Learn from our past
War is HELL!
Nothing compares: not a sports event where some sports commentators describe a players block or hit as a “Purple Heart” moment, nor as basketball star Kevin Garnett once boasted, “I’m loadin’ up the pump. I’m loadin’ up the Uzi, I got a couple M-16s, couple nines, got a couple joints with some silencers on ‘em, I’m just loadin up clips. Got a couple grenades, couple missile launchers.”
Heavyweight champ and conscientious objector Muhammad
Ali asked if he was willing to fight a man in the ring, why then was he not willing to go to war. His response. “Boxing is nothing like going to war with machine guns, bazookas, hand grenades, bomber airplanes. My intention is to box, to win a clean fight. But in war, the intention is to kill, kill, kill, kill, and continue killing innocent people. “
Since World War II we have had four major wars:
• Korean War: The Soviet Union sought to expand its influence, and that brought diverse effects to not only Korea but the world. The Korean War boosted the economy of both Japan and the United States and also legitimized the United Nations.
• U. S. involvement in the Vietnam War had its roots in the Gulf of Tonkin incident. The USS Maddox was said to have been attacked by North Vietnamese patrol boats. On this basis, Congress passed the Gulf of Tonkin resolution giving the president power to go to war without an official declaration of war. The incident, used as justification for the U. S. entry into Southeast Asia and the Vietnam War was a lie. Robert McNamara, secretary of defense, belatedly admitted, “It did not happen.” Lasting more than a decade, about 60,000 troops were killed.
• Iraq war: Predicated on a lie; no weapons of mass destruction.
• Afghanistan War: A nation- building experiment that didn’t work. It lasted nearly 20 years.
Politicians continue to bolster their “street creds” by sending our best to die for ill- conceived plans and objectives. James Madison wrote that “no nation can maintain its freedom in the midst of continuous warfare” and the most famous quote about the military- industrial complex comes from President Dwight Eisenhower, who said: “We must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military industrial complex.”
If the above doesn’t induce you to investigate your candidate and vote wisely, please attend the ceremonies sponsored by our VFW at Bucklin Park, as they pay homage to our brothers and sisters killed in the Vietnam War.
When you vote, please make informed decisions and hold the politicians accountable.
Carlos Zaragoza is an Army veteran and commander of the Bradley-Keffer American Post 138 in Holtville. His brother Victor was killed in action in Vietnam.