Category Archives: War and Peace Stories

Is the US Readying for More War?

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There is new work in the gallery! Check it out. And if you are an anti-war artist, please contact me using the contact form above. The world needs to see your art now more than ever.

Even as the Iraq occupation is ending, it seems the U.S. is preparing to start new wars. The disturbing news below comes from RT News, just in time to cheer us all up for the New Year. Of course, getting ready for a new war is anything but cheery news.  Unfortunately, it seems that whoever is the American “Commander in Chief” –  it hardly matters when it comes to invading, bombing and policing the world. The election next year will probably not change anything, since someone from one of the two War Parties is sure to be elected. The story from RT News:

“Without much media attention, thousands of American troops are being deployed to Israel, and Iranian officials believe that this is the latest and most blatant warning that the US will soon be attacking Tehran.

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Has War with Iran already Started?

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The Iraq War officially ends today!  But don’t get too excited — another one is (probably) just around the corner.

The U.S. is currently engaged in drone strikes in at least six countries.

It seems like no matter who is in the White House in the US, there is an unofficial devotion to the idea of “perpetual war”.  Pursuing peace seems almost quaint to the politicians in charge.  There is an entire generation of American children growing up who don’t know what it’s like for their country to be at peace or even to pursue peace.  Our politicians don’t talk about peace anymore — they talk about war, and “defense spending”, and our “warriors” and “homeland security”. When did talk about peace stop? I don’t remember exactly when, but it did stop.

With all the current meddling and unrest in the Middle East and beyond, US politicians now seem determined to start yet another war, or at least help with one that our “special ally” wants to start.  The question is whether or not it’s even avoidable at this point. It may have already started. According to The Independent: (another article submitted by one of our artists)

Paul Vallely: War on Iran has begun. And it is madness

The parallels with Iraq are disturbing: we are convinced of a sinister threat to the West and we have a dodgy dossier to prove it

It’s no secret that Israel wants to bomb “nuclear facilities” in Iran, which would not be an easy task, since they are scattered all over the place.

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American War Machine Videos

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Thanks to Mort Cohn for this first video.  NSFW.

This brings up the question: what will it take to stop the American war machine? I don’t know. Our voting doesn’t stop it. Our participating in government doesn’t do it either.

Another interesting thing to listen to is General Wesley Clark in 2007, talking about a classified memo he was told about that laid out plans for the US to attack 5 or 6 countries in five years. That speech was given to the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco. The video is below.
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War Poem

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Below is the best-known poem of the First World War. Submitted by artist Mort Cohn.

DULCE ET DECORUM EST

Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,
Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,
Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs
And towards our distant rest began to trudge.
Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots
But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind;
Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots
Of tired, outstripped Five-Nines that dropped behind.
Gas! Gas! Quick, boys! – An ecstasy of fumbling,
Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time;
But someone still was yelling out and stumbling,
And flound’ring like a man in fire or lime . . .
Dim, through the misty panes and thick green light,
As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.
In all my dreams, before my helpless sight,
He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.
If in some smothering dreams you too could pace
Behind the wagon that we flung him in,
And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,
His hanging face, like a devil’s sick of sin;
If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood
Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,
Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud
Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,
My friend, you would not tell with such high zest
To children ardent for some desperate glory,
The old Lie; Dulce et Decorum est
Pro patria mori.

Wilfred Owen
8 October 1917 – March, 1918

See notes here.

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U.S. War Fever Might be Subsiding

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“War fever” in the U.S. might be subsiding, but is “Empire Fever”?  Juan Cole, Middle East expert writes:

US Public Backs Obama, Wants out of Afghanistan

June 30 — 79% of Americans agree with President Obama’s plan to take a third of US troops out of Afghanistan over the next two years, and 59% think he should withdraw more, and more quickly.

These views do not accord with those of the generals in the Pentagon, who felt that Obama’s timetable is “more aggressive” than they would have liked.

But as Andrew Bacevich argues, war fever in the US is finally subsiding, as the public wakes up to the high costs in lives and treasure of the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars and as a majority has become convinced that occupying those countries militarily brings no particular security benefit to the US.”

