7 teachers died and 61 others were severely injured. It was the worst school violence in our nation’s history.” It is still the worst school violence by my count.

Those are but a few examples and there are many more. It’s not my intention to belittle what happened at Virginia Tech; quite the opposite. I would just like to see honest reporting, and everything kept in perspective so that we might actually effect change for the better. Cho committed a horrible crime and I am truly sad for all the victims, their families, and those who have to pick up the pieces. We should never have to live through this kind of tragedy, and if we’re not careful, it will happen again and again. Maybe we cannot help those who choose violence as their last act, but we can at least choose how we react to it, as well as be prepared in advance as to minimize the lives lost.

Only two days after the attack occurred, the UK Times Online reported that Korean Americans are fearful of retaliation. Lee Seung Wook, the head of the Virginia Tech Korean Student Association, said: “I am worried that the Americans will treat all Asian students, including Koreans, as criminals.”

And who could blame Mr. Wook for being fearful? It took mere days for some American’s to retaliate against Muslims and Jews in America; burning synagogues, mosques and killing civilians after 9/11/01. The New York Times stated on September 14, 2001, “People of Middle Eastern and South Asian descent, or even those who appear to be, are increasingly becoming targets of harassment and violence by civilians and of intense scrutiny by police officers under pressure to track down suspects in terrorist attacks; all across nation, there are reports of arson, personal attacks and police stopping men in Middle Eastern-style head coverings; incidents are increasing despite many interfaith prayer services and calls from Pres Bush and other officials for public not to single out anyone because of religion, race or ethnic origin; contributing to problems for some ethnic Americans is that police are searching for suspects of Middle Eastern and Indian origin.”

Perhaps I am a bit more desensitized by violence as I was when I as fourteen years of age, but still shocked that our country has done little to treat the mental illnesses that cause people to harm others. From a social perspective, I am saddened that our media continually get the facts incorrect.Instead of focusing on the problem at hand, Americans tend to look for someone to blame, usually the wrong party, and lynch them. Perhaps this is a small percentage of the small town mentality, but the effects are the same, nonetheless. These mob rules invoke more suffering that is unneeded, which perpetuates more violence and stereotypes. If this is how American’s choose to solve their differences, and are at their finest, I find it unacceptable.

Podcast audio available here.

A few weeks ago my greatest inspiration and hero was taken from me. Someone I had grown to admire, respect and reflect upon for years. In place of a father figure from an early age, he helped guide and inspire me to do the right thing. He held true to his beliefs and never wavered from his cause. In fact, I looked up to Captain America, often pretending to be him as a child; he is who I aspired to be.

My whole life, I’ve had to defend comic books from those who characterize them as low-brow or intellectually inferior. My mother tolerated my spending habits on them, as she saw that as I struggled with subjects such as math, but I excelled at reading, writing and soon literature. I had a twelfth grade reading and vocabulary level in the fourth grade, solely due to my appreciation of comic books and fiction. Captain America started it all for me.

To say that I am saddened is an understatement, because my icon is gone and all I have are memories. I have back issues to flip through, as opposed to new adventures. To think that Cap isn’t a real hero, a real ideal, or his death is a real shame is beyond words. He has been inspiring generations of people since before our involvement in World War II. Captain America is just as real as the Statue of Liberty. Captain America is just as sacred to me as the flag that his costume was fashioned after. Unfortunately, Marvel Comics holds a copyright on him and he is their intellectual property. Marvel’s Civil War was a timely issue, and brilliantly written, but Cap’s death had no real connection to it and it felt dirty. In the end, it was done for sales. Instead of being able to hold onto an ideal, Marvel had to mire my memory of my most beloved hero with a tragic end at the cost of their increase in sales and PR. Captain America couldn’t live out his days as an old man; he was always trying to save us from the next threat. But that’s what happens to most who try to bring profound change on this sad little ball of mud: a violent end. Casual readers should make no mistake, saving the world is profound. Captain America, epitomized the underdog serving his country, because it needed him. He was a selfless and moral man. A consummate strategist and patriot, he wore a symbolic uniform of the red, white and blue. 

