I had the honor and privilege this past week of seeing Andrew Bacevich, author, retired U.S. Army Colonel, and professor of history and international relations at Boston University. I have also seen Amy Goodman on numerous occasions, and have the utmost respect for Norman Solomon. Below are three articles by each of these powerful and passionate voices related to war and the path of our nation...Andrew Bacevich: Endless War, A Recipe For Four-Star Arrogance
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/06/25/AR2010062502160.html
"Long wars are antithetical to democracy. Protracted conflict introduces toxins that inexorably corrode the values of popular government."
Amy Goodman: We Can't Afford War
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/06/30
"In order to make the cuts promised, Obama would have to raise taxes and cut social programs such as Social Security and Medicare. Or he could cut the war budget. I say 'war budget' because it is not to be confused with a defense budget."
Norman Solomon: Unanimous Conformity in the Senate
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/07/01-3
"For the warfare state, it doesn't get any better than 99 to 0... Every living senator voted Wednesday to approve Gen. David Petraeus as the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan.
Call it the unanimity of lemmings -- except the senators and their families aren't the ones who'll keep plunging into the sea... No, the killing and suffering and dying will be left to others: American soldiers who, for the most part, had scant economic opportunities in civilian life. And Afghans trapped between terrible poverty and escalating violence."
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Suffer us not to mock ourselves with falsehood.
T.S. Eliot, "Ash Wednesday" (1930)
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