"Most people don't know what what gunfire sounds like," said Korean War veteran John Fortier at last night's vigil. "They don't know what it smells like and they don't know what it can do.
"If I fire a .45 it would sound like a cannon. If it hit a 200 pound man in the shoulder or in the chest, he will go down. And when someone is killed by a sniper, he doesn't dance around like they do in the movies looking for a soft place to land. They drop.
"The fact that few other people are doing what we're doing, I don't understand it," John continued as he talked about the horrors of war. "They are either ignorant of what's going on in Iraq and Afghanistan with their support even if that support is by omission because they don't get involved. Or if they are aware, are they so callous they don't care. There should be 30 or 40 or 50 people out here. Where are they? Why is it just us?"
These are crucial questions John asked. My answer is people care very much when they can relate to war's horrors. But the U.S. government heavily censors it so that unlike the Vietnam War, they don't see it on their TV sets every night. Rarely do they see it at all.
They don't see a Baghdad market blown to bits or an Afghan housing complex leveled, in both cases leaving blood spattered on pieces of concrete and body parts strewn far and wide from what only a moment earlier were the lives of people. They don't see children laying in pools of their own blood barely able to cry or hear the shrill screams of mothers who can't stop crying as they kneel over their dead husbands or children. So to most Americans it is as if it wasn't happening and they don't think about it.
And by the Americans not seeing them and relating to them, these people have been dehumanized. They're not mothers and fathers and children with dreams and aspirations. They are "Muslims" who caused 9/11 and are responsible for much of the world's evil, the same way Communists used to be seen. These "Muslims" are just getting what they deserve for bad things happen to bad people.
In the five years I've conducted candlelight vigils, rarely has anyone other than Muslims talked about the people in Iraq and Afghanistan. They do talk about the U.S. soldiers, who are seen as one dimensional "heroes" but there is little interest in them beyond the wars or in their families.
But there is another factor every bit as big. There no longer is a draft. Most American families can tune out not worried about the gut wrenching news delivered when a soldier or two arrives at their door, telling them their son or daughter will be returning in a casket.
Few young Americans even think about wars for they cannot by drafted. They are free to enjoy their cell phones and text message about their romances, movies and TV shows and rock stars. An American soldier who just had his legs blown off is not on their minds.
Instead of the draft, the U.S. government hires "contractors" at premium rates to serve as soldiers. But we know little about that because it too is largely censored, but then in fairness, the news media doesn't even ask about it. As for the monetary costs, like the wars and weapons, the costs are all charged to the credit card as if these were bills American citizens will never have to pay.
But if there was peace tomorrow, the American economy couldn't absorb it. Suddenly the war contractors and the weapons makers would have to slash executive bonuses and shareholder dividends. That is unless they could start new wars. And as for the soldiers, they would face the harsh reality of no jobs, which is still a better prospect than being killed or maimed.
Dear reader, it hurts me to say these things to you but they're true. Last night's vigil drew numerous horn honks and waves but as nice as that support is, when added together, it probably equaled 5% of the people who witnessed the vigil. And it touched many others who for at least a few minutes were reminded these wars are being fought and families other than theirs are paying a severe price.
Of those who support the vigil more of them would join us on the street corner if they thought they could make a difference in bringing peace but because they don't think so, they want to at least acknowledge the effort we are making.
"But people are worried about the economy," you may be thinking and I agree. But the government is working hard to create the illusion the economy is becoming much stronger, despite it being drained by the staggering costs of its war machine and the millions of people unemployed or underemployed, along with its mountain of home foreclosures.
War is now one of America's biggest businesses. If ever you doubt that consider its endlessly growing budget which now officially exceeds $700 billion and collectively employs millions of people as contractors or sub contractors in nearly every U.S. Congressional District.
The fighting will eventually end in Iraq and Afghanistan and in other undeclared wars in Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia. But unless the U.S. is driven out as it was in Vietnam, it will retain a huge military presence, as it does in Japan and Germany (65 years since World War ll ended) and Korea (57 years since the Korean War ended) and nearly every where else in the world. But that too will change when the U.S. goes broke, something it is well on its way to doing.
If you think it won't go broke, that it can't happen here, and if it did, it can't happen now, and if it did, it can't happen to me, think again. The U.S. is so deeply in debt, that if interest rates spike just a few percent, to traditional interest rates, the government would be overwhelmed by it. And as history tells us, traditional interest rates will return.
Dick
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