Marvel’s website states about Captain America, “Too frail to join the military, patriotic Steve Rogers agreed to become the recipient of the Super-Soldier Serum. With his body and abilities pushed to peak human levels, Rogers became Captain America, the living symbol of freedom.” Created to be an American symbol against the Nazi uprising, Captain America was created by “Joe Simon and Jack Kirby… in Timely Comics‘ Captain America Comics #1 (March 1941). Often seen as a symbol of America’s spirit, he has been associated with the Avengers since 1964, shortly after their formation, and is considered a founding member. Over the years, an estimated 210 million copies of “Captain America” comic books have been sold in a total of 75 countries,” according to Wikipedia. Timely eventually became Marvel Comics, and the legend of Captain America was reborn. Cap, or Steve Rogers, was an ordinary man doing the extraordinary. He went on to lead The Avengers (Earth’s Mightiest Heroes) many times against seemingly unbeatable foes. In each tale was a lesson of strategy, selflessness, intelligence, honor, and humility.

I wondered if his death served a purpose, as it came on the heels of Marvel’s Civil War; a seven month long sweeping tale encompassing nearly every character, pitting one against another, for the sake of national security. It mimicked our so called “war on terror” well. The government and his best friend adopted laws that made those who could use their minds and bodies as weapons of mass destruction register themselves. This put Cap diametrically opposed to them, as he could not conceive of a loss of liberty for Americans, nor for the heroes who served it; instead, he chose to stand against the government. When the war was over, Captain America was the only one to show remorse for the collatoral damage sustained and surrender to authorities. The government put Cap in a compromised position, leading him to a courthouse for arraignment like a common criminal, exposing him to a sniper’s bullet. He wasn’t killed by the government, but rather, his oldest nemesis, the Red Skull was behind the trigger-man.  

Comic readers have a love/hate relationship with the publishers, because when characters die, they ought to stay dead for continuity’s sake. Eventually someone brings back the character and it doesn’t feel right. Usually this is a third string character and you really could care less but argue with your friends anyway. What saddens me the most is that Marvel insists this is the end for Steve Rogers. In all likelihood, I’m just living without my hero for some unspecified time period, until angry fans demand his return or this marketing campaign has run its course. This is not the first time Captain America has cheated death, as he was frozen in suspended animation from 1945-1963.

Steve Rogers still liked old movies and show tunes, which was never my thing, but he taught me an appreciation for them. Sure, Cap was a man out of his element, stuck morally in the 1940’s, but living in a modern world. He was born in a simpler time, when America was not yet a world power, made to be a literal symbol to rally around. As America developed into a superpower, Captain America became that leader we needed so much. Recently, writers struggled with what to do with his character. He was now longer an underdog, but a respected leader, and so was America. What to do with a character who symbolized American core values, when such are obviously changing from the time in which Captain America was created? Cap did his best to change with the times; this was part of his old school charm. Maybe Marvel killed him to show that when we need him the most, he’s not there. Perhaps they killed him to show that we need a symbol to rally around. The fact was that Captain America was loved the world over, and I miss him terribly already.

To chronicle those I admire - the social satirists, the political revolutionaries, the brilliant philosophers, artists, comedians and mythic heroes – would be a short list compared to those whom I’ve known, and whom polite society has told me I ought to endear.  Few have held a candle to Captain America. I mourn his loss but feel his hand upon my shoulder, still guiding me throughout my life whether he is real or not. He is why I am who I am, where I am and where I am going.

I was enlisted during the first Gulf War in the Security Forces division of the U.S. Air Force. Most of my job was counter-terrorism and it was, for the most part, blindingly boring. I guarded foreign dignitaries, aides, tankers, bombers, missiles, weapons of mass destruction (I think that’s about all I can say legally, but use your imagination) primarily at the ‘showcase of SAC,’ Ellsworth Air Force Base outside of Rapid City, South Dakota. SAC stood for Strategic Air Command and controlled two thirds of our nation’s nuclear triad. I also served on Olympic Arena training teams, and our base’s E.S.T. (Emergency Situation Team, S.W.A.T.). It was a dark joke amongst our fellow Airmen and Non-Commissioned Officers who were privy to CIA and FBI intelligence; it was only a matter of time before we were attacked on our own soil. No one wanted this terrorism, but it was a harsh reality that it would occur sooner or later.

