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Three dead Americans in Afghanistan ~ why ?
War is a waste so why do we celebrate it with parades, flags and glorious war stories when, in reality, they are fought by our youth who are but pawns in the hands of old men ~ seduced by power and greed ~ who are more than willing to waste our most precious resource on illegal wars and occupations : Allen L Roland
The aspect of control and domination is a precipitating factor in all wars, and it is also the the principle aspect of ego consciousness ~ which is directly contradictory to our innate propensity to unite and cooperate, which are the principle aspects of soul consciousness and the Unified Field .
On this Memorial Day 2010, America is still enmeshed in a costly and illegal war and occupation of Iraq, rapidly increasing its military presence in illegally occupied Afghanistan and preparing for the possibility of war with Iran. American defense secretary Gates told NBC television last year that the president had instructed him to refresh plans for military action against Tehran ~ prepared during the Bush era. http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/1,7340,L-3720065,00.html
The American War Wagon has not slowed down in 2010 but is accelerating ~ with little if any deep reflection on the true human and moral cost of this insanity.
War is almost always waged for corporate profits and political gains ~ soldiers and their families pay the costs. ( Read War is a Racket by Major General Smedley Butler.)
On this Memorial Day, much of the media will roll over backwards to glorify war and all the soldiers slaughtered in wars. Tributes to the dead are easy; the dead don't talk back and if they did they would most certainly say ~ why ?
To save your world you asked this man to die; Would this man, could he see you now, ask why ?: W. H. Auden: "Epitaph for an Unknown Soldier"
Kristina M. Gronquist calls it the OLD LIE ~ Dulce et decorum est - Pro patria mori ( To die for one’s country is sweet and becoming )
It's from the poem “Dulce et decorum est” by the English poet Wilfred Owen, 1893 -1918, killed at the front a few days before the Armistice and nothing could be further from the truth.
Here's an excerpt from Gronquist's timeless article written on Memorial Day 2005 ~ " The media will continue, this weekend, to suppress the truth, which is that the war in Iraq is a massive foreign policy failure; Iraq is a failed state, an incredibly chaotic unstable mess where tens of thousands of Iraqis have died needlessly. Unworried Americans will say we can’t judge Iraq yet, we have to “wait and see,” because down the road, if oil rich Iraq becomes a (Western-style) democracy “it will all be worth it”. These are such easy words to utter, from the armchair experts on democracy for Muslims, so smug with remote controls in-hand. Yes, tell the loved ones of one million dead Iraqis that someday the deaths of their family members will all be worth it, as your own children scurry about safe and warm... On Memorial Day we will blithely ignore the massive protest and hatred that our polices, occupations, torture and wrongful imprisonment have inspired in the Muslim and Arab world. Come to think of it, many Europeans, Latin Americans and Africans aren’t enthralled with our foreign policies either. But an empire can ignore the common sense of the global masses of people who oppose war, and we can easily choose not to try to understand root causes of anti-American sentiment. C’mon - America, it’s Memorial Day, tune that negative reality out and turn on your television for yet another glorious war hero story." http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article8970.htm
On May 30, 2010, the direct cost of occupying Iraq and Afghanistan hit $1 trillion. In a few weeks, the House of Representatives will be asked to vote for $33 billion of additional "emergency" supplemental spending to continue the illegal occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan.
We must now face the hard cold reality that War is an insurmountable human waste and an old recycled lie ~ not a cause for glorification and celebration ~ and then demand action from our political leaders to end this waste by no longer funding our foreign wars and occupations.
Mohandas Gandhi said it best ~ What difference does it make to the dead, the orphans and the homeless, whether the mad destruction of war is wrought under the name of totalitarianism or in the holy name of liberty and democracy?
Allen L Roland
http://allenlrolandsweblog.blogspot.com/2010/05/memorial-day-2010-war-is-old-recycled.html
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Freelance Alternative Press Online columnist and psychotherapist Allen L Roland is available for comments, interviews, speaking engagements and private consultations ( allen@allenroland.com )
Allen L Roland is a practicing psychotherapist, author and lecturer who also shares a daily political and social commentary on his weblog and website allenroland.com He also guest hosts a monthly national radio show TRUTHTALK on www.conscioustalk.net
ONLY THE TRUTH IS REVOLUTIONARY
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