Taking
a Stand Against Perpetual War
Many
people are urging the Obama administration to exert more leadership
in the struggle to reduce gun violence in the United States.
President Obama has spoken to the nation in the past about the need
to undertake war while dodging the domestic gun violence issue –
first in the surprise drone strikes around the globe, next concerning
Libya, more recently in Syria until overwhelming public opinion
against another war forced Obama to change his mind, and most
recently when he informed Congress and the American people that US
troops will be in Afghanistan until as late as 2024. I recently
viewed a CNN video where the terrible problem of rape in U.S. prisons
was lifted up. Violence surrounds us. It is ingrained into and
embraced by U.S. Society. This needs to change.
More
than 50 years ago, President Dwight Eisenhower warned of the growth
of the military-industrial complex. He cautioned us about the need to
guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, "whether
sought or unsought," by the military industrial complex. "The
potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will
persist," he said. More than 60 years ago, George Orwell wrote
of "perpetual war," a situation in which war operates as a
means of controlling the population by constantly rallying them
against a common enemy. It matters not whether a Republican or a
Democrat is in the White House; wars go on and on and on, perpetually
it seems. World War Two lasted 4 years for the US and six years for
Europe, yet US troops have been in Afghanistan since October of 2001.
Libyan
dictator Col. Muammar Gaddafi was the longest-serving ruler in
Africa, having taken power in 1969. He was a strange character, noted
for many eccentricities. He also has supported horrible terrorist
incidents over the decades. The United States wasn't really sure who
to side with against Gaddafi. Libya is a complicated stew. As the
winds of change blew across the Middle East, many in Libya seized the
moment to revolt. At first, it appeared the momentum of their
rebellion would carry the day. Sadly, Gaddafi unleashed his military
forces against the rebels, and the rest is history. Obama
administration officials maintained that United States decided to
wage war on Libya because of the threat the horrible Gaddafi was to
his own people. Then why not attack Bahrain or Yemen or Somalia?
Tyrants in those countries are committing similarly repugnant acts
against their citizens, maybe even worse.
It's
a good thing that America decided not to attack Syria. It could
easily have started World War Three. Had America bombed Syria from
the air, Syria would have called in reinforcements from its ally
Russia, and it would have been only a matter of time before the
nuclear weapons started flying. For this reason and more, I am
excited that ordinary people are rising up, first across the Middle
East to cast off autocrats, tyrants, kings and dictators, not to
mention the secret police who harass the citizenry daily, and also in
America with the formation of the Occupy and “the 99%” Movements.
The most damning thing about our federal government is the recent
disclosure of an out-of-control foreign and domestic spy network,
which proves to me that Obama is morphing from a US president into a
tyrant. People want peace and justice, not war and violence. We're
all sick and tired of all the fighting, all we want is some peace and
quiet for a change.
In
the United States, including right here in Atlanta, many leaders and
members of churches constantly, loudly lament about a shortage of
money. There is a reason for that – vast sums of the incomes of
their members are being drained off for war, death and destruction.
These are people who become enraged over an aborted fetus, but who
have no problem going overseas to kill oftentimes innocent strangers.
To call this a glaring contradiction would be an understatement. At
any rate, and given the near silence of America's pulpits in the face
of the violence and war that surrounds us, the exertions of our
theologians in justifying war, the devotion of denominational members
to the myth of redemptive violence, it is certain that future
historians will view the church as a slave to the vast war machine
that engulfs us. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. prophesied, "A
nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military
defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual
death." It looks to me like the USA is already there due to the
fact that America spends more money locking people up than is spent
on educating them. Will we rise up against this madness of violence
and backwards priorities, or are we dead already?
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