The way we trained made us think like the enemy, in a matter of speaking. We were a defensive force that constantly looked for ways to exploit our own defenses in order to protect and patch them. By doing that, you learn many things about your nation and its defense, many are not pleasant. I knew the Taliban were bad people before the ‘event.’ I knew that the Taliban were very heavily contributed to by the United States in the height of the Cold War against the Soviets and were able to keep them from occupying their land. Long out of the Air Force, I remember in the summer of 2001 when people largely ignored their destruction of Buddhist shrines and monumental statuary in Afghanistan that had been there for hundreds if not thousands of years. I was outraged and so was most of the world, but American’s simply weren’t affected and didn’t care. Yet.

September 11, 2001 came as a shock to me as it did everyone else, and yet, it didn’t. I expected something of that nature would happen sooner or later. When it did, I turned to my wife and detailed to her, at great length, how the next few years would play out. How Americans would lash out at citizens. How Americans would suddenly become patriotic overnight. How Americans would find a scapegoat. How needless people would die just to satisfy an insatiable bloodlust because reality had finally reached our shores.

In a matter of days a friend who I had shared many social, political and religious thoughts with via the Internet, sent me apicture from a online “Enquirer-like” rag that featured a devil-like face Photoshopped into the smoke of the twin towers of the World Trade Center. “Satan seen laughing in smoldering WTC!” was the headline or something like it. My friend actually she sent it to a lot of people. I found myself so angry that anyone would perpetuate this kind of ignorance that I lashed out and did something I had never done, nor will again. I responded to the whole mailing list with a refutation of the fact that the devil was indeed not involved. It was just misguided, evil men, who were already dead, who had done this deed. 

My intentions were noble and pure, but this of course did not stop the torrent of hatred that sailed my way. I learned then and there, that people were hurt and willing to lash out at anyone who did not join in the jingoistic fervor. I was appalled, but it wasn’t to be only lesson. No, evidently, I’m not quite that smart.

A few years later, just prior to the U.S. invasion of Iraq, I was on a plant tour of a local business. I had just started a new job a few weeks ago and was being introduced to all of the local vendors whom I would be doing business with. I was very excited about the opportunity and am very professional when working and meeting with clients. The representative of the company introduced me to the President of the company and he dispensed the usual pleasantries. Trying to find a common denominator, he began probing my history for past links to professional organizations in the field. Unfortunately, I had taken a very non-traditional route in life. I entered the military first, worked my way into management in the business and retail world, and then back to college, so, I had little to draw upon that would be of use to him. When I stated that I was a disabled veteran, this piqued the interest of the businessman.

I saw his eyes eyes beaming, sure that he had found someone who was certain to share his point of view - That we should invade Iraq. After all, someone had attacked us, right? Well, the evidence never pointed to Iraq (some of us didn’t have to play Monday morning quarterback… the lack of evidence was there all along if you were paying attention), and I knew that my informed opinion was contrary to his, so I tried to duck the question, but he would not relent.

“No, please, tell me!”

“No. You don’t really want to know,” Knowing of course, that he didn’t, but he thought he did.

“Yes, I do.” He would not let it drop. After about two minutes of bantering back and forth, I told him I would tell him, if he promised to keep my opinion to himself, professional, off the record and understand that it was just my opinion. “Please respect me for it, regardless of what it is.” “Of course!” The woman giving me the guided tour closed the door behind me, so my opinion would not be broadcast out into the hallway. To his astonishment, I gave exacting reasons for my position why we should not invade and kill. Why we should not call the site of the World Trade Center “Ground Zero,” (it was not a nuclear bomb…this was language cooked up to propagate fear) and that not nearly 3,000 Americans died in the attacks. Many were citizens of other nations, and they are mourning also. I further stated that the public was apathetic and largely uninformed about the real issues at stake and how long the war would last and how far it would spill over. How many civilians would die? Could we go to war with Syria or Iran? Talk about a bloodbath in a regional conflict. Not “them,” mind you…it was us I was talking about.

