Sixty-two years ago, as an infantry scout, I was witnessing the terrorism of war in North Korea. Each day of my life I think of all my infantry buddies who died in the frozen mountains away from home and their loved ones--fighting for a war that none understood, a war that could have been replaced by a democratic election of all the Korean people.
It is estimated that 2 millions children, women, and the elderly were killed in that war. A war that has never ended for North Korea. The bombing of the population was followed with U.S. economic sanctions that has led to the starvation and death of many more victims.
As was done ten years ago, the pro-war U.S. media is again leading the cheerleading for war. Remember Iraq? Propaganda always ignores facts on the ground. The North Koreans military is not the one who has gone thousands of miles away from their home to run threatening war-games with nuclear capable weaponry on another country's border. No spin can change that reality. Sadly, MSM talking heads mostly march to the same primitive war drums.
The Hartford Courant's lead editorial a few days ago, on the 10th anniversary of the Iraq war, was" 'Shock & Awe' 10 Years Later: War Was Disaster." It was written that the Iraq war "has been called the biggest foreign policy mistake in the U.S. history."
We are told that invading forces "quickly learned that there was no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq." The editorial also said that the U.S. $60 billion reconstruction "has been a failure." It claimed that Iraq is not now "a counterweight to Iran" and that the current government is " increasingly autocratic and unstable." Also noted was that 4,500 Americans were killed, and 32,000 wounded. (The half-million Iraqis killed remained unmentionable.)
It's was also pointed out that a new Brown Univ. study indicates that the entire Iraq war could cost $6 trillions over the next 40 years. The editorial pointed out that the war was a bipartisan effort with Democrats uniting with Republicans to authorize the use of force. The Courant bravely admits that the U.S. media also had "'many cheerleaders" for war.
After a review of these deploring facts relating to the Iraq war, the Courant then uses selective poll data to justify its support for that war. A Pew poll taken at the time is said have "showed 72 percent of the public in favor." That's a cheap distortion.
A January 30, 2003, Pew press release titled "Public Struggles with Possible war in Iraq" clearly points out the politics of pre-Iraq war polls-- Including their own, CBS, Gallup, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, etc. The percentage in support for war depended on the wording of the poll. However, in all polls, a large majority of the American public was against war without UN approval, without the finding of WMDs, without substantial support from other countries, and if it involve major casualties. Contrary to the Courant's inference, 72 percent is more indicative of the number in the U.S. who opposed the Iraq war without U.N. approval.
Last week, I was at the VA Hospital in Newington. It's a busy place. Even with large parking areas, it was difficult to find a space. War profiteers never consider the 250 thousands vets who have returned from wars with PTSD. Some will need treatment for the remainder of their lives. A horrendous cost in many ways--facts ignored by war cheerleaders.
According to a new issue of Consumer Reports, America ranks last in a study of 19 wealthy countries when it comes to healthcare. We have "the highest infant mortality rate, poorer health, and the shortest lives."
But, we do lead the the so-called developed world in prison population, gun crimes and killings. Our infrastructure is crumbling, the education of our children is not the best. Why have all our priorities become so idiotic?