So for about $4 trillion dollars, we got “no particular security benefit”.  Wonderful.  Now can we spend that much money on people who actually need it, for a real benefit?  Obama’s withdrawal plan is far too slow, and he’s probably planning it that way so unemployment doesn’t spike once the soldiers come home.  There might even be a pipeline involved.

Three soldiers reportedly died in Iraq this morning (June 30th).  The news media will no doubt focus on the presidential race/horse race all day.  When’s the last time you heard them even talk about Iraq?

 

More interesting reading here. Wikileaks mirror on Afghanistan here.

 

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Galloway on U.S. Interference in Libya

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What is the U.S. doing fighting another war in Libya? We can’t afford it, in more ways than one. George Galloway has something to say about that in this video. This was sent to me by one of the artists here at Antiwarartists.com.

Recently someone called into a radio talk show that I listen to and said the reason the U.S. has a debt problem is because we are the self-appointed “policemen of the world”. That’s true. This role is a matter of pride to some politicians, but it is an outrageous role for us to uphold, in the opinion of most people I know. To those who are in favor of that destiny for the U.S., it’s important for them to know that no one asked the U.S. to be the “policemen” of the world. The U.S. was not appointed policeman of the world; the U.S. was not elected to that role, and the U.S. has not officially given itself that role — so why are we doing it?

Also, it’s selective. We are acting out that role in Libya and parts of the Middle East, but not in others. We turn our heads to too many countries suffering from violence for it to make sense. We mostly ignore violence problems in Africa, and elsewhere. U.S. interference does seem related to oil, and so it’s far from consistent.
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More Escalating War Activities and Spending

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Would you believe that the supposedly broke, destitute, nearly bankrupt U.S. economy can support yet more war funds ($25 million) and more drones to yet another foreign country? Here is how one U.S. Congressman feels about it. (Sent in by a fellow AWA artist)

Even though a growing number of politicians question our escalations of involvement in violence around the world, the waste of lives and money continues. All this is happening while impassioned political arguments are being made; arguments about how much money spent on regular citizens for peaceful, humanitarian reasons should be cut. More reading:

U.S. begins using Predator drones in Libya

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The Chance for Peace

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Looking for peace

Below is an old, wise speech by a former president.  He was trying to warn us about something, back before it was too late.  At one point in time, peace was a valued condition for the world, something to aspire to.

Cross of Iron

Address by President Dwight D. Eisenhower “The Chance for Peace” delivered before the American Society of Newspaper Editors, April 16,1953.

In this spring of 1953 the free world weighs one question above all others: the chance for a just peace for all peoples.

To weigh this chance is to summon instantly to mind another recent moment of great decision.  It came with that yet more hopeful spring of 1945, bright with the promise of victory and of freedom. The hope of all just men in that moment too was a just and lasting peace.

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Here We Go Again

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Soon after we all were told that the U.S. is flat broke and can’t even afford heating assistance for the poor, we get involved in yet another expensive war.  How many millions is this costing the U.S. and all the countries involved (most if not all who claim to be having severe financial problems) and how many lives will be lost? We always seem to have money for bombers and bombs, as though those things take precedence over everything else.  This time around, I also noticed that most media anchors and even the reporters were heavily pushing for a war to start.  CNN International was the worst perpetrator of a constant push for war before the bombing began. (Of course, they stand to profit from their coverage of a new war, since many people are “bored” with the old ones.)

 

All-American Warmonger by Shelly L.

France fired the first shots in the new war with Libya, but the Obama Administration was close behind, with US warships firing upwards of 120 Tomahawk missiles at targets inside Libya. The strikes came largely overnight, and exactly what they hit is largely unknown.

The reports however, suggest that at least some of the missiles hit civilian areas, and initial reports are that the attacks have killed at least 48 civilians and wounded 150 others.

Obama termed the attacks a “limited military action” officially, but the massive series of strikes suggests the administration is already going far beyond the “no-fly zone” mandate and is well on its way to demanding Iraq-style regime change.

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