In the movie “Lord of War” Nicolas Cage states, “You know who’s going to inherit the
Earth? Arms dealers. Because everyone else is too busy killing each other.” The United States has been at war the three quarters of a century I have been alive and I have been reflecting on my life living at war, in order to support our form of capitalism. Americans most of my life have not had to participate in a military draft limiting the actual political dialogue with its citizens in order to feed the international appetite for our sophisticated “Made in the USA” weapons of war, paid for by you and me.
President and General Dwight D. Eisenhower had this to say: “Possibly my hatred of war blinds me so that I cannot comprehend the arguments they adduce. But, in my opinion, there is no such thing as a preventive war. Although this suggestion is repeatedly made, none has yet explained how war prevents war. Worse than this, no one has been able to explain away the fact that war creates the conditions that beget war.
“This conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is
new in the American experience. The total influence — economic, political, and even
spiritual — is felt in every city, every state house, and every office of the federal
government. We recognize the imperative need for this development. Yet we must not
fail to comprehend its grave implications. Our toil, resources and livelihood are all
involved; so is the very structure of our society. In the councils of government, we must
guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by
the military industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power
exists and will persist.”
Jimmy Carter told Donald Trump in 2019, “The United States is the most war like nation
in the history of the world.” The United States had at that time been at war 228 of 243
years!
“All we are saying is give peace a chance.” (John Lennon)
According to warcosts.org, “The Vietnam War (1955-1975) was the longest and most divisive conflict in American history, at that time, a 20-year quagmire that revealed the fundamental contradictions of American empire while consuming an entire generation of young men and women … The human costs were staggering: 58,220 American dead, over 300,000 wounded, and conservatively one million Vietnamese military and civilian deaths on all sides. Millions more were displaced, poisoned by Agent Orange, or psychologically scarred. The war consumed $120 billion (over $800 billion today) and distorted American society for decades.”
“If everyone demanded peace instead of another television set, then there’d be peace.” (John Lennon)
The war in Afghanistan is the story of a reprisal that mutated into a two-decade, $2.3 trillion exercise in futility — America’s longest war and perhaps its most comprehensive
strategic failure.
“If someone thinks that love and peace is a cliché that must have been left behind
in the ’60s, that’s his problem. Love and peace are eternal.” (John Lennon)
The Iraq War was a military conflict that lasted seven years, from 2003 to 2011 and has
cost $1.7 trillion with an additional $490 billion in benefits owed to war veterans, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM) Iraq. Expenses are projected to grow to more than $6 trillion over the next four decades counting interest. “The war had killed at least 134,000 Iraqi civilians and may have contributed to the deaths of as many as four times that number. When security forces, insurgents, journalists and humanitarian workers were included, the war’s death toll rose to an estimated 176,000 to 189,000,” according to IOM Iraq.
“If you want peace, you won’t get it with violence.” (John Lennon)
The cost of Trump’s Iran War is costing U.S. taxpayers at least $59.29 million dollars a day! This does not include the cost of operating and maintaining the military force engaged in the war or battle damage sustained from Iran’s attacks. The $59.39 million a day could instead cover the daily costs of Medicaid for more than four million Americans, or SNAP (food stamps) for more than 9.5 million Americans.
As we continue daily to look and hear the news of the war in Iran, view the videos and
pictures of the destruction of Gaza, of Ukraine, of the Sudan and the many other global
hots spots. Americans continue to pay these costs. We watch daily the bombing of
buildings, people’s homes, places of worship and cultural antiquities. We are now bombing massive gas and oil infrastructures which is pumping millions of tons of toxic fumes into the atmosphere. This is pushing forward the global collapse of the world environment, destroying the air we breathe, our water we drink and the soils we grow our food.
The American taxpayer is footing the costs to make the earth uninhabitable.
Don Simms lives in Northfield.