A Photo to Pass Along

A post/picture like this, everyday, might get the point across (though, here, it’s preaching to the choir). But as Mr. Cox suggests, something like this would have to be squeezed onto the boob tube somewhere between segments of  “Lost” or after those hilarious “Slap Chop” commercials in order to get the rapt attention of so-called “real America.”

I think it bears passing along. Thank you David Glenn Cox for saying it plain.


From Cox:

I want you to look very closely at this picture and try and keep it in your minds eye. This was a perfectly healthy twenty two-year-old young man who in the service of his country got half of his head blown off. I think that’s important, I think that’s newsworthy. Let me tell you how newsworthy I think it is. I think that it’s more important than chocolate cake recipes and far more important than comic book reviews. It is more important than who fell and whose swell at the winter Olympic games.

It is far more important than any self-serving load of crap banged out by Pseudo doctor Amy. It is more important than American Idol or Lost or any other mindless goat droppings the public chooses to chew on. This is some American mother’s son, her little boy, he may be gay or straight or transgender but his life is fucked forever.

How did this come to happen to this poor mother’s son? It came to happen because the people in the media who are supposed to foster a public debate on such public issues as war instead used their franchise to promote articles about chocolate cake and comic book reviews. They see their free press as free to choose not to look when bad thinks happen. They feel no need to explain to his parents or to anyone that the war that blew off half of this poor boys head was based on out and out lies.

It was a war perpetrated by people who hoped to gain from it be it in oil or pipelines or service contracts and like the media they don’t care that this mother’s son is mangled and mutilated. Do you care? I’ve been married twice for a combined twenty-five years and in that time I doubt my wives ever baked a chocolate cake. I don’t read comic books or watch goat crap TV but you see I’ve got a son about this boy’s age. My heart aches and my mind fills with rage because the people that have the power and authority to show this picture would rather talk about American Idol and from where I sit that makes them an accomplice to a war crime.

Because not content to ignore the current victims they support more crimes and call for more wars. Several years ago in Iraq parents waited for their children at a bus stop. An errant coalition missile struck the bus stop and blew the elementary school age children to pieces. Needless to say this wasn’t widely reported but the parents in a frenzy began fighting over the body parts of their children. Little arms and legs, little headless torsos identifiable only by the shirt or dress they were wearing. Imagine the horror, imagine the type of people who could do such a thing. How do they live with themselves? How do they sleep at night?

They do it by watching Lost and American Idol and by eating chocolate cake. They read comic books and watch sports. It makes life easy because the media will not intrude on their fantasy world but instead will promote the fantasy. Oh, but who won the gold metal in curling and who was eliminated on American Idol.

Iraq war Coalition Deaths 4,696

Injured 30,000

Iraqi civilian deaths and injured, 1,366,650

Afghanistan coalition Deaths 1,659

American taxpayers bill as of today $964,044,305,874

17 thoughts on “A Photo to Pass Along”

  1. And all those comparably dead, braindead, nucular diseased, maimed and crippled minutemen, women And CHILDREN of US' middle-east Bush Wars of aggression?

  2. The U. S. government's crime against humanity – the war in Iraq – goes on and we are all guilty, just as we, ourselves, decreed the entire German nation was responsible for the crimes against humanity at the hands of the nazi leadership.

    I cannot adequately state the sadness in my heart that the actions of my nation bring to me.

    1. The difference is the American political leadership won't be punished or stigmatized for its crimes.

    2. I don't buy this collective guilt claptrap. I am NOT guilty of this. I've been open and vocal about my opposition to these wars from before the start of them. I've spent money, sweat and time over my opposition, losing friends in the process. My opposition to these wars is a primary essence of my very being.

      This liberal-esque, feel-good(bad) sort of "we're all in this together" crap only serves to make the waters murky when it comes to pointing our fingers at who really IS responsible for these wars. Those who voted for the wars and those who publicly supported them are responsible.

      As a Christian, I stand before God as having opposed this hideous crime against Him. As an American, I stand as one who opposed this desecration of what this country is supposed to stand for. As a father, I stand as an example to my children of when it's time to stray from the pack and do what is right in the face of the lunatic masses. And no, I will not stand for this lie that it's "all our fault." I may not be perfect, but in this, I am not guilty.

