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Title: We Might As Well Face It, We're Addicted to War
Source: The Fountain of Truth
URL Source: http://www.geocities.com/fountoftruth/faceit.html
Published: Aug 20, 2008
Author: Doug Newman
Post Date: 2008-08-20 00:43:49 by snoopdougg
Keywords: None
Views: 2132
Comments: 17

Two weeks ago, I had never heard of South Ossetia and I could only tell you four things about Georgia.

  1. It was a former Soviet republic.
  2. It was somewhere on the southern periphery of Russia, but I could not tell you exactly where.
  3. It was Joe Stalin’s home country.
  4. It was the Georgia the Beatles sang of in “Back in the USSR.”

Now, Bush, Cheney and McCain are foaming at the mouth over a purely regional conflict involving Georgia that has no bearing whatsoever on America.

RR in suburban Denver sent me a very lengthy article the other evening about the libertarian approach to all of this. While it appeared to contain many fine points, I just skimmed it as I did not have time to read it. My reply went something like this:

“RR,

“Thanks for sending.

“Two words: STAY OUT.

“Two more words: ARMED NEUTRALITY.

“Doug – www.tfot.us

I am over it. Over America’s endless involvement in every last conflict around the globe. Over our military presence in 130 countries. Over our belief that this superpower thing will last forever.

As Bob Strodtbeck wrote recently on EtherZone, “If great empires continued through perpetuity, then we would all be Babylonians.

Empires always fall. 800 years ago, Mongolia was the mightiest empire on earth. And what is Mongolia now?

Oh sure, Americans think we are all that. However, as the Bible says:

Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.” (Proverbs 16:18)

Thomas Jefferson once stated, “Indeed, I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just; that His justice cannot sleep forever.” I profoundly believe that God is getting ready to slam America hard for its pride and arrogance.

Our Founders gave us the greatest system of government in the history of the world. One of the countless ways in which we have rejected it is our military adventurism. Indeed, our Constitution forbids so much as a standing army.

Consider these prophetic words from John Quincy Adams: “America goes not abroad, in search of monsters to destroy. She is the well-wisher to the freedom and independence of all. She is the champion and vindicator only of her own. She will commend the general cause by the countenance of her voice, and the benignant sympathy of her example. She well knows that by once enlisting under other banners than her own, were they even the banners of foreign independence, she would involve herself beyond the power of extrication, in all the wars of interest and intrigue, of individual avarice, envy, and ambition, which assume the colors and usurp the standard of freedom. The fundamental maxims of her policy would insensibly change from liberty to force.... She might become the dictatress of the world. She would be no longer the ruler of her own spirit.... America's glory is not dominion, but liberty.”

When W took office in 2001, he promised that America would be a humble nation. After 9/11, we became the most arrogant nation on earth. You couldn’t go five minutes without hearing that 9/11 happened because America was wonderful and because the Muslim world sucked.

The Founders gave us a tool with which to fight such things as piracy, terrorism and other such non-state crimes. It was called a Letter of Marque and Reprisal (LMR), which is a kind of warrant.

If, for instance, Uncle Sam has probable cause that – to paraphrase Chris Isaak – Osama did a bad, bad thing, let Congress issue a LMR to go after Osama. Perhaps you can send some Marines, SEALS and Rangers to take care of business. However, you do not need to start two wars over it.

War is a horrible thing. And our power elites just cannot seem to get enough of it. General Robert E. Lee once remarked that "It is well that war is so terrible, or else we might grow too fond of it."

Most of the politicians, pundits and preachers who so recklessly agitate for war have never lifted a finger to serve one day in the military. However, they sure love to talk about war in theory. Perhaps if they actually made some personal sacrifices for the wars that they glorify, they might think differently.

You have to give Cindy Sheehan one thing: she made a sacrifice in the Iraq War. What have those who so roundly condemn her ever sacrificed? What has Glenn Beck, who called her a “tragedy slut”, ever given up? For some of these people, “sacrifice” means seeing a Ron Paul yard sign. I would love to see these people make a real sacrifice and see if they are still so slavishly devoted to the cause.

My Microsoft Word spell checker is surprisingly comprehensive. I am quite impressed with the words it does not underline in red so as to remind me to check my spelling. One word that was lined in red when I sat down to write this was "Ossetia." South Ossetia was that obscure.

