In America, war is invisible. We see no men, women and children blown to bits. We hear no cries from their families, we see no burials, nor feel any of their pain or loss.
We see no one rushed to the hospital, bleeding profusely from the latest bombing or shooting. We see no hospitals short of staff because most medical professionals have fled their nation.
We don't even see the dead or wounded U.S. soldiers nor see their devastated families. It's censored by the U.S. military and all of these people are invisible, never to be seen or heard from by the rest of us, as we go on with our lives as if these war weren't happening.
Recently, Defense Secretary Gates said in trying to censor a picture of a dying U.S. soldier that as a matter of "decency," it should not be shown. Well Mr. Gates, wars are major news and they deserve unsanitized coverage.
World War ll, and the Korean and Vietnam Wars were fully covered and widely shown to the American people so they could understand what was happening. "Decency" is not putting these soldiers in harm's way in the first place!
But we see no pictures of Iraq's or Afghanistan's war torn cities. In Baghdad, for example, we don't see a city filled with two story cement fire walls, a city filled with military checkpoints where the people live in lock down, imprisoned in their own nation.
Instead, we're told "things are getting better in Iraq" if we're told anything, as that war has disappeared from the news. In Afghanistan, the war is being ramped up for numerous fierce battles to come but we don't see it.
As with Iraq, it goes unquestioned by most major U.S. news media. We don't even know how many mercenary soldiers the U.S. now employs but it is a massive number.
As in Iraq, we don't even know why that war is being fought. Perhaps this eight year old war is just revenge for 9/11 in which all Afghans must pay. There are no stated objectives, time frames, means of measuring "progress" or any plans to leave. It's no wonder U.S. allies want no part of this war.
As for the monetary costs of these wars, there are no limitations. The U.S. has endless funds to throw into weapons and wars but apparently is cost constrained when it comes to providing medical care for all of its people, cost constrained when it comes to its schools and its hospitals and its bridges and roads.
After World War ll, many Germans claimed they didn't know about the concentration camps nor many of the other horrific actions taken by the Nazis. Their claims had no credibility.
Today, with the Internet we can overcome U.S. military censorship. No one can claim they don't know what's going on other than by willful ignorance. And to be apathetic is to abandon your brothers and sisters at a time when they need you most.
Many people say there is nothing they can do. But they say that without even trying to do something! Your voice matters, so raise it. Get involved with others who are trying to stop these wars. Take to the streets. Do a candlelight vigil, pressure the media but do something!
The world will later condemn the U.S. for the Hell it caused as it bankrupted itself morally and financially. But you will know and your family and friends will know that during this dark period of insanity, a time when so many others were silent, you had the courage and the compassion to try to stop it!
Dick
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