      1. Swami, I agree. Collective guilt is but a smoke-screen. Those who supported these wars are guilty, those who did not…are not.

        This will initially come off as callous" at least one guilty person is pictured in this tragic photo. When POLITICIANS, a class almost universally recognized to be deceitful and self-serving, tell you to fly across the world to start shooting at people in their own homes, you have no one but yourself to blame when you are injured by those defending their homes. "I was lied to" is also a smoke screen. The fact that you flew thousands of miles to fight the inhabitants of another country is fairly damning evidence that you chose to buy a completely transparent lie.

        One cannot say for sure, but history provides solid reason to believe that there are two guilty people in this picture. The soldier's mother was most likely proud of her son and supported him in going to war. She is just as complicit in his crimes as he. Perhaps she was not (supportive of his going to war), so this is a conditional statement.

        I feel bad for the injured man and his family that is effected. But Mafia hitmen are no-less human and I have the same sympathy for their injuries as well. Would I aid this man if he sought my help? Yes. Do I pray he will repent of his crimes and spend his life seeking to provide restitution to those he has wronged? Absolutely. I do not hate this man, but I will not lie for him either. He is a murderer (directly or accomplice to) and he has reaped what he has sown.

        1. Very well put. Your feelings echo mine perfectly. Callous? I'll say "honest". One point that needs to be made is that these young kids generally join at the most idealistic time of their lives. Their enablers failed them by not providing them with a compelling voice from the other side to help them reach an educated decision. That's particularly sad given that it's a life or death decision, and if they're Christian like me, it's even worse.

      2. "I don't buy this collective guilt claptrap. I am NOT guilty of this. I've been open and vocal about my opposition to these wars from before the start of them. "

        Paid any US taxes?

        1. "Paid any US taxes?"

          That's a specious argument (implying that paying taxes equates to support for the wars of the US government). Taxes are taken under threat of force (non-payment/cooperation results in the escalating penalties of further property siezure -> imprisonment -> death) and are therefore theft/extortion. If an armed assailant takes your wallet after offering "your money or your life", are you responsible for how he then uses that money? After all, you made the "choice" of giving up your wallet as opposed to be being shot.

          It is a logical, moral, and societal principle that contracts entered into under duress are void. Consent is only truly consent if free from aggression (the initiation of force/fraud). That someone hands their wallet over under threat of being shot, or tax money under threat of being imprisoned (or shot if they resist) is not evidence of consent and certainly not evidence of voluntary support.

          Voting, on the other hand is a voluntary act (for now?…). One's support for these wars could potentially be deduced by their voting activity (though Lysander Spooner has some intriguing arguments in "No Treason" that may dispute this). But it is absolutely not the case that support can be deduced from their compliance under duress with laws of the US State (and its subdivisions).

          1. " Taxes are taken under threat of force (non-payment/cooperation results in the escalating penalties of further property siezure -> imprisonment -> death) and are therefore theft/extortion."

            US Stormtroopers refusing deployment to Afpakraq risk imprisonment too. Are they equally innocent?

          2. Engaging in voluntary trade with my employer, then being robbed under threat of violence by a third-party (who is also threatening my employer) is not the same as signing up voluntarily to be a "US Stormtrooper", then claiming you're only complying to avoid violent consequences. Innocence is definitely void the moment of enlistment.

            Now, if a soldier has a change of heart (killing people doesn't sit well with their conscience), they are then in a situation where doing the right thing may have negative consequences such as imprisonment. They may have to reap what they have sown in other words. But that's not a certainty. There are means in which to file for conscientious objector status. Listening to Anti-War radio has made me aware of a high-number of AWOL soldiers without negative repercussions and those who have successfully "quit early" without seeing jail or fines.

            If there were similar methods of avoiding taxation without repercussion, I would take them in a heartbeat. Alas, after years of searching, I'm not convinced such methods exist.

            Handing your money over at the point of a gun (or threat of one) vs. killing people in a job YOU SIGNED UP FOR. You really don't see a difference?

            If the draft were still in effect (an actual draft, not the "back door" variety that screws over people who have voluntarily joined to begin with – not that I think this is right either), this may be a different moral dilemma. But I would maintain that handing over cash at gunpoint is different than killing another person when ordered at gunpoint. Even if you state the money you're holding me up for will be used to harm other people, that's still not a certainty and there are still other means available for that harm to be prevented. But if I'm told "shoot that guy or I'll shoot you", there is a certainty of harm if I do shoot the other guy. At that point, a "him or me" morality may come into play, but it's hard for me to buy that if you've volunteered to be put in that position.