Are you willing to die because of events in South Ossetia? Are you willing to send your kids to die because of events in South Ossetia? You can have whatever opinion you want. But if you are going to sit in your suburban easy chair endorsing every last war America is involved in, at some point you need to grab a glove and get in the game.

I am not a pacifist. If another nation comes here to fight a war, then, dadgummit, let Congress declare war and let’s get after it.

9/11, even if you buy the official story, was an attack, not a military invasion. It called for a limited response, such as an LMR. It in no way justified war on Afghanistan, war on Iraq and the proposed war on Iran.

A war on terrorism is a frivolous concept. Terrorists are horrible people who vent their grievances in very bad ways. However, they do not even control the government of Afghanistan. So the idea that World War III is necessary to stop terrorists from taking over America is absurd beyond words.

I am not afraid of radical Islam. America has no duty to destroy Islam. And terrorists are not going to “follow us over here” if we bring our troops home.

But what about our allies? The Founders warned repeatedly against alliances. They knew that alliances led to war and they wanted no part of Europe’s wars. Our alliance with Kuwait led us to endless war in Iraq. Our alliance with Israel has earned us enmity all over the Middle East. Our alliance with Georgia could very well lead us to a showdown with Russia. Is it worth it?

Again, let us remember the words of Thomas Jefferson: “Peace, commerce and honest friendship with all nations -- entangling alliances with none.”

The purpose of the military is to defend the borders and the shores and be done with it. Currently, America has troops in 130 countries and our own borders resemble a screen door on a submarine.

I have never had kids, so I am not going to tell you how to raise yours. However, I would not encourage anyone to join the military nowadays. Our soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines are being used for purposes that have nothing to do with our borders and our freedoms. Do you want your kids to be meat on the hoof for all of this? Do you yourself want to do any of the heavy lifting?

If the only tool you have is a hammer, everything begins to look like a nail. America, it seems, cannot look at any situation anymore without calling for war. Yes, we live in a messy world where people hate us and sometimes do bad things. But not every slight is grounds for war.

To paraphrase Robert Palmer, we might as well face it, we’re addicted to war. This is an addiction we can not afford any longer.

I have a good friend, age 58, who had a recent health scare that prompted him to quit smoking cold turkey. I am happy to report that, despite temporary inconvenience, he is going to be okay. I pray that America gets over its war Jones so uneventfully.

Come home, America. And come home now.

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#1. To: snoopdougg, *libertarians* (#0)

ping

http://s5.gladiatus.us/game/c.php?uid=77290

freepatriot32  posted on  2008-08-20   0:47:46 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#2. To: snoopdougg (#0)

The Lights are on, but no one's home.
Your land is not your own,
On the remote your finger shakes,
another war is what it takes.

You won't yell, you won't peep
The war lords get you in deep
You're all tied up with corporate greed
Another war is all you need.

Oh! You like to think you're immune to this stuff?
The sad fact is that you just can't get enough.

Might as well face it, you're addicted to war.
Might as well face it, you're addicted to war.
Might as well face it, you're addicted to war.
Might as well face it, you're addicted to war.

The Congress is where war pigs roam.
Your government is not your own.
You know it's useless to yell or scream.
So you sit watching your TV.

You watch the newscasts every day.
It doesn't matter what we might say.
Go ahead, scream and yell and shout,
Won't make no difference how it works out.

Oh! You like to think you're immune to this stuff?
The sad fact is we all can't get enough.

Might as well face it, we're addicted to war.
Might as well face it, we're addicted to war.
Might as well face it, we're addicted to war.
Might as well face it, we're addicted to war.

Gold and silver are REAL money, paper is but a promise.

Elliott Jackalope  posted on  2008-08-20   1:26:42 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#3. To: snoopdougg (#0)

Doug, this one may be your best one yet. outstanding. thanks for posting it here.

Do You Know What Freedom Really Means? Freedom4um.com

christine  posted on  2008-08-20   1:30:04 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#4. To: Elliott Jackalope (#2)

I had no idea this parody existed. Honest injun, I didn't.

Too cool!

The Fountain of Truth

snoopdougg  posted on  2008-08-20   1:30:33 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#5. To: Elliott Jackalope (#2)

hahaha..i was going to post the youtube.