It was about a year later when I had my first performance review with the company I was working for that I learned that President of this company had told my boss the details of our conversation, only a few weeks prior. He had waited almost a year, and then vented a personal conversation that he dragged out of me, my personal opinion, no less, into a professional arena. I was subsequently chastised in my review for making the company look bad for my own personal opinions while on the job. I was absolutely furious. I had indeed done the deed, but I was sabotaged and set up.

It was from that point on that I learned that my opinions could and would be held against me, whether I wanted them to be or not. I thusly am careful to watch what I say and to whom. A shame really, as this is a country based upon freedom. It is sad that you cannot exercise it without fear of reprisal. Freedom of speech is a wonderful thing, as long as everyone is in agreement. As soon as you step out of line…the sheepdog mentality takes over. In the end, I don’t blame them, though…I should have known all along, but was naïve enough to think that people could be smart enough to see for themselves. Instead, I learned was that many will let others do their thinking for them. I learned that I need to pick my battles. I learned that it didn’t matter how educated you were on a subject, raw emotion will trump truth nearly every time.

Our freedom, it is said, is won with the blood of brave soldiers. But as a thinking person, I have always maintained freedom was best maintained by peacemakers, and by soldiers as a last resort. As a veteran, I know that our soldiers always need support, in times of conflict and not. As a disabled veteran, I attest that the system is merely set up to send men to die and to be mutilated, but to receive little support from their government and its people when they get home. If you really support the troops, you do so with funds, not empty slogans and jingoistic ribbons on vehicles.

When I was a child, Vietnam was the same issue as it is today. The very same people who fought for ending Vietnam, who ought to know better, are now now proud to “show their support of our troops.” Supporting the troops would mean having them home with their families making a decent wage and being taken care of, not being put in harm’s way in a civil war with no end. It seems a shame they didn’t learn anything thirty some years ago about warfare and government slight of hand.

What was once black is now white. Now people give away their freedoms for a glimmer of a false sense of security and are willing to send others into harms way to garner that feeling.

The right wing agenda is to follow an old testament standard of an eye for an eye to make the Iraqi pay. How many have we killed? What have the Iraqi people done to us? I’m assuming the fervor is because they had the audacity to fight back against our unlwaful attack, decimation and occupation of their country. What we have done there is unforgivable. Bandwagon patriotism is not the answer, nor blind obedience to an administration that has gotten almost every single intelligence issue incorrect.

President Bush continues to wage his own personal agenda and war instead of listening to his constituents who are actually paying the price, while he continues to smirk his way through press conferences. As if people dying was something to smirk and joke about. I want my elected officials at the top branches of government to know that when I disagree with their policies, it is not up to them to carte blanch ignore them. Bush, for example, represents the American people, who, through a majority, support an immediate withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq. But instead he’s doing what he wants, what his concience tells him, and what “god” tells him. Excuse me while I shudder and re-join forward thinking intelligent society.

The only way to support our troops is to bring them home, not to continually send more of them into harms way or extend their tours. The Republican strategy, for lack of a better word, is we’re “Staying the course,” and “We’re not cutting and running.” This rhetoric is even more rich coming from a draft dodging President. That more people should die so their sacrifice wasn’t in vain? And what about those deaths? Will it ever end? Maybe someday, but the end will not come anytime soon, if Party-Line Republicans have their way. Will we ever give peace a chance? I’m sorry to be the harbinger of bad news, but folks, every Soldier and Marine who dies in this war is dying for Iraqi freedom, not ours. And it’s for a freedom they do not want. This might be a hard pill to swallow, but it is true.

