It's Labor Day. I wasn't going to write anything, just drink some bottles of my favorite German wine and light the grill and put some Italian Sausages on. I have a very good life, quiet, secure and safe. That's why I wonder why I do the things I do. Let me explain.
Why do I get upset when I see my nation putting its military footprint all over the world and treating Muslims like they are the scourge of the Earth as they kill as many of Allah's followers as they can? Why should I care? Why should I care when suspected "terrorists" or "insurgents" face "extraordinary rendition" and are tortured by other countries at the bequest of the U.S? Why should I give a sh*t?
I live in the country in South Carolina. I have one liberal friend besides my wife. I talk to the guys at the gun/pawn shop, they are my friends but they are different from me. The only thing that draws us together is being neighbors, guns, and the book I wrote, "Kimchee Days". They are busy people; they don't dwell on what I dwell on.
I dwell on the direction my country is headed. Even though it hasn't affected me personally, I still care. I only know one thing in my life that's always been true. If you see something happening that is wrong and you don't speak out, then you are complicit. I don't wish to be complicit. Complicity is for cowards. Most Americans I'm afraid to say are cowards of the worst kind.
Some estimates say we have killed over a million Iraqi's, dislocated four million Iraqi's to other nations that don't want them, destroyed their infrastructure, caused a civil war and left the country of Iraq in shambles when we fought a war of aggression on them that was against all international laws. Tony Blair is being investigated by the ICC. When the investigation is through, I believe he will finish his days in prison for his part in the war on Iraq. Alas, we are not a signatory to the ICC law against wars of aggression. Bush will probably be charged next, along with Cheney, but as long as they stay out of countries that signed the charter, they will continue to live as free men, how wrong is that?
I think of all the munitions we used in Iraq. I am disgusted at our use of "depleted" uranium in our ordinance that poisons the air and ground and the water tables and has a half-life of over 400,000 years. Mothers and Fathers in Iraq don't ask if it's a boy or a girl. They ask if the baby is normal. Cancer rates have gone up over 600% for children, the most vulnerable of the populace. How can we be proud to inflict so much carnage upon a people that had already endured decades under a dictatorship?
Now we are playing Iraq Redux in Afghanistan. We will kill people indiscriminately, just as we killed those people in Iraq. We are warmongers, war for war's sake. The government says that the "terrorists" that appeared on 9/11 were trained in Afghanistan. They don't know that. In fact, they never charged Bin Laden with the crimes of 9/11. It is all propaganda for war in search of resources.
Why do I care? I care because they do all this in my name and in your name. I refuse to be an accomplice to murder in these insane wars. Obama has shown himself to be a Bush clone. All that promise flushed down the sewer that is the war in Afghanistan.
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