          3. "Engaging in voluntary trade with my employer, then being robbed under threat of violence by a third-party"

            There is no threat of violence. There is a threat of imprisonment.if you continue to work but withhold taxes (eg. Quakers) but the only "gunpoint" threat is to enforce the detention, not compell payment.

            But you could cease paying taxes by resigning, emigrating, or (perish the thought) a national strike and nobody would shoot you.

            The "collectively guilty" German citizens mentioned in Kirks original post could far more accurately claim a gun to the head than you can.

          4. The difference is they can choose not to join the armed forces. I can't choose not to pay taxes. Where do you get your ideas from?

          5. You choose to remain a US citizen , to work for taxable pay, and to declare it.

            You can't pay for the bombs and bullets and claim not to "support" a war. You *are* supporting it in the only way that really matters.

            Preferring bloody hands to cuffed wrists does not exonerate you, it just shows you lack the courage of your professed convictions.

            One could argue that those who believe the propaganda and gladly fund the war are less "guilty" than those who know better but fund it anyway.

          6. Nonsense.

            You refuse to differentiate between voluntary actions and those that are aggressively coerced, demonstrating you are either mentally incapable of understanding moral human interaction, or (more likely) simply petulant and intentionally belligerent.

            I am always amazed at the perverse "logic" of the statist. The burden of proof is apparently on the victim, never the aggressor. "If you don't like it (my aggression), then you can leave. Since you don't, evidently you approve." The criminal mind is a wonder to behold.

            Applying "hard truth" consistently, there is no blood on any American hands anyway. The Iraqis/Afghanis chose to remain in their homes even though they knew the US military was going to invade. Their deaths are their own fault apparently. They could have left but chose not to. Case closed.

          7. Thanks for replying so cogently Brian. "Hardtruth" likes to avoid some hard truths, preferring to keep things in simplistic terms. You won't see extended arguments from him, only the briefest of accusations.

            Hardtruth, where are you from?

          8. "Hardtruth, where are you from?"

            Irrelevant. Like you ( I suspect – you haven't answered my question) I pay taxes to a warcriminal state and so help finance crimes against humanity because, like you, I am too much of a coward to do otherwise.

            The difference between us is that I acknowledge the "collective guilt" that you shrilly deny .

          9. There's nothing "irrelevant" in wanting more disclosure from someone who's long on accusations and short on self-exposure. And now that you admit negative things about yourself, all with what you probably consider is an admirable trait of self-honesty, you imply that because this is the way you describe yourself that that is the way the rest of us are.

            You are a coward. Congratulations. It doesn't surprise me that a person who calls himself "hardtruth" to excuse his acting like a dick to people before attempting to understand them does so while safely hidden behind his computer. Your bogus judgments and simplistic characterizations probably are appropriate to describe yourself. I'll suggest however, that there is indeed a wide gulf of a difference between the two of us aside from the laughable charge of "shrillness" and denial. I'll leave off the reasoned explanations though in favor of your preferred soundbite mentality.

          10. Whatever. You still haven't answered my question.

            My current "bogus judgment" is that you have paid US taxes funding the very wars you have been"open and vocal" about opposing and consider yourself innocent of, but are reluctant to admit it .

          11. "Whatever. You still haven't answered my question."

            Because to anyone who actually understands what he reads, the answer is entirely self-evident in what I wrote in my first reply in this thread.

          12. I've quoted your first reply in this thread in full below. Which part of it makes it "entirely self=evident"r wheher you have or have not paid US taxes?

            "I don't buy this collective guilt claptrap. I am NOT guilty of this. I've been open and vocal about my opposition to these wars from before the start of them. I've spent money, sweat and time over my opposition, losing friends in the process. My opposition to these wars is a primary essence of my very being.

            This liberal-esque, feel-good(bad) sort of "we're all in this together" crap only serves to make the waters murky when it comes to pointing our fingers at who really IS responsible for these wars. Those who voted for the wars and those who publicly supported them are responsible.

