Tex Norman

War! Woouh! What is it Good For? Absolutely Nothin'!



Posted: Friday, February 20, 2009

by Tex Norman

To be honest and upfront, I have to say I oppose war. I hate war, all war, and even just wars are, in my view, evil.


I am prepared to die, but there is no cause for which I am prepared to kill.

Mohandas Gandhi


While I feel every war is an episode of human failure I do understand that some wars may seem more justified, more warranted than others. In World War II the US was attacked at Pearl Harbor by an unprovoked Japanese air attack and so the United States declaration of war seems reasonable. If a foreign power commits an act of aggression then that act becomes the event that gives us permission hit back. In war, the hitting back is never a measured response, if it is conducted effectively. War is always an unrestrained response, a no holds bar, over kill, a melee that is followed by a joyful bayoneting of the wounded.


If we don't end war, war will end us.

H. G, Wells
 

The War in Iraq is especially heinous because there was no legitimate reason for the US to attack. Some justification did exist for Afghanistan, because there was a connection between that country and the 9-11 terrorist attack, but the reasons used to justify the War in Iraq were trumped up reason, distortions of data, and premeditated lies.

More American's have died in Iraq than were killed in all three 9-11 attacks. It is odd that we would feel it is logical to sacrifice 4, 450 Americans in order to retaliate for the loss of 2, 974 that died in the 9-11 murders. Had there been no war we would have lost fewer than 3,000 people, and with the war against people unconnected to the 9-11 attacks we now have 7, 424 people AND COUNTING!

The lies the government and media tell are amplifications of the lies we tell ourselves. To stop being conned, stop conning yourself.

James Wolcott
 
 
Add to the deaths 55,000 wounded, AND COUNTING, many with profound life long life changing injuries, and another 96,000 dead Iraqis AND COUNTING. The Just Foreign Policy website released a report claiming, "Iraqi deaths due to U.S. invasion is 1,307,319." The Just Foreign Policy people didn't add the words AND COUNTING, but they should've.


America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.

Abraham Lincoln


On the 60 Minutes TV show, they did a story about how the United States has just build the largest U.S. Embassy in the world, costing our tax payers over $700 billion. We are spending $10 billion a month on this unjustified ugly, life wasting war.


http://www.nationalpriorities.org/costofwar_home
 
The national debt clock reveals that the national debt has skyrocketed to $10,771, 107, 905 trillion.

http://www.brillig.com/debt_clock/


There are thousands of acts and events that have lead to the economic fiasco going on right now, but can anyone doubt that the War in Iraq is at least a contributing factor to our current financial problems?

So much of our focus right now is on the economy. There is a natural malaise, a low grade depressive fever, because we are losing jobs, houses, struggling to pay our bills, going bankrupt, that we are trapped, that we are in a bind, between the rock and the hard place, helpless, and hopeless.


When we are no longer able to change a situation - we are challenged to change ourselves.

Viktor Frankl


There will always be poor people, there will always be war, we will always be struggling against overwhelming odds, and we need to keep helping the poor, healing the sick, patching up the wounded, and working every moment of our life for peace.


As human beings, our greatness lies not so much in being able to remake the world - that is the myth of the atomic age - as in being able to remake ourselves.

Mohandas Gandhi


Tex Norman is a social worker, currently working at the Oklahoma DHS Abuse and Neglect hotline. He interviews people reporting abuse and/or neglect of children and vulnerable adults and writes a narrative. The narratives (and demographics) are used to initiate investigations of the allegations. He says it is like writing 8 to 10 stories a day. In August 2012, he will have been married to Kathie for 40 years. He has a son Ryan who earned a PhD from Princeton and he is now a scientist doing research in molecular biology. Tex spends his free time working as an artist and writer. He has one art site, and a blog that might be of interest: http://tex-norman.artistwebsites.com/ and http://collagepoetrybytex.blogspot.com/
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