Preemptive wars, military occupations, corrupt puppet governments, secret prisons and suspects seized, tortured and held indefinitely without charges. These are the horrific practices of the U.S. government and all in the name of peace.
For 36 minutes, Mr. Obama spoke to the Nobel Prize Committe and to the world. He eloquently cast aside the teachings of Gandhi and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. as he tried to talk around America's brutal practices.
He failed because as compelling as his words were, there was no substance to them. He was trying to justify violence and there was no room in his speech for the price in blood that is paid or the number of orphans war causes or the seeds of rage that are planted for future wars.
If the U.S. wants peace, it must use peaceful means. Where there is ignorance: build schools, where there is disease: build hospitals, where there is poverty: create jobs and where there is hunger: implement better agricultural systems.
If that seems extravagant to you, think of what war has cost in lives and money. Like war, peace is not free. It costs money. In the U.S. this means you and I as citizens must get involved to direct our government to stop its wars and invest in peace.
Otherwise, we'll have our President speaking hollow words trying to justify the cruelty and violence our nation is committing as it spreads fear and terror and death and destruction and hopelessness to the men, women and children of the countries it targets.
Dick
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