            As a Christian, I stand before God as having opposed this hideous crime against Him. As an American, I stand as one who opposed this desecration of what this country is supposed to stand for. As a father, I stand as an example to my children of when it's time to stray from the pack and do what is right in the face of the lunatic masses. And no, I will not stand for this lie that it's "all our fault." I may not be perfect, but in this, I am not guilty."

          13. It's no coincidence that the only post of yours that goes beyond your standard 2 or 3 lined smart-assed finger pointing is when you quote someone else's post in full. You don't need to quote it in full; it was already that. If you can't figure out my contention by that post in the context that it was posted, it's no wonder why you can't rise beyond you simplistic conclusions. You've had quite enough intellectual hand-holding in this thread alone and I have no intention of playing teacher with this one.

          14. " If you can't figure out my contention by that post in the context that it was posted, it's no wonder why you can't rise beyond you simplistic conclusions. "

            I can't figure out whether "stand as an example to my children of when it's time to stray from the pack and do what is right in the face of the lunatic masses" extends to witholding taxes, no. Paid any US taxes, Mr Barmi? Yes or no?

          16. "You refuse to differentiate between voluntary actions and those that are aggressively coerced,"

            We could argue about whether somebody who joined his State's "National Guard" ten years ago and finds themselves "stop lossed" into foreign deployments years after completing the term they thought he'd agreed to is a "volunteer" or "coerced". Would that be "refusing to differentiate."?

            I can make no sense whatever of your last paragraph.

          17. An innapropriate comparison. The individual still had the original choice NOT to join the National Guard.

          18. How exactly am I supposed to stop paying taxes? They are taken from me before I get paid. I have to earn a living. I have to support my family. Hope that's okay with you buddy.

          19. "I have to earn a living. I have to support my family."

            A familiar tune. Popular in the arms trade and the ranks. .

          20. I agree. Andy, while I appreciate where you are coming from, that was a rather weak argument. Those who slaughter others for pay make the same claim.

          21. Yes Brian, but the difference is they can choose NOT to join the armed forces. I can't choose NOT to pay taxes.

          22. "I can't choose NOT to pay taxes"

            Yes you can. You can "choose" not to work; or join the "black" economy; or emigrate; or choose to accept imprisonment on principle. Any sacrifices involved are pale in comparison to what your taxes are doing to your victims. .

          24. See my previous reply to Swarmi Barmi. I pay taxes to a state I despise to avoid imprisonment and maintain my comfortable lifestyle – recognising that this makes me guilty of collaboration with the warfare state. You, on the other hand, are in denial of your complicity.

          26. What "assertion"? That paying the taxes that buy the bombs and pay the bombers accrues a share of the "collective guilt" you renounce?

            What sort of "proof" would you accept?

          27. I would accept you actually debating his points rather than taking the typical internet debater's approach of ignoring them. But go ahead, "repeat, lather, and rinse" your way to being right.

          28. I've addressed those of Brian's ponts I can make sense of.

            The only person here ignoring direct questions is you. You boast readily of how you "stand before" God and America and your kids but won't tell us whether you stand up to, or bend over for, the IRS.

          29. "ponts I can make sense of. "

            Bingo.

            "The only person here ignoring direct questions is you."

            Can you say, "duh"?

          31. Can I "choose" not to pay my property taxes? Sure! But then the government will just seize the land I own.

          32. You "chose" to own taxable property. How is that differemt from "choosing" to join the National Guard? One undertakes to kill for the state, the other undertakes to pay him to.

          33. A ridiculous comparison. By the way the property I "chose" to "own" has been owned by my family for generations.

          34. Presumably our jobs are to give up everything and allow the statist warmongers to continue killing without having people here to put up a fight. This guarantees no change. If we stay here and stay out of prison, we can at least attempt to change the system.

          35. "If we stay here and stay out of prison, we can at least attempt to change the system."

            Ah yes: Changing the system from within. Another classic. How's that working out for you?

          36. Dear Mr. Short Attention Span Theater: some change not only requires more than a few years effort, but some requires more than one individual's lifetime. Many of those who've fought for freedom fought for the freedom of those who followed while never having the opportunity to relish that freedom themselves. That fight intensifies under extremes such as what we're living with now. I've seen a massive change in philosophical discussion in this country just over the past 2 or 3 years.

          37. "That fight intensifies under extremes such as what we're living with now. I've seen a massive change in philosophical discussion "

            A "change in phiolosphical discussion". eh? That'll have the ruling elites quaking in their boots.

