“Most of you know I opposed this war from the start. I thought it was a tragic mistake. Today we grieve for the families who have lost loved ones, the hearts that have been broken, and the young lives that could have been.
America, it’s time to start bringing our troops home. It’s time to admit that no amount of American lives can resolve the political disagreement that lies at the heart of someone else’s civil war.”
Excerpt from Barak Obama’s announcement to run for President, 2/10/2007
Our Nation Cannot Afford Wars at This Point in Time
Why are we sacrificing the lives of young men and women, fathers and mothers who are fighting against an unnamed country? We’re not at war with Iraq or Afghanistan, but with an enemy that has no country, “Al Qaida.” It’s a war that is impossible to win while at the same time we are inspiring a larger enemy because of killing innocent men, women and children while going after enemy targets. Collateral damage has its effects.
The Peace President
While our infrastructure is crumbling at home, the economy supported only by government spending, and our nations debt spiraling out of control, Obama is currently contemplating sending 34,000 more troops to Afghanistan. This after he already sent 4,000 additional troops in February, soon after being sworn in.
Many say that the Nobel Peace Prize awarded to Obama was a preemptive move to force Obama’s hand to do the right thing; end the wars.
The Peace Prize winning President however continues to be involved in Pakistan’s affairs ordering a missile strike in August and continuing the Bush administration mantra of continually warning Iran over Nukes as well as renewing the sanctions against Iran and threatening to add new sanctions.
Does this sound like a Peace Prize winning President to you? Can you really tell the difference between George W. Bush and Obama? But the worse of this is not the fact that there is no real difference between the two political parties when it comes to war, but rather the neglect for protecting our own borders.
A Strong National Defense
Ronald Reagan called for “a strong national defense.” Did Reagan mean the defense of other countries borders or our own?
If you would just like to protect our own borders rather than the borders of other countries; if you would like to take care of our own economic woes, crumbling infrastructure and support a stronger dollar, then write your congressman or woman and tell them so.
From a Christian Perspective
If you disagree with just bringing our troops home, and are a Christian, then ask yourself, what Biblical reasoning is there for the actions of a government when the Bible clearly speaks to “defending” oneself rather than “killing them before they kill us” as one former Christian Presidential candidate emailed me. He refused to quote me a Bible verse that backed his words and told me the “conversation was over.” I guess that’s how we talk to our enemies too. One sided.
What ever happened to “love thy neighbor as thyself?”
The War Body Count
2,976 died on 9/11/2001. 4,364 U.S. soldiers have died as of yesterday, 11/19/2009 in seeking revenge. This does not include the coalition forces deaths (325), Afghanistan military deaths (923), journalists deaths (335), contract employee deaths (1,395), or the 1.3 million Iraqis killed since the war began. Lastly it doesn’t include the overlooked 100,000 plus injured or traumatized.
They say in the investment world that nothing goes straight up.
With war, there is something that goes straight up. The body count.
How many have to die to prove a point?
Conclusion
President Obama ran on a campaign of ending the wars but is currently contemplating sending more troops to Afghanistan. Both Republicans and Democrats support the military industrial complex. Republicans used to get us out of wars (Vietnam and Afghanistan) and now these “new” Republicans, also called “neoconservatives,” hijacked our liberty since 9/11 as well as forgot the Reagan “old Republican party” stance of a “strong national defense” while the “neo-liberals” infatuation with war and the threat of war charade continues without any media objection.
Our borders are wide open to any individual who can get across. Even a Mariachi band and a guy riding on an elephant can cross our borders undetected giving the opportunity for terrorists access to our country, let alone illegal aliens who burden our economic prosperity.
WHAT ABOUT PROTECTING OUR OWN DAMN BORDERS?
What have the left and right done to help our our own economy except add more debt? Why don’t they cut spending by reducing the biggest expenditure, the military expense?
Wouldn’t money spent on war and protecting other countries borders really be better spent fixing our own crumbling infrastructure? Do we have to wait for another bridge to collapse before doing something?
It is up to us to tell Congress what to do, not for Congress to dictate things to us. The left and right may need war in allowing the military industrial complex to profit, BUT WE DON’T!
When Do We Tell Congress We Need to Take Care of Our Own?
The answer is now! Maybe it will make your dollars maintain their purchasing power. Maybe it will save a soldiers life…
[…] what they don’t have. And not to leave out the neo-liberal arm of the Democrat Party as they love war too, there was also no mention of the Senate Finance Committee vote by Rachel Maddow, the Keith […]