You nor I are any safer because a serviceman died in Iraq. Terrorists do not hate us for our freedom, Middle-Easterners (and thusly Muslim peoples) have never shared our way of life. It’s that simple. It is time to re-focus our priorities and for our President to stop using our citizens as cannon fodder.

Congress doesn’t want to take away funding for this war because it will look like they don’t support our troops. It isn’t like we’re going to leave them behind without what is necessary, they will be here at home. But that’s how the strings are manipulated. If you want to support the troops, support the money.

The Administration never stops and thinks of using diplomacy in our foriegn policy. We have a great many weapon at our disposal, but not arbitrators or diplomats. One Secretary of State, thousands of nuclear weapons. If we spent a fraction of the time and money we spend on peace that we do on war, we wouldn’t find ourselves in the complicated mess we are in right now and will be in the foreseeable future. Peacemakers are the real heroes who should get medals of honor, not people who just follow blindly in times of war. Real heroes stop bloodshed before it happens; not enable it, under orders or not. Diplomacy works much better and costs less, pound for pound, for the bombs we drop and the blood that cakes foreign soil. A lot of that blood is that of our troops, dying in the sand.

Someday, when the war is over, people will inevitably want to build a memorial to all of the servicemen who died during the conflict. And millions of dollars will be poured into a design and land. And you know what? I won’t contribute a dime.

Because I’d have contributed to a peaceful resolution.  Because monuments to dead soldiers who followed orders is not as great a deed as someone who would have prevented this travesty to begin with. No, instead, I’ll be giving my money to fellow disabled servicemen and women who have been left behind by a government that didn’t think far enough in advance to treat outgoing soldiers very well. Because they so desperately need and righteously deserve the best health care they can get instead of being in a war without meaning.

If getting out of Iraq now means stopping the funding for this war: Stop the funding now.

When we stood upon the precipice of war yet a second time, with a dictator whom we supported and supplied during his war with Iran no less; instead of listening to Saddam when he told us he had no WMDs, the Bush Administration ignored diplomacy and chose to yet again impose our boots upon the necks of innocent people and remove a leader from office. We knew he was a bad leader, but embraced him because it suited us politically. We provided the gas that killed Kurds, knew he had done it; when he wanted more, we gave it to him. 

I often find it amusing, for lack of a better word, when those who find Saddam’s crimes reviling speak up about them in the U.S. as if he were the worst dictator on Earth. They never spoke of his crimes before. They were woefully ignorant. They instead sung the praises of President Ronald Reagan, who was one of the main suppliers to both the Taliban and Saddam. But times change, and so too must regimes. 

Were Americans silent over these crimes because they were blind to it, or because they wanted the Democracy around the globe? We still have done little to nothing about China’s move against Tibet, and it’s been fifty years. While Chinese soldiers continually beat, torture and rape Buddhist nuns, we buy goods from them as if nothing is going on. Times change, but the atrocities continue. 

The suffering in Darfur rages on, while the U.S. does nothing to help. This could be because our troops are stretched far too thin and we are losing two wars simultaneously (five wars if you count the war on drugs, poverty and cancer). It has been said that it’s easy to play Monday morning quarterback about this war on terror, but I say not if you’ve been paying attention all along. The signs were there, the proof or lack thereof was always there, and now the bloodshed is here to stay. But times change, and so too must our thinking. Ignorance of the world’s events is inexcusable. Actions and inactions committed in your name by way of your country’s military are tantamount to you doing it yourself. 

I’m supposed to support our troops and rally around the flag. I’m not supposed to think about it. Supporting the troops really means not getting them in harm’s way to begin with, not being a Bandwagon Patriot since 9/11/01. But times change, and thinking and using diplomacy just doesn’t seem American anymore.

For years now, almost nightly on my news, I’ve heard of heroes from 9/11/01 and this war on terrorism. When I see people talk about others’ in the military currently, most people are very full of praise and thanks for keeping them safe and free. This puzzles me, because to my knowledge, our soldiers aren’t fighting for our freedom, they’re fighting for Iraqi freedom.

