Gun Ho

(The following is not intended to criticize honest gun owners -- our bulwark against tyranny -- or anyone facing armed conflicts or tyranny, or anyone from any ethnic group. It merely asks, "What do we get when we 'give the green light' to an endless war?")

     Tonight, with all the cares of the day behind you, you slide into bed. The silken sheets slink and caress, and you are refreshed, thinking, "Ah..another day in (relative) paradise has come and gone.."

      Suddenly, concussion-like sounds ring out. You awaken to the choking stench of death. The air so arid and arresting, you stumble as you stagger to the edge of a tent, then flip the flap open. Smoke and destruction envelop you in a dizzy swoon.

     Then count the cold statistics -- 650,000 of your fellow countrymen have perished in this "conflict." One million survivors now have cancer, fueled by thousands of tons of depleted uranium munitions -- a hazard which will not dissipate for millions (if not billions) of years.

      For decades, your nation has been: sanctioned, patrolled, bombed, surveilled, and hounded. And all of this during and after a tyrannical leader was trained and installed by this same foreign superpower. That is, even though their modern "Pearl Harbor event" (9-11) was provably not caused by anyone in your nation.

     Resigned to a seemingly inexorable fate, you slink back into the tent, and hide until the (temporary?) danger passes. Unable to stop them any more, your tears flow and then fleck with blood. Are you hit or is it someone else's?

      Now you suddenly gasp for breath as you awaken again, then sigh your relief as you realize -- you're still in the USA! So you gallantly gallivant toward your Escalade, noticing all the pretty ribbons and stickers that decorate it and all the other vehicles. Strangely, they now appear as tiny nooses, set to snare those entering them -- into a future of increasing gas prices and destruction. As you slip uneasily behind the wheel, you suddenly feel like part of a funeral procession -- because you are! At least two of your next-door neighbors' relatives have perished in overseas war (this is actually true for us!). An inescapable chill runs up and down your spine.

     So reality is finally setting in. But wait -- didn't those brave soldiers volunteer? Still, you've got to admit that it's dangerous to sign your life over to a government which initiates wars on sovereign nations -- and perpetuates them when failure is the only possible result. Hmm..at least it's something to ponder, tonight while falling asleep...

      Like a stomach-punch of deja vu, you suddenly awaken to blinking lights and a strange array of equipment. Both your legs are gone, and your breathing is impossibly labored. The syndromes you face, you are told, knocked at least one-third of soldiers out of service during and after Gulf War One. But to add insult to injury, you are presented a bill for your expenses, even though your expected paycheck has been indefinitely delayed. You could have easily withstood a blast with proper protection, but the only body armor you have was sent by Mom from back home. As your symptoms increasingly resemble Ebola, you realize you're in a foreign hospital -- not acknowledged in "official" government statistics.

     Now look on the bright side. You're suddenly Donald Rumsfeld -- no longer Defense Secretary, but still handsomely profitting from these conflicts. You've managed to evade responsibility for undermanning the Mideast forces and allowing acts of torture to persist at prison camps. You've introduced the world to the excitotoxic sweetener aspartame, as well as deadly TamiFlu, and helped North Korea get nuclear technology. Not to mention helping Red China get computer security equipment. Ah, life is good. So you sit back at your TV-VCR and relax to the dulcet tones and tales on those timeless torture tapes. "Mission Accomplished," indeed!

      What, then, does it actually mean when someone says, "Support the troops"? Does this mean that we must sanction absolutely every government military intervention undertaken -- even if it is an unprovoked attack on innocent people? As I recall, the perpetrators of 9-11 were mainly Saudi, while others were actually linked to the Israeli Mossad. Certainly they had much to gain, by drawing America in as a proxy to help fight their battles.

     By far the best way to support our brave troops is to bring them all home to actually protect America -- not foreign corporate multinationals. Get them the detoxifying / medical help they need -- and resolve to NEVER initiate war unless absolutely necessary.

     America is a blessed republic -- the product of Enlightenment philosophy and thousands of years of progress. Have we travelled so far on that golden path, that we are now destined to revert to barbarism? Never! Let's do the right thing -- restore our freedoms, limited government, and get back on the path to peace and prosperity!

      Now go back to bed, slip on your red-white-and-blue eyeshade, and dream, "Where will I be tomorrow?!"