Author: Laurence Vance

One of the few conservative magazines worth reading, The New American, reports that Henry Kissinger told an Italian reporter in 1972 that the war in Vietnam had “been a useless war.” I think if I was one of the 58,000 soldiers killed or one of the 304,000 soldiers wounded or one of the 75,000 soldiers disabled (23,000 totally disabled) in that “useless war” that I would be quite upset at Kissinger and the government that was responsible for that crime.

When will we hear Bush or Rumsfeld admit that the war in Iraq is likewise a “useless war”? Probably not until after a few thousand more American soldiers die for a lie.

Click here for a larger PDF to check Bush’s vision.

Most conservative think tanks are nothing but conservative war tanks. A case in point is the American Enterprise Institute (AEI). Even though the Marine Corps has called up more reservists, more cannon fodder is still needed. As reported in today’s USA Today, according to “resident scholar” Frederick Kagan, a “military analyst” at the AEI, U.S. forces “are overstrained and undermanned.” Kagan’s solution? Instead of removing the 138,000 U.S. troops from Iraq, followed by the 69,000 troops in Germany and the 35,000 troops in Japan and the 32,000 troops in Korea and the 12,000 troops in Italy, Kagan wants the Army to add an additional 200,000 soldiers.

Where is the republic of the Founders? It is so far gone that they wouldn’t recognize it. Modern conservatism is totally devoid of any principle, except for that of militarism. Conservative think tanks are nothing but conservative war tanks.

Regarding the Haditha massacre, we have been told by the Pentagon that 99.9 percent of soldiers perform their jobs magnificently. Let’s hope not. What is their job? It is to kill people and break things. The job of U.S. soldiers is to bring death and destruction to people in a country that was no threat to the United States. Some job. It would be better if it was only .1 percent that were doing their job.

Here is an anti-war song sent to me from a reader. He says that it was written and sung by the British in protest to that Empire’s wars around the turn of the century. The song was revived for WWI. It then became “Americanized,” and was used to protest the USA being engaged in the WWI.

Below is the British version of the lyrics. I have linked to an American version of the song with slightly different lyrics.

I didn’t raise my son to be a soldier
I brought him up to be my pride and joy
Who dares to put a musket on his shoulder
To shoot another mother’s darling boy
Why should he fight in someone else’s quarrels
It’s time to throw the sword and gun away
There would be no war today
If the nations all would say
No I didn’t raise my son to be a soldier

I didn’t raise my son to be a soldier
To go fighting in some far-off foreign land
He may get killed before he’s any older
For a cause that he will never understand
Why should he fight another rich man’s battle
While they stay at home and while their time away
Let those with most to lose
Fight each other if they choose
For I didn’t raise my son to be a soldier

I didn’t raise my son to be a soldier
To go fighting heathens round the Horn
If God required to prove that boys are bolder
They’d have uniforms and guns when they were born
Why should we have wars about religion
When Jesus came to teach us not to kill
Do Zulus and Hindoos
Not have the right to choose
For I didn’t raise my son to be a soldier

I didn’t raise my son to be a soldier
I raised him up to be a gentleman
To find a sweet young girl and love and hold her
Bring me some grandchildren when they can
Why can’t we decide that the Empire
Is just as large as it requires to be
And I’d rather lose it all
Than to see my laddie fall
For I didn’t raise my son to be a soldier

The wife of a U.S. soldier who is a conscientious objector has informed me of a website to help soldiers know their rights: soldiersrights.com.