STWR - Share The World's Resources

Throughout the streets of America one may notice yellow stickers on cars stating: Support Our Troops. There is nothing wrong in that but we need to specify what this formulated slogan means and what it entails. These American troops are generally young men and women who joined the military primarily to get their college and university education expenses paid for them afterwards by the government. Needless to say, they are trained then to fight for and to defend their country if necessary. Up till now everything is fine.

Handling of American Troops

However, the way American troops were handled and used has raised legitimate questions, which cannot be ignored. To our knowledge, there is not one single American that does not support US troops wherever they happen to be. Judged from the way US troops have been handled by US politicians, has instigated millions of Americans to come out with a strong and determined response to the above formulated slogan. This response runs as follows: Supporting American troops, yes – Supporting the “abuse” of American troops, no.

The majority of US politicians have received a lot of money from big corporations to be elected to the office they hold. Once elected, they then feel the obligation to defend by all means the interests of such corporations. Hence, they spend most of their time in planning and plotting the implementation of strategies that are presented to them by the officials of such corporations. A brief study of US governmental behavior since World War II ended in 1945, some 60 years earlier, gives us a perfect view of a same pattern of behavior.

The ultimate goal of US big corporations is to control the economy of the whole world. Hence, when politicians fail to get what such corporations want by diplomatic means then they will resort to the military to get for corporations what they want by force. To this end, US troops are shipped like a piece of furniture from one global area to the other to use brutal force that always results in the ruthless massacre and maiming of tens of thousands of innocent civilians.

American troops are ordered to bomb cities day and night until they literally destroy the total infrastructure of such cities. Thousands of people become homeless, food becomes scarce, and children become orphans, not to mention those thousands who lost an arm or a leg or got blind for life. When the US government takes the initiative to invade a country for reasons that were all proved to be false, then here we are not dealing simply with American troops but with the “abuse” of American troops. Such abuse is immoral and must be condemned by every responsible group or organization. Viewing Iraq in True Perspective

The car stickers that were mentioned earlier refer in particular to the American troops in Iraq. Under the explained circumstances, the shipping of US troops to Iraq had ulterior motives. There was never the motive of “bringing freedom and democracy to the Iraqi people,” like we were told. This formulated slogan was used literally to hypnotize the American people and to bring their emotions under full control in favor of such brutal actions. It would be nice and appropriate to have a referendum conducted by the United Nations among the Iraqi people from 7 to 97 years of age asking them one simple question:

“Would you rather had Saddam Hussein in power and, at the same time, your dear parents, your adorable children, and your good friends would have still been alive and your houses that were destroyed would have been still there?

Or, would you rather have now the Americans occupying Iraq at the cost of the most cherished life of your parents, children and friends along with the destruction of the infrastructure of your cities with no houses where to stay?” Let us see what the Iraqis have to say in this regard. They surely can speak for themselves. The US philosophy of “might is right” is wrong. The Machiavellian philosophy of “the end justifies the means,” is both unethical and immoral.

Jesus of Nazareth made it clear that the one who pleases God is not the one who says to God “Father” and then does the opposite that God wants, but rather the one that performs “acts that are pleasing to Him.” What was the use for the US President to meet with the Vicar of Christ, Pope John Paul II, who insisted that the US should not wage a war against Iraq and saying that “such a move would be a grave mistake for it will instigate more terrorism in the long range?” The US President ignored the admonition of the Vicar of Christ and everything negative that the Pope predicted had now come to pass. Thousands of Americans and Iraqis died, were maimed, or put in a state of depression for life as a result. It is never late to remedy the situation by having US troops brought home from Iraq, the sooner the better.

Since all Americans want to support the US troops by all means, what is the best way to support American troops in Iraq under the circumstances explained? Former US presidential candidate, Dennis Kucinich, as well as a couple of other US presidential candidates, gave us a very clear answer: “Bring all US troops out of Iraq without further delay.” In fact, Kucinich promised that, if elected president, he would bring all American troops out of Iraq within 90 days he takes office and pass the Iraqi problem to the United Nations. The Kucinich exit strategy seems to be the best one available and there seems to be no better approach.

Solution of World Conflicts

Those that advocate that the best way to help our American troops in Iraq is to send more troops, like former Presidential candidate John Kerry and other US politicians stated, is fallacious to say the least and tragic to say the most. Considering that most of the US politicians were at one time or another in the military who even fought in South Korea and in Vietnam, the United States seems to have a military government in mufti. Like the leading politician of Germany Schroeder said recently: “In the solution of world problems, the military should not be put on table not even as a last option.” He knows well that military involvement always ends up making things worse in the long range.

When the Soviet Union collapsed, the United States emerged as the only world super-power. The world then took a sigh of relief because people everywhere felt that under the leadership of this nation wars now were going to become obsolete. In fact, in the United States people everywhere were talking of the “peace dividend,” which referred to military money that would now be going for humanitarian constructive purposes instead of going for destructive purposes through the waging of wars. The vast majorities of nations in the world were expecting the United States to take the initiative to promote an international program of disarmament and arms control.