            Does your "fighting for freedom" extend to witholding taxes, Mr Barmi. Yes or no?

          39. "That'll have the ruling elites quaking in their boots. "

            Um . . . it HAS. Have you seen their responses to Ron Paul and his ever growing following of young voters or do you just lurk on internet fora in your narcissistic bid to be the grand inquisitor?

          40. It they ever get genuinely scared of Ron Paul they will kill him. I've not seen that yet.

          41. "A ridiculous comparison. "

            Why? You could have sold or gifted the property and emigrated to a less warwaging state, but you chose to remain and pay the wages of those who choose to join the nation's deathsquads directly.
            Supposedly mitigatory "Duress" inevitably follows both "choices". Wherein lies the moral distinction?

  3. Promotion of killings, destruction and maiming will continue.
    He who has the gold makes the rules.

  4. I agree with every point that Vlahos makes above. The political-military-banking-corporate ruling establishment is bankrupting America. America is tens of trillions of dollars in debt and this can only lead to the destruction of the value of the dollar. And when the value of the dollar goes to zero, the entire economy of America will collapse. At that point in time, the American people, because of their gross apathy and monumental ignorance, will deserve that dreadful fate that they have so richly earned. Americans; "ask not for whom the bell tolls, it tolls for thee." Americans, get ready, you are about to experience some of the same hell that you have thought so fitting to callously dish-up to others.

  5. He seems a bit naive. If the mainstream media has an economic interest in promoting the wars it will not show their damage. Of course the public goes along with this because they find public policy boring, but I'm not so sure they are the reason we don't see this on t.v.

  6. Thank you Kelley for linking to my blog.

    When I read this article by David Cox, I knew I had to post it. Sure the image spoke volumes but his words hit the mark with me. Unfortunately the people that need to see this kind of writing, this kind of information, never will. As stated in the article, they're to busy watching American idol and other not reality shows.

    Thanks again, Ed

  7. I don't take a back seat to anyone in despising war and our own crazed militarism, nor do I disagree with the numbers cited above, but is there any way to authenticate the picture? Is survival with such an injury even possible?

  8. Mr. Quinn,

    Thank you for bringing this soldier to our attention. I am not linking to the posts about this photo, but to other stories that tell the story of Staff Sergeant José Pequeño.

    If anyone is interested in helping José and his family, they may start by contacting the Marine Semper FI fund at 825 College Blvd, Suite 102 PMB 609 Oceanside, CA 92057.

    Blessings

  9. Mr. Quinn,

    Thank you for bringing this soldier to our attention. I am not linking to the posts about this photo, but to other stories that tell the story of Staff Sergeant José Pequeño.

    If anyone is interested in helping José and his family, they may start by contacting the Marine Semper FI fund at 825 College Blvd, Suite 102 PMB 609 Oceanside, CA 92057.

    Blessings

  10. ",,,half of his head blown off,,in the service of his country,,,"

    Sorry, but I disagree. None of the American servicemen or women who fought in Iraq were providing any "service" to their country. It was (and is) a wrong, and unjust war.

    1. Exactly. By repeating that lie, we enable future atrocities. Hiring yourself out to the state as a willing murderer is not a noble profession and we should not contribute to the continuance of euphemisms designed to obfuscate that fact.

      Forgive the troops, love them (minister to their needs) as human beings, but never "support" them.

  11. Reminds me of the movie "Johnny got his Gun", (from the book by Dalton Trumbo) that came out in the 70s. The hero gets hit with an artillery shell at the end of WW1 losing his whole face and being quadraplegic. The Army keeps him in a closed ward because they are embarassed by his condition and he won't die. Inside his brain; however, he is very much alive. He has a dedicated nurse who learns that he has found a way to communicate by banging his head in Morse code. The Army brass is astounded to find that he is not a vegetable and wish they had let him die. They ask what he wants and he requests that they put him in a glass front coffin and drag him all over the country for public viewing. The Army fires his nurse and shoves him into a locked closet.

    1. Yes, richard vajs, Trumbo is vastly underestimated and the film is memorable–still running in black and white after all these years though one saw it only once. Americans apparently classify it as fiction.

  12. It's OK. He's done his part to help remake the Middle East for the convenience of Greater Israel, and that's all that matters, right?