When I was in the military there wasn’t much respect for us, so I wondered if maybe I was a bit jealous of the adulation. But no, it was clear, this is Bandwagon Patriotism at its finest, and citizens could care less about the troops. Please come home safe! I’ll tie a yellow ribbon! These are hollow gestures because real thoughtfulness would be to want them to be home with you, safe and alive.

But America needs heroes, and if there aren’t any, we will make our own.

Policeman doing his job on 9/11. Not a hero. Fireman doing his job on 9/11. Not a hero. One of them might be a relative who died on that day. And that’s tragic. But it doesn’t make them a hero.

When you’re getting paid to do a job and then it goes wrong, you aren’t a hero. You are unfortunate. If you do something extraordinary, then maybe, just maybe you’re a hero.

Backpedal all you want, Republicans. The truth of the matter is that this war is a waste of money, resources and lives. American’s have a hard time counting the thousands of lives they’ve taken needlessly from Iraq, but they can always think of their own. It’s all about the troops.

The Bush Administration still has a hard time defining what we’re involved in as a civil war. This is because that terminology reminds citizens directly of Vietnam. And we don’t want the citizens thinking, do we?

John McCain used the word “wasted” to describe the lives spent in the Iraq War on Thursday, February 28, 2007. It’s kind of sad that John McCain has to backpedal under pressure. Even more sad is that Democrats won’t just agree. No, instead they play politics as usual by issuing demands of apology. The sentiment would be better served if we just called this war what it was. Worse yet, McCain is announcing his candidacy for President in 2008…all the while telling the public that he supports Bush and (t)his mindless war. Hmmm…is this a flip flop or is this just another bunch of tripe we can’t trust? Since he immediately went back to his original statement, I’d say the latter.

We haven’t accomplished anything in Iraq. We have no business in Iraq. We should leave Iraq.

It’s time that politicians told some kind of truth. Especially Republicans.

I no sooner wrote a blog entry about Republican John McCain and how he is regretting his words and backpedaling…and now Barack Obama has essentially done the same thing. I find no fault with the alleged crime. In fact I make it no secret that this war is a waste of human life on all fronts. But the real crime is that both of them have recanted their remarks and distanced themselves from the truth. For Obama, I think that is a particular shame because he is against the war. I suppose he wants to ride the tide of American populist vote. Making sure he offends no one. Well, this is politics and we’re in a war that the majority of Americans do not want nor support. But they support those troops, so be careful what you say! 

The reality is that you are going to offend people. The war offends people. What offends me more is acting as if you didn’t mean what you said in the first place. Everyone is entitled to a slip up. Ask John Kerry or Howard Dean after his “scream.” C’mon, Republicans…crucify a man for having passion? Wow.  That still amazes me. 

I like Obama. In fact, I really love Obama. I hope he cleans the floor with Hillary Clinton. But I have to say, I really didn’t like him recanting his stand on the issue of this war and it being a waste of life. Because it is a waste of life.

Maj. Gen. George W. Weightman was fired yesterday over his poorly run portions of Walter Reed Medical Center, which serves many of our disabled veterans returning from these two wars. The most disabled veterans go there to recuperate. It took the Pentagon and newly appointed Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates weeks to actually do much about the issue, which only broke because Dana Priest broke the story to the media.

How interesting then, that not only has too little too late has been done, but that when the heads began to roll, it wasn’t from the top down. I was in the military, and that’s how it is supposed to work. Responsibility! Who is responsible? Leadership starts at the top and Maj. Gen. George W. Weightman was responsible for the deplorable conditions that our soldiers were living in while trying to recuperate. To state that the conditions and the situation was and is unacceptable is an understatement. What’s even stranger was that when the heads did begin to roll, it was somewhat down the chain of command.

But just like with everything else in this war, those responsible have been given a free pass, even if they were fired. Usually those most guilty and grievous were given medals. So that’s what I expect George W. Bush will do before the end of his term. Give Maj. Gen. George W. Weightman a medal for how bad he treated our disabled veterans.