by William Falcone

Created on: September 01, 2009   Last Updated: September 02, 2009

With the deepest convictions of everything I hold dear, I would never support my child's choice to go to war. First, one must examine possible reasons why our country would wage war. Would it be to prevent another country from taking us over ? The case can be strongly made for the Unites States' involvement in WW II since this was the scenario. There actually was a Nazi Germany attempting to conquer Europe and while doing it were also doing their best to exterminate a whole ethnic group.

So the question of preventing another country from invading to conquer us is, in this day and age, preposterous. The Unites States spends more on weaponry and military power than the rest of the world's countries combined. Would an invader come to our shores and invade via ground assault? This scenario is impossible. They would not make it to our shores.

Some would argue, "What about the attacks of September 11, 2001? Wouldn't you as a patriotic American be proud of your son if he were to enlist to fight these enemies who dared to attack us on our soil?"

Well, first let us analyze what occurred. Did a nation attack us? We know the answer to that is negative. An alleged group of terrorists with their headquarters in the mountainous terrain of Afghanistan planned and coordinated this attack. A nation did not attack us. So what should we do in this situation? The easy answer is to strike back.

With the cowboys Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, and the rest leading the rhetoric it was clear (actually not so clear) that the terrorists...uh, wait a minute...the country of Iraq should be attacked as retribution. Because...because...we don't like that Iraqi leader. And they also happen to have among the highest oil reserves in the world.

Waging war is mandating murder. Killing by any means when premeditated is murder. I am against murder. This is not on religious grounds either. I am against killing other human beings, period. Isn't a bombing raid on an unsuspecting village, full of innocent women and children a terrorist act? Does it really matter to the blasted individuals on the ground if the blast is from an airplane, a bomb, or a religious zealot with grenades taped to his chest? Killing is killing. It is all terrorism. Simple human morality dictates that one should be opposed to these abominable acts of mayhem.

The imperial Unites States is a country that can not be conquered by another country. We will not be invaded. The only reason to wage war, in the modern world, is for empire and resources. Another side item, of course, is feeding our military/industrial complex, which is always very hungry for more and more government contracts. This is a hungry beast that really eats up our resources. Imagine a country that would invest in education, health care, and adequate transit and infrastructure rather than a military/industrial complex? A complex that must create reasons to utilize this deadly hardware? Wouldn't this be a humanistic country that cares about its citizens?

As a loving parent the answer is obvious. I would never permit a child of mine to go near the military (with the exception of the Coast Guard - they actually save lives). Go to war? For what? To pad the wallets even more of some guys like Dick Cheney. Men who,on many occasions, never went near a war themselves. This is an easy question. I am quite content that I am closed-minded on this issue.

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