  14. hate to say it …. but that pic looks like a photo shop job around his head. Just sayin….. zoom it up if you don't believe me. Not that it matters to the point of the story.

  16. Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children. This is not a way of life…. Under the clouds of war, it is humanity hanging on a cross of iron.

    –Dwight Eisenhower, American Society of Newspaper Editors, 16 April 1953

  17. and here is a Website to pass along. It takes the cleanliness from our wars. Other civilization still report about the death civilian people and the bad consequences of our wars

    http://www.opiar.com

  18. Pingback: Keep it in Your Mind’s Eye | The Peg Leg Update

  19. Your arguments are not based on reality and are, therefore, false. The great issues of today are not truly defined in terms of, let us say; Republicans vs. Democrats, or even conservatism vs. liberalism. The great issues of today are truly defined in these terms; the American people vs. an ever-growing, ever more powerful, ever more tyrannical, fascistic national government. And the great question of today is this: will the future of America be one of liberty or one of jack-booted tyranny? Fascism is defined as; “a philosophy or system of government that advocates or exercises a dictatorship of the extreme right, typically through the merging of state and business leadership, together with and ideology of belligerent nationalism – The American Heritage Dictionary. Now, is that not a fair description of the kind of government we have in Washington today? Bush started two unjust, immoral and aggressive wars. Obama continued them. Bush moved to bailout the crooks on Wall Street. Obama continued those very same policies. Since Obama was elected, nothing much has changed at all. Has it?

  20. Follow the money dear friend. The vast majority of campaign contributions, for both Republicans and Democrats, come from the same major corporations, year after year, decade after decade. Now, that ought to tell you something. Should it not? Fact: both the Republican and Democratic parties are owned lock, stock and barrel by Wall Street. For all practical purposes, Washington is Wall Street and Wall Street is Washington. We no longer have government of the people, by the people, and for the people. We have government of the corporations, by the corporations, and for the corporations.

  21. Americans should never allow themselves to be brain-washed by bought and paid-for shills for either the so-called right or the so-called left. Know this: the majority of these so-called extreme rightists or so-called extreme leftists are nothing but paid propagandists who are employed by the ruling establishment in an elaborate effort to deceive us and prevent our knowing the truth. And the truth is this: the real enemy we face is an entrenched political-banking-military-Wall Street ruling establishment whose goal is nothing less than the total control and total domination of the American people; physically, politically and economically. It is time for the American people to grow up, wise up and rise up. It is time to take back our country and take back our government from the real axis of evil; the Washington-Wall Street axis of evil.

  23. What a remarkably vile, hateful post.

    "Theres NO WAY to convince me this Joe Stack III guy wasnt incited to violence by the Right-Wing Spin Machine."

    And such openmindedness too. The IRS has long been an organization known for ruthlessness, an utter lack of compassion, and a willingness to strong-arm a powerless populace. People have always been capable of being driven to desperate acts when faced with these types of situations and have always been capable of lashing out against those who put them in these positions, long before talk radio.

    Perhaps you ought to ply your trade at the Daily Kos or Huffington. You might also want to see a shrink before you plow your Prius into a CPAC demo.

  24. if you have so much hate for the conservatives, why don't you spread some of it over to the "liberals"? They are pretty much the same! The problem is always the "government", but that encompasses BOTH Republicans and Democrats. I'm pretty sure most people on antiwar don't support Palin and Beck because they are moronic warmongers. Let's come together where we agree: STOPPING WARS. We'll worry about the rest of the issues later.

  25. It’s not just that there are tons of people on the left and right who are paid to sell wars, it is also because too many Americans are so easily sold wars

    To quote two things from George Carlin:
    1. We’re a warlike people
    2. No one questions anything anymore

  26. All war has horror and ugliness, because it is violent! But, so can be defending your family when an intruder breaks in! Are you people ALL pacifists?

    1. Good analogy. The problem is that WE'RE the intruders and we disagree with this type of violation of other people's rights. Stop breaking into other people's homes and you stop having to perpetrate and suffer the horror, ugliness, and violence of these unjust wars.

      1. No one here has any understanding of anything. If it were up to you we would have let Hitler continue to slaughter The Jewish people. And we would all be part of Germany now. If you think that we should sit by and let 9-11 happen again, I feel very sorry for you. Are you the type who would let an intruder come in and do what he wanted because he had a bad childhood. My son serves in the military and you have no idea what these men and women are like. And have done for people just like you.

