What War Wrought


War wrought a perpetual arms race stoked by the generational innovation of increasingly lethal murder-machines.

War wrought the deadliest century in human history, the 20th. About 70 million people were killed as a direct result of war. This number doesn't include the millions who died indirectly due to starvation, bad water and disease. Millions more were herded into massive refugee camps to live and die in incomprehensible squalor. More than 90% of these casualties were unarmed, innocent civilians.

War wrought state-of-the-art weapons so deadly they kill our soldiers on contact as well as the alleged enemy. Napalm, fuel-air explosives and depleted uranium munitions are the latest doomsday devices.

War wrought a warning from a venerated five-star general. Eisenhower saw the handwriting on the wall. He told us about the peril of permitting the vertical integration of an entire industry dedicated to the welfare of warfare -- also euphemistically called the "defense" department. Whether out of fear or failure, we continue to ignore his stern advice to beware the military industrial complex. This blatant irresponsibility led to the global stockpiling of mountains of weapons, specifically designed to destroy human beings. Death and destruction are now considered reasonable solutions to human problems, while peace, justice and liberty are considered unachievable. America spends about a trillion dollars a year fighting terrorists who have no resources. How is this possible? Who is pocketing all this money?

War wrought the construction of one of the biggest structures ever built, the Pentagon. In this building, our best and brightest military minds spend their days contriving plans for war and spreading rumors of war. As long as the Pentagon and similar structures stand, there can never be peace on Earth.

War wrought instant elimination of our constitutional rights. George W. Bush used the 9/11 attacks as an excuse to abolish our legal protections with the stroke of his pen. If World War I, World War II and the cold war didn't require the scrapping of our rights, then why does the nebulous war against terrorism require it?

War wrought environmental degradation. The greatest polluters on the planet are national militaries. They use secrecy and bogus threats to national security as shields against proper oversight and indictment. The sad result is they pollute at will.

War wrought the massive waste of our national resources. Quibbling over contract fraud in Iraq is useless. The illegal, immoral wars of aggression in the Middle East were frauds from their start. These crimes against humanity require an international tribunal, similar to the Nuremberg trials, to prosecute the perpetrators in the Bush regime.

War wrought nuclear weapons which can't be used to defend us. Billions are spent yearly to nursemaid these Armageddon engines. While the possibility of mutually assured destruction (MAD) is no longer an urgent issue, it still hangs over our heads like the Sword of Damocles.

War wrought the rise of corrupt politicians who pass ridiculous budgets to feed the greed of the military industrial media incarceration complex (MIMIC). In return, they receive their forty pieces of silver in the form of campaign funds. Our undemocratic politics are a shameful disgrace.

War wrought a myopic media. They celebrate mass murder orgies by our military and they characterize them as acts of heroism.

War wrought an immoral religious establishment. They bless the bombs and bullets destined to kill incalculable numbers of innocent non-combatants in evil, unnecessary wars. Both soldiers and civilians deserve a better fate than this.

War wrought the super-saturation of humanity with small arms. Rebels appear on TV with bullet bandoliers and machine guns. Most of these people are ignorant and penniless. So, where did their weapons come from? More than 90% of these weapons are manufactured by the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council (US, UK, France, China and Russia).

War wrought a disturbing growth in the number of those who believe in the end of the world. Readers of the Left Behind novel series about the Apocalypse are everywhere. Daily, we see the powerful overwhelming the powerless. And we know power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. The only way we'll survive this death-dance is if we replace the lust for power with a love of peace.

War wrought Bush's Orwellian idiot-antics posing as responsible decision-making. Will Dubya detonate Middle East War III against Iran in a desperate effort to retain Republican control of the White House? The recent forced retirement of CentCom Commander, Admiral William Fallon, is a bad sign such a crazy act of unprovoked aggression could be unleashed.

War wrought all these savage and sorrowful things because we refuse to answer the ultimate question: Who would Jesus bomb?

Franklin L. Johnson
http://weareseers.blogspot.com
starhelix@aol.com