Do You Know What Freedom Really Means? Freedom4um.com

christine  posted on  2008-08-20   1:31:10 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#6. To: snoopdougg (#4)

Actually, I just whipped that out once I read the article. Took me about ten minutes.

Gold and silver are REAL money, paper is but a promise.

Elliott Jackalope  posted on  2008-08-20   1:31:23 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#7. To: Ferret Mike (#0)

I am not a pacifist. If another nation comes here to fight a war, then, dadgummit, let Congress declare war and let’s get after it.

9/11, even if you buy the official story, was an attack, not a military invasion. It called for a limited response, such as an LMR. It in no way justified war on Afghanistan, war on Iraq and the proposed war on Iran.

A war on terrorism is a frivolous concept. Terrorists are horrible people who vent their grievances in very bad ways. However, they do not even control the government of Afghanistan. So the idea that World War III is necessary to stop terrorists from taking over America is absurd beyond words.

ping

Do You Know What Freedom Really Means? Freedom4um.com

christine  posted on  2008-08-20   1:32:35 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#8. To: christine (#5)

You mean this one? ;-)

Gold and silver are REAL money, paper is but a promise.

Elliott Jackalope  posted on  2008-08-20   1:34:52 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#9. To: Elliott Jackalope, christine (#8)

Serious.

I did not know these existed at all.

Honest.

Scout's honor.

Cross my heart and hope to die. Stick a needle in my eye. Stick a dagger in my thigh.

The Fountain of Truth

snoopdougg  posted on  2008-08-20   1:45:14 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#10. To: Christine, Jethro Tull (#7)

I hope you guys plan to stay up awhile this wondy eve..

Fukk it. More Warfare State means more Welfare State. Lilly liver yellow belly turncoat world citizen socialist MOFOs. God bless'em. ;-)

"If you love wealth more than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, depart from us in peace. We ask not your counsel nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you. May your chains rest lightly upon you and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen.”—Samuel Adams

Rotara  posted on  2008-08-20   1:47:48 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#11. To: All (#10)

Over and out! ;-)

"If you love wealth more than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, depart from us in peace. We ask not your counsel nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you. May your chains rest lightly upon you and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen.”—Samuel Adams

Rotara  posted on  2008-08-20   2:04:27 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#12. To: christine (#7)

I have a trouble with religious extremists running countries. I also have trouble with safe havens for people to practice murdering innocents.

On a personal real world level, I know first hand the frustrations with dealing with those who support ecotage and even uncomfortably know how they think and why this is so.

Fortunately for me, I know better then to engage in it with things as they are now with a need to chose battles wisely, and to remember how the laws of cause and effect work. This is in spite if in spite real and intense anger concerning the environment that is like chronic pain to my very soul. For better or worse, I know my training in the U.S. Army that helps me stay grounded from the ends justify the means sort of thinking. It taught me how to size up situations really well, and to figure people out much better then I used to be able to do.

As far as Afghanistan goes, when you know something is incredibly wrong because of what it does, sitting back and doing nothing about it is not an option. You may not like that sort of thinking, but that is just how it is.

I won't be bullied and dominated by U.S. home grown religious fanatics, and I sure won't tolerate them in power elsewhere either.

We created the unhealthy socio-political atmosphere that begot bin Laden and el Qaeda. And we have a responsibility to clean up our messes and to try to return that country into a semblance of what it would be had none of the using it as a pawn in the cold war had happened to it.

We have a responsibility because of our involvement with the economics of the trade to try to get farmers and others away from the easy profits from providing the raw materials for a poison like heroin.

I hardly support much of the variety of military action we have done there. But I have faith in the ability of SF and other units that deal with this level of warfare to be able to do what needs doing with not only a bare minimum of collateral damage, but to be able to do it in a way that gets people on their side.

I would like to see a long term presence of a low key presence of the sort of military unit that takes time and effort to know and build bonds with locals.

Sadly, one main difficulty in doing this is a very critical shortage of people capable of doing this sort of job. And has some have accurately pointed out, some really tainted people have too much influence on all things military in the U.S. for my liking either. But Pandora's Box for me is open.

I know too much about what we can do that is good work that accomplishes positive missions to be against trying to do it.

