Memorial Day Thoughts

It's Memorial Day and we are reminded to remember the sacrifices made by the men and women that have served the United States with solemnity and respect.

The original holiday was to commemorate the soldiers that died in the Civil War. A war fought to preserve the geographic structure of the United States and, secondarily, end slavery. That's a hard pill to swallow but ending slavery was not on the top of Abraham Lincoln's reasons to fight the war. It was added on at a later point to recruit soldiers for the Northern cause. Fortunately the Northern states won and slavery was ended, though the South has fought for Jim Crow laws and racist ideas about those of African American ethnicity still dominate in some communities. Sad to say.

Then there are the men that died in the wars against the First Nations peoples. Those that fought o take their ancestral lands away from them and force them into reservations and away from their traditional ways of living. Nothing worth celebrating there. According to some historians there are 60 tribes that no longer exist. I refuse to celebrate genocide.

The Spanish-American War and other wars against Mexico were all about imperialism. The Cuban, Puerto Rican, Philippine people, and other Pacific Islanders did not want us to take over their nations. They had worked hard to liberate themselves from Spanish rule. Why did they want us to barge in and rule over them. They wanted self-determination and democracy, something the US has held back from them for over a century and still cripples their lands.

And then comes World War I. The Great Imperialist War. Americans wanted to stay out until President Woodrow Wilson used slick advertising techniques, via Eduard Bernays, to convince Americans to go to war against the German-Austrian-Turkish Alliance. Never mind that we were in a bit of a depression and men that signed up to fight or were drafted did not count against unemployment levels. That and munitions and arms manufacturers were making too much money from illegal shipments to the UK and France.

I could go into the US intervention against the Soviet Union in 1919-1922, but that was a small contingent. But still, we were fighting against the democratic aspirations of a people that had been oppressed by dictatorial monarchy that was increasingly out of touch with reality. (Sort of like the British monarchy. Why do they even have that still? Seriously?)

Likewise there were the numerous invasions and occupations of the Caribbean and Latin American countries with numerous slaughters of people that wanted the very democracy and freedoms that we professed to have.

World War II is a tricky situation. The Nazis needed to be put out of power and Imperialist Japan needed to be shut down as well. Had the socialist revolution of Rosa Luxembourg and Karl Liebnecht been successful would the Nazis seized power? And did the US provoke Japan into being an imperialist power? I've also heard WWII called WWI, Part II. The brutal Treaty of Versailles is often cited as a reason why the Nazis seized power. And this war led to the many independence movements that began the end of direct imperialist domination of Asia and Africa.

I don't understand the whole Koren War and, therefore, won't say much about it. Other than it was tragic for all involved and it is still not over. It's in Armistice mode. No outright war. Just not peace.

Vietnam was a 100% avoidable war. We had no reason to send in troops or anything. There was a UN negotiated treaty that set the stage for the democratic election of a unified government and we didn't like the fact that Ho Chi Mihn would have won it. So we did everything we could to stop the election from happening. 58,000+ Americans died to stop the reunification of Vietnam. Plus countless Vietnamese. I could go into the whole disaster of Cambodia and Laos – both extensions of the US involvement in Vietnam.

Let us also remember all the servicemen and women that died from drug abuse, alcoholism, and other forms of suicide from serving in that disastrous war. And the victims, both American and Vietnamese, of Agent Orange and other defoliants. (Ever use RoundUp(TM)? Same stuff. Different name and formulation. Still deadly.)

There was that little incident in Grenada. Why were we even there? No reason.

The 250+ Marines that died in Lebanon from a truck bomb. We needed to be there because? I remember it being reported on the news. I was in high school. Even my history teacher had no explanation as to why we had troops in Lebanon. Maybe if Israel would stop invading and bombing the country it would stabilize. Also, if they let the Palestinians the ability to return to the homes that they built and took care of. After all, refugees have the right of return after a war and are entitled to their property.

There are the misguided forays into Afghanistan and Iraq.

All we needed to do was provide evidence that Osama bin Laden was responsible for 9-11. And the Taliban wanted to get rid of him but wanted to follow international law. They wanted a tribunal where the US would provide evidence. Nope. President (sic) George Bush wanted a body. (It took Obama to get it.) And Afghanistan is still a basket case and nowhere near a stable ad secure country.

Iraq was a war based on lies. It's this generation's Vietnam. 5000+ dead and more from post service suicide. And then we have those that are homeless and other tragedies from serving in a war for oil. 13 years later and the country is still a mess. No closer to democracy than before the war. Then again, if the US did not overthrow the democratically elected government back in 1968 perhaps we would never had this war.

Then again, that's would require the US to follow international law.

There's Libya, Yemen, Bahrain, Syria and so many others where we have military forces acting in some capacity.

Why?

General of the Marine Corps Smedly Butler wrote that the only reason he saw for all the wars he was involved in was corporate America. Industrial interests. Money.

Is that why we have the world's most expensive military and over 1200 bases scattered throughout the world?

And then there is the $1+ trillion that we are going to spend on modernizing the nuclear weapons stockpile.

And I could go on about all that the US spends and does that relates to the military.

All gave some. Some gave all.

I hear that said all the time in relation to this day.

I ask, what for?

Where's the peace?