        1. American intervention in WW2 saved extremely few, if any, Jewish lives. (Please see the book NO CLEAR AND PRESENT DANGER). Your claim that we would all be part of Germany now demonstrates your incredible ignorance of the facts. Hitler couldn't get 20 miles across the English channel and subdue the 89,000 sqare miles of Great Britain. But somehow he was going to get 3,000 miles across the Atlantic and overrun a country of 3,000,000 square miles. Yeah, right. 9-11 happened because of American meddling in the muslim world and supporting Israel's rape of the Palestinian people. Where was our armed forces to protect us then? They were stationed all around the world enabling American hegemony. Everywhere but where they were needed and should have been – at home protecting Americans. Rest assured any intruder who came into my home would be dealt with appropriately. By the way it is Americans who "intruded" upon Iraq. As for the sad and misguided men and women who serve in the military they have been subjected to fierce propaganda. I heard much the same nonsense during the Vietnam war about how the "troops were protecting me". It was garbage then and it is garbage now.

  27. With a combined total deaths in both Iraq and Operation Enduring Freedom (mostly Afghanistan) being 5,361 and a death toll of just one concerted operation of the Muslim extremists (9/11) being 2,760 – we can see that more than half as many 9/11 civilians died as did ALL of American forces fighting Muslim extremists (OIF AND OEF)! The terrorists took only ONE DAY to reach their death toll!

    1. What does 9/11 have to do with Iraq OR Afghanistan? It was planned from Germany, Spain, and Florida and no Afghans or Iraqis were on board or have been proven to be involved.

      2. I am afraid I don't understand what you are trying to say. Do you consider Iraq to be a just war?

      3. I can only speak for myself. I feel that our military is being seriously misused. It is not defending America but enabling Washington to impose American hegemony around the world. The only legitimate job of the U.S. armed forces is to defend American citizens and the territorial integrity of America ( and it couldn't even do that. Not one single plane was shot down on 9/11). Not to drop bombs on Serbia for 78 days, a country we had no quarrel with. Not to maintain unwanted bases in Japan. Not to be in south Korea needlessly. Not to be stationed all across Europe. Not to be underwriting security guarantees for places like Estonia. Not to launch a war under false pretences against Iraq. I could go on and on here. As for the members of the armed forces themselves they are misguided at best, subject to fierce propaganda.

    3. Before 9/11 ,500.000 civilian Iraqi children directly died as a result of the US and UK enforced sanctions (we were told the price was worth it).Over a million of Iraqi civilians died as a result of the US and UK invasion of Iraq,millions were made homeless and refugees.The whole country was destroyed and forever contaminated with depleted uranium.

    2. My view of the picture is that war is terrible. As far as Iraq goes, I feel that America engaged in an unjust war of aggression. I simply don't see how any intelligent person could say otherwise.

    1. Okay, you apparently have difficulty engaging in debate since you refuse to answer any of my responses to you. I'll bite here anyway as you seem terribly focused on wanting to beat a straw man.

      No, all wars are not unjust (and I'd like to see some evidence for your contention that "antiwar.com" anywhere suggests this). For example: the Iraqis and the Afghans are fighting just wars since their countries were invaded (repeatedly) by foreign intruders.

    2. It depends on the side in the war. One side can be just in a war and the other unjust. Likewise both sides can be unjust. However you can never have a war where BOTH sides are just. A few examples in the first category would be the Anglo-Zulu war (unjust for the former, just for the latter) and America's war in the Philippines in 1900-1902 (unjust for the former, just for the latter). Latter examples would include say, the Russo-Japanese war (unjust for both sides) and WW1 (unjust for all sides). Note how the allies were so subconsciously uncomfortable with the war's causes and aims they made the Germans sign a "war guilt" clause in the peace treaty. How exactly did Germany force Italy and Romania to declare war against her? As for the war in Iraq in my view it is unjust for America (the aggressor nation) and just for the Iraqis.

    1. You gotta love the ads where the parents come to the conclusion that, "yeah, maybe our idealistic kid who's been nowhere and has had a small fraction of the life experiences we have should be allowed to make such a knuckle-headed decision because he really seems to want to."

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