I would not tolerate the Mormons or the Christian right creating a theocracy here, and I conversely do not tolerate the likes of the Taliban. I see no point in sitting around and fretting about taking such evil out.

That is something I could never do. I support the destruction and destabilization of el Qaeda, and would like to see a complete neutering of the Taliban who once controlled that country.

And I want the right people with the right stuff doing it as it should be done, not as they have tried to do it since we went in there.


"You only have power over people so long as you don't take everything away from them. But when you've robbed a man of everything he's no longer in your power -- he's free again. Alexander Solzhenitsyn

Ferret Mike  posted on  2008-08-20   2:12:55 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#13. To: snoopdougg, christine, Jethro Tull, Cynicom (#0)

a. Two weeks ago, I had never heard of South Ossetia and I could only tell you four things about Georgia.

1. It was a former Soviet republic. 2. It was somewhere on the southern periphery of Russia, but I could not tell you exactly where. 3. It was Joe Stalin’s home country. 4. It was the Georgia the Beatles sang of in “Back in the USSR.”

Now, Bush, Cheney and McCain are foaming at the mouth over a purely regional conflict involving Georgia that has no bearing whatsoever on America.

b. RR in suburban Denver sent me a very lengthy article the other evening about the libertarian approach to all of this. While it appeared to contain many fine points, I just skimmed it as I did not have time to read it. My reply went something like this:

“RR,

“Thanks for sending.

“Two words: STAY OUT.

“Two more words: ARMED NEUTRALITY.

“Doug

a. I'd like to provide you with another fact about Georgia for your list, that is rich with irony considering current players and world events:

Georgia was part of Iran's empire for over 400 years until Russia won Georgia from Iran

b. Bravo - nicely said!

scrapper2  posted on  2008-08-20   2:19:43 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#14. To: Elliott Jackalope (#8)

that'd be the one ;)

Do You Know What Freedom Really Means? Freedom4um.com

christine  posted on  2008-08-20   2:22:10 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#15. To: Ferret Mike (#12)

ecotage

what is ecotage?

I won't be bullied and dominated by U.S. home grown religious fanatics, and I sure won't tolerate them in power elsewhere either.

it's none of our damn business unless we are attacked on our soil.

We created the unhealthy socio-political atmosphere that begot bin Laden and el Qaeda. And we have a responsibility to clean up our messes and to try to return that country into a semblance of what it would be had none of the using it as a pawn in the cold war had happened to it.

i beg to differ. i believe the real reason we're there is that pipeline and probably the massive opium fields too. bin laden and the bushes are buds. our government did 911 as a ruse to go into afghanistan and iraq and to implement the phony war on terror.

Do You Know What Freedom Really Means? Freedom4um.com

christine  posted on  2008-08-20   2:33:46 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#16. To: christine, Ferret Mike (#15)

Ferret: I won't be bullied and dominated by U.S. home grown religious fanatics, and I sure won't tolerate them in power elsewhere either.

christine: it's none of our damn business unless we are attacked on our soil.

You got it, christine. Hear, hear

Ferret you sound like a neocon - you and they want to impose our Western values around the globe at the butt edge of a gun. Who are we to sit in judgment of other nations?

In fact when we take other cultures into America by immigration, we encourage them to keep their traditions and cultures strong - remember, multiculturalism is good, assimilation is bad.

But then we turn around and tell other nations their culture as practiced in their own sovereign borders stinks and unless they change and met our standards of liberal democratic ideals we're going to invade and impose our culture by force on them.

Wow, that makes so much sense.

Ferret Mike, all we need to do is conduct trade and commerce with other nations. To do that we don't need to live there and therefore we have no bloody right to tell them "we won't tolerate this or that." Did you ever consider that our decadent promiscuous deviant self-indulgent culture bothers other nations? That they find our post modern society perverse? We are not the end all and be all, you know.

scrapper2  posted on  2008-08-20   4:19:14 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#17. To: scrapper2 (#13)

Georgia was part of Iran's empire for over 400 years until Russia won Georgia from Iran

Russia did NOT become the largest country in the world by playing nice with others.

I have never had any sympathy for them as a country or government, none.

The people are long suffering but just like us they deserve what they accept.

Cynicom  posted on  2008-08-20   6:05:39 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


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