To the surprise of everyone, the United States, instead, embarked on a program of rearmament consisting of the developing of more powerful weapons of destruction. Besides, this nation began to provide numerous nations, friends and enemies alike, with military aid that consisted of every kind of war ammunition one can possibly imagine. It was obvious that in this capitalistic nation, the waging of future wars would become perhaps a highly lucrative business. Those that worked in the weapons industry often stated that they were making a lot of money! The truthfulness of this statement may be verified in the fact that Americans may buy lethal weapons at the right price with no problem whatsoever. They say it’s their constitutional right: the right to bear arms!

When people work in the manufacture of weapons because they do believe sincerely that in this manner they are contributing for the defense of their nation in the event this nation is attacked is one thing. However, when the managers and investors of the weapons industry make a fortune from the selling of more and more weapons for the waging of more wars, we have here a different story. We are confronted here with organized crime of the mafia type where money is made through the infliction of endless suffering on millions of people. In the sphere of morality, this is purely blood money which is cursed money.

Blood Money in Perspective

We all recall what happened to Judas Iscariot when he felt remorse for having betrayed his Master for 30 pieces of silver. He returned the money to the Pharisees, threw the money on the floor in front of them saying: “I have betrayed an innocent man.” Their reply was quick: “That’s your problem not ours.” Then in picking up the money from the floor they said to each other: “Let us not put this money back in the treasury for this is blood money.” They all realized that this was cursed money that should bring with it not a blessing but rather a curse. The owners, manager and investors of the weapons industry and war machinery should repent and ask God for forgiveness.

They should feel obligated to put all the money they made from this lethal industry into a general fund that would be used to alleviate the suffering of the poor and the needy across every continent. They should provide the needy everywhere with medical assistance, with food, and with all other vital necessities. They should provide prefabricated homes to all the homeless in the world across every continent. Above all, they should proceed to change their lethal product by making tractors for farmers instead of tanks for soldiers, and by making commercial planes for the development of the civilian economy instead of making war planes to bombard and destroy human lives.

This way, our troops could be given a new purpose that is both positive and constructive. Instead of using airplanes to bomb cities they should use airplanes to bring food to people who are living in remote global areas with hardly anything to eat. Instead of using the air craft carriers to carry military planes for purpose of attacking other nations from the sea, they could use such air craft carriers as floating hospitals where the sick and dying across Africa, Latin America, and Southeast Asia in particular could be given all needed assistance. This way, our American troops will be welcomed everywhere with love and kindness because they would be giving life instead of taking it away. They would be making people happy a result instead of desolate and sad.

As the only super power in the world, the USA is obligated to change the role of the military from one that promotes war to one that promotes peace, from one that furnishes nations with weapons of destruction and military machinery to one that furnishes nations with medicine, food, shelter and educational material. This is the best and most constructive way to use and help our troops whose safety would be thoroughly assured. But when our troops are dragged into a war that was viewed as illegal and immoral, there is not much that we can do for our troops except for bringing them home, the sooner the better.

Listening to Intuitive US Politicians

In the words of former US presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich: “We love our troops, we are concerned about our troops, we want to bring our troops home without further delay.” No matter how much we love our young men and women in Iraq, they were not sent there to perform the work of Mother Teresa of Calcutta, helping the poorest of the poor, bringing food to the hungry and medicine to the sick while trying to save the life of every dying person. They were sent there to destroy the infrastructure of several Iraqi cities and they killed, as a result, tens of thousands of innocent Iraqi children, women, the elderly and the sick, even if this was not their initial intention.

What is the difference for our young men and women who die from Iraqi gun shots or from American gun shots that are referred to as “friendly fire?” As far as they are concerned they are dead and gone for all eternity just the same. Unfortunately, we do not hear much news about the thousands of Americans that were maimed with legs and arms amputated. It is incomprehensible for Americans to believe that the best way to support our troops is to send more troops. The vast majority of Americans proclaim to be Christians. Are they not aware of what the Master Teacher told us? He said: “What you do to others it will be done to you.” This means we go there to kill and in return we are killed.

If we disagree with Christ, let us at least have the courage to disassociate ourselves from Him. Proclaiming belief in Jesus Christ while observing His teachings only selectively, reveals ignorance to say the least and hypocrisy to say the most. We are all familiar with the saying: “Prevention is better than cure.” The best way to support our American troops in the future is never again to send them to wage wars, for as Pope Pius XII remarked on the eve of World War II: “In a war everyone is a loser, no one is a winner.” The Germans lost the war and their economy collapsed. The British won the war and their economy equally collapsed. It is quite obvious that bringing all American troops out of Iraq as soon as possible would be the best way in support of our troops.

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