Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children. This is not a way of life at all in any true sense. Under the cloud of threatening war, it is humanity hanging from a cross of iron.
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Great post. Thanks. And from a right wing military officer at that. Now, with technology our grandparents would not have dreamed of, the situation is way worse than ever and such silly, childish, hippie talk is not fashionable or acceptable any more, Huh? -too much fun killing things on our video screens, maybe? It ain’t as easy to be an optimist as it was in 1955.
Just last night I watched the original “Day the Earth Stood still” made a couple of years before Eisenhower took office. Hmm? Do you think that a real advanced space faring intelligence nearby would ever allow such a vile and potentially dangerous cancer to metastasize beyond the inner solar system? What do I have to say to a hornet’s nest in the back yard? Somehow I would not be expecting kindly Klatu and Gort to come with a warning either.
Hi Warren
People never seem to learn that ‘war’ is not supposed to be a desirable state of affairs for any nation. And it’s incredible to me that so many “hawks” on the conservative side of politics never sign up with the Armed Forces and actually do the sabre rattling/gun-waving themselves. Someone rightly parodied them as “Chicken Hawks”. A Left-wing parody web-site in the USA set up recruiting posts for Young Republicans to sign up to the military in “Operation Dumbo Drop” – since the Elephant is the mascot of the GOP – but of course none showed the slightest inclination to do so. SO I can’t take any of them seriously until they actually sweat blood on a battlefield or even a parade ground. And, of course, I support the troops actually doing the fighting in wars they didn’t ask for. The shameful treatment of Vietnam veterans should never be repeated for any modern war – here in Australia where I am or any other country involved in the interminable conflicts overseas. Did the soldiers send themselves? The real ‘war criminals’ never dirty their hands on a battlefield.
“The real ‘war criminals’ never dirty their hands on a battlefield”
Thanks for the reply. Yep! Sometimes you can even admit it publicly. Like this one from another WWI General, remember him? http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=5cb_1178900597&o=1
The image of George Bush as a Chicken Hawk, (loved him as a pink chicken with an AWOL helmet) was probably one of the most effective stunts the left tried during the Iraq war. The American right wing is pretty much shameless, as you have probably observed but they were really very disturbed by being called cowards; it drove them nuts and they had a hard time defending themselves.
The trouble is, the class war is over now here in the states, and the upper class won. President Obambi has just pulled off the most incredible bait and switch routine you could possibly imagine, making deal after deal with the fascist/neo-feudal corporate/military rulers while running as a populist. Democracy is dead, much less even pretending this is an egalitarian society. When the function of the unwashed masses is to serve the palace, there is no problem treating the troops, or anyone else without a pedigree, anyway you like.
Needless to say, I am not in an optimistic mood. 60 years ago we really seemed to be making progress. Eisenhower’s view was mainstream. Now, your quote is the view of the “crazy leftist” and Eleanor Roosevelt has been replaced with Rupert Murdoch (You guys can have him back any time you want him.). If justice ever comes to the human species it will not likely originate here. Probably, we have to wait for from some enlightened genetic engineers, working out in the Kuiper belt or further. Our love of war seems deeply embedded in the genome. We’ve “always been at war with East Asia” and in the US, at the moment, we seem to be pretty comfortable with that, even in some of the nicest liberal circles.