Killing in the Name of
Just recently Defense Secretary Leon Panetta (age 73) and General Martin Dempsey (age 60) lifted the ban that prevented women from fighting on the front line. All of the women in the military said “Oh Yeah” now we too can die for our country. And I thought people of faith were morons. Unfortunately there are many more and that’s what frightens me. Our country is involved in too many conflicts/wars in the middle east. While our military is voluntary now, it is not unforeseeable that in the future a draft will be necessary, which means women/young ladies could and would be drafted using our present day lottery system. Unlike the Vietnam war today’s soldiers are deployed longer and do many more tours than in previous conflicts. Our present day system appears to be flawed. How much longer can we maintain our military strength before new recruits are needed? And if a voluntary system does'nt acquire them, a draft surely will. While this thought may seemed far fetched to many, maybe we should review the data before drawing any conclusions.
Bush’s war in Iraq is finally winding down. However,a military presence is still necessary. The war in Afghanistan, who knows what the fuck is going on there. And when we finally do remove our troops do we honestly think al-Qaeda won’t return. Another concern of many politicians is Iran, and in all likelihood that will be the next stop on America’s military tour of the middle east. Additionally, there are problems in two other areas that will likely require America’s assistance. The first one is Syria where al-Qaeda linked groups are fighting alongside Syrian rebels. Just a few days ago on National TV President Obama stated that we were looking into the Syrian crisis. The other area of concern is Mali, a west African country who are fighting against French troops, who have already been promised our support. Where will our military get the necessary soldiers to maintain all of these fronts if war is imminent?
Unfortunately, it will be decided by our congressmen(avg.age 62) and our senators(avg.age 58) the majority of them are white. Like Panetta and Dempsey old white men will decide our young women’s and men’s fate. They are like roaches they never go away. Most of them have served multiple terms. A democratic senator from my home state has been in office longer than I care to remember. What I am trying to say is while our country is a democracy(we elect those that govern) we are governed by an oligarchy(governed by a selected few). Because we keep electing the same politicians that have been there and have done little to improve our lot in life. Unless you consider wars an improvement. They toss out words like terrorism and patriotism to elicit votes and enrage the citizens. Terrorism cannot be stopped just because we overturned an unfriendly or uncooperative government. Evil is inherent.
Just after the presidential election, I was channel surfing to see what political analysts were saying. And in my search I stumbled upon the Fox news network just as Bill O'Reilly was interviewing Dennis Miller (comedian??) about his election thoughts. Miller stated that he had talked to Mitt Romney many times and that "Romney was a great patriot.“ Now I know that Miller is not very funny, but until then I never question his intellect. A patriot, according to the dictionary, is one who loves their country and supports its authority. The word love is key to this definition. Love cannot be measured by words like great or endearing you can only love or not love. But what was I thinking this was the same Miller who in a 2003 HBO special said that “the war in Iraq would be the prelim for the war in North Korea.” I suppose history is'nt his strong suit either. If it was he would have known that we have been there, done that, and lost. Communism is still their form of government.
The middle east has always been a concern to someone be it Jews, Christian, or the surrounding countries. Crusaders fought against Muslims for over three hundred years before they decided to abandon all hope of reclaiming their holy places. The day Islamic prophet Mohammad died Muslims began fighting amongst each other to see who would succeed him. They have been killing each other since their beginning, and more than likely they will be killing each other long after we leave. I know that we had to get Osama bin-laden but I don’t believe war was the answer. At the time of his death he was living in neither Iraq or Afghanistan. He was living in Pakistan one of our allies.
Many of today’s leaders have never served in the military way too many to mention. if you are interested you can google it. The point is that the majority of old white politicians have always call themselves patriots but have never served nor fought like the young they send. I offer a proposal instead of sending our young send the old, myself included (age 63). I am sure that Boehner, Trump, Romney, and Ryan can hold a gun. I know that I can. This would solve many of the Republican party’s concerns. It would trim social security because old people would be dieing on the front. It would create jobs because old people would be leaving their place of employment to defend our country. It would more than than likely end the controversy over gay marriage because the young are more tolerant. And lastly, it will leave the young to govern our country for we have surely not. There is one last point that I would like to make which was the reason I wrote this NO FUCKING WAY IS MY DAUGHTER GOING INTO THE MILITARY. Her and her sister have been raised to respect others, value education, and to lead. Old age and death come soon enough, no need to rush it. I will not let old white politicians decide their fate I will not let old white politicians send them die for some old white man’s crusade, til our soil is breached. Even then I would sacrifice my old white ass to ensure their future, and undoubtedly old white politicians would be hiding behind some young persons’ back.
