The true cost of war

Regarding “What 20 years of war can teach us” (Open Forum, Sept. 11): Joseph Andrew Holsworth writes a brilliant narrative on the true cost of war. As a Navy veteran, I agree with him wholeheartedly. After fighting in Beirut and seeing the utter waste of war, I ultimately became a pacifist.

As a disabled veteran, I see many of my fellow soldiers and sailors did likewise. War does nothing but feed America’s military-industrial complex. Former President Dwight D. Eisenhower was right. But we paid no attention to him and, as a result, America insists on killing others and reaping the financial rewards. Is this what capitalism has brought us to? As my fellow veterans simply say, “When’s the next war going to start?”

James Thurber, Mountain View