Unless a nation is attacked directly, her leaders have many alternate options to consider before the war card is even on the table. Too many American leaders have fallen into an easy trap. If they can find a popular excuse to attack [a just cause], they will. The military/industrial complex is prepared for perpetual war. Their profitability depends on it. Other options are woefully underfunded and untested.
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Howard Zinn and I weren't the first to differentiate between a just cause and a just war. Long before we were born the Bolsheviks had the answer. However righteous one's cause, he really must think twice before he begins a war to advance it. Wars were fought between the elite factions in both countries. Both benefited through war profiteering to bank profits. These funds would come in handy to generate even greater amounts during the post-war recession that usually followed.
While the rich profited, the poor fought the wars. Since the poor were not educated to write historical tracts, the accounts always favored the rich. Thus, the suffering of the combat troops and the hapless civilians caught in the crossfire was not a topic for study. Howard Zinn verifies that he obtained a PhD in history before he read of the plight of the common people in war.
Unfortunately, ordinary people are enthusiastic about wars before they experience one on their home turf. In a foxhole everyone becomes a pacifist.
Recognizing this, Ho Chi Minh invited the Americans to load his land with troops. The more who came; the faster they would lose the war.
Reflect on the words of Howard Zinn.
By now, I hope you may have soured a bit on violence no matter how justified it may appear.
Welcome to Asia
In the process of three Asian land wars, the Americans have dug themselves a huge dark grave. The more they struggle the deeper they fall. Blythfully, President Obama announces his war in AfPak may extend through his term of office. This is an assumption of historic proportions on several counts. His military is far too taken with its order of battle to win anything on that continent. The insurgents will never give the westerners a fair shot on their terms. If I may translate from the Hamas Charter:
The principles of the Hamas are stated in their Covenant or Charter. Following are highlights.
"[America] will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it, just as it obliterated others before it....
"The Islamic Resistance Movement believes that the land of [AfPak] is an Islamic Waqf consecrated for future Muslim generations until Judgment Day....
"There is no solution for the [Muslim] question except through Jihad. Initiatives, proposals and international conferences are all a waste of time and vain endeavors....
"After [AfPak], the west aspires to expand from the Nile to the Euphrates. When they will have digested the region they overtook, they will aspire to further expansion, and so on. Their plan is embodied in the "Project for the New American Century", and their present conduct is the best proof of what we are saying."
Authors Bio:Born a month before Pearl Harbor, I attended world events from an early age. My first words included Mussolini, Patton, Sahara and Patton. At age three I was a regular listener to Lowell Thomas.
My mom was an industrial nurse a member of the AFL/CIO. My dad was a painting contractor. We shopped at the Working Man's Store.
Dad's reading matter was the Old Mole the house organ of the Socialist Workers Party. I played the saxophone and became a young fan of Charlie Parker, Lester Young and Duke Ellington. Naturally, I gravitated to the Civil Rights movement.
After college to avoid the draft, I joined the US Army Reserve. Alas, this came to crowd control, which was a euphemism for busting radical potheads. When I ducked out of this duty, my commander bundled me off to a unit doomed to go to Vietnam. Ironically, my old unit went to Vietnam and the new one stayed home.
I studied economics in graduate school where I watched America go mad with war. Afterwards, I joined the rat race for a decade.
When Ronnie Reagan became President, I took up residence in Israel.
The 11 books listed below describe my adventures in Israel.
The articles reflect additional thoughts that expand on the author's ten volumes Genesis Begins the Millennia. The work begins in 1995 with a fictional account of ordinary Israelis absorbed with everyday events. There are extraordinary happenings the characters gradually recognize as portents of the Messianic Age. Volumes four and five show why the Messiah decided to delay His arrival.
Volumes six through ten [Tradebombers] begin six weeks before the 9/11 World Trade Center tragedy. Again, the characters portray ordinary citizen reaction to extraordinary events.