WOUNDED BY THE WAGES OF WAR---HEALED ONLY BY GETTING OUT OF THE TRAP

2-12-11, Doonesburry on costs of guns in wars---and at home [more on this next week] -- Click on image to enlarge

I give much of my space this week to Congressmen James McGovern [Dem.] and Walter Jones [Rep.], who write courageously in the 2-18-11 Washington Post, “The solution in Afghanistan: Get out.” 1

“No one, it seems, wants to talk about the war in Afghanistan. This week the House debated a budget bill that is touted as reflecting new fiscal restraint, yet borrows tens of billions more for the war. In an hour-long State of the Union address last month, President Obama devoted less than one minute to the conflict. Given the investment and sacrifices our country has made for nearly 10 years, the phones in our offices should be ringing off the hook with calls from those who are tired of being told that the United States doesn't have enough money to extend unemployment benefits or invest in new jobs. But by and large, Americans are silent. ” “…maybe it's because no one feels that they are paying for the war, which is being charged to the American taxpayers' credit card.”

“Whatever the reasons, there is no excuse for our collective indifference. At 112 months, this is the longest war in our history. More than 1,400 American service members have lost their lives in Afghanistan; over 8,800 have been wounded in action. Tens of thousands have suffered other disabilities or psychological harm. The Pentagon reported in November that suicide rates are soaring among veterans;…”

“What are we giving up to maintain the status quo? Columbia University professor Joseph Stiglitz told the House Veterans Affairs Committee in September that the costs of Iraq and Afghanistan, including interest payments on the money borrowed for these wars and care for our wounded soldiers and veterans, is likely to total $4 trillion to $6 trillion.”
From video "The Hidden Cost of War" by GOODMagazine
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1OT5uw1Fb_0&feature=player_embedded

“Simply put, we believe the human and financial costs of the war are unacceptable and unsustainable. It is bankrupting us. The United States should devise an exit plan to extricate ourselves from Afghanistan, not a plan to stay there four more years and "then we'll see."

This is a necessary letter on responsibility, addressed to American citizens, and I hope you read it in full. But scant mention is made on the magnitude of loss inflicted by this war on the people of Afghanistan. No one maintains an accurate count of civilian casualties there, but rough estimates give 15 to 30 thousand killed as a result of actions by both sides. 2
Afghanistan--photo by James Nachtwey

Besides all the terrible human costs, how do some of the other costs of our never-ending “Wars on Terror” break down? According to a “Marketplace Morning Report” 3 on NPR 2-22-11, the price per year per soldier in Iraq is $685,000 and in Afghanistan $1,200,000. Of this, the least category is in wages paid the soldier. The greatest payout is $200,000 to $350,000 in fuel costs. Taking a $300,000 cost [report says price is going up] with 100,000 deployed, that’s $30 billion for fuel per year in Afghanistan, another $15 billion in Iraq with 50,000 deployed. So in these wars in great part dedicated to protecting the future oil interests of international companies, we are already enriching them.

Shame on Rep. Candice Miller, and all the rest in Congress, who refuse to consider these wars that profit only Big Oil, as they enact their budget cuts that target primarily public services. It’s time for a national examination of conscience, every one of us. Support our troops—bring them home.


1 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/02/17/AR2011021705822.html

2 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civilian_casualties_of_the_War_in_Afghanistan_(2001%E2%80%93present)

3 http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2010/11/11/131239678/veterans-day

James P. McGovern, a Democrat, represents Massachusetts's 3rd Congressional District in the U.S. House. Walter B. Jones, a Republican, represents North Carolina's 3rd Congressional District.

“In my opinion, any future defense secretary who advises the president to again send a big American land army into Asia or into the Middle East or Africa should ‘have his head examined,’ …,” Mr. Gates [Secretary of Defense] told an assembly of Army cadets here. ---at West Point 2-25-11, reported in NYT article, “Warning Against Wars Like Iraq and Afghanistan”

Blessed Frans Jagerstatter, farmer & father who refused to fight in Hitler's wars, intercede for us--the miracle of ending these wars in Iraq & Afghanistan, and becoming peacemakers.

“VETS MORE LIKELY TO BE HOMELESS” – USA Today headline

A homeless veteran in New York City-- Photo by Jonathan Greenwald

Twice as likely to be homeless than the general population—so concludes a recent study by the Veterans Administration and HUD. 1 On a single night in 2009, the count was 75,609 homeless vets. Of these 11,300 were more recent arrivals from the wars in Iraq & Afghanistan. When our trained warriors come home, many find they are homeless. Almost half of these homeless don’t even want the confines of a shelter, so they stay on the streets. Currently, the backlog of VA disability cases climbs above 700,000 [NPR report on Veteran’s Day 2010 2 ]. The cause—burgeoning Post Traumatic Stress Disorder cases, and the federal budget crunch. Our people who’ve been close to the violence of combat, return wounded in soul, whether it’s themselves, their buddies, or their enemies, they’ve seen blown apart.

A boy carries his belongings next to the rubble of his home destroyed in a U.S. air strike in the village of Azizabad of Herat province on Aug 23, 2008. (Fraidoon Pooyaa-Associated Press)

The kicking in doors, shooting people, and blowing up things they’ve been part of has to leave a huge dent in their hearts. Returning stateside to families and community who’ve no real idea of what they’ve been through, leaves them isolated, and often not knowing if they can control themselves given the violence they’ve endured.

ome choose the lonely streets as the only safe way they can find, for themselves, and others, even and especially in their immediate families. In this way, war has been extremely damaging to family values, in our homeland, and undeniably in the far-off neighborhoods our soldiers have seen destroyed. There are no family values to be found in war.

Family Values-sculpture by Alexsander Danel

These veterans left homeless are sad testimony to our Pentagon’s use them, then lose them strategy. Wars now are off-budget, unaccounted for, unpaid for--launched on a business model that views a few speculators’ profit as maximizable, and the soldier as re-deployable, then expendable.
1 http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2011-02-10-1Ahomelessvets10_ST_N.htm

2 http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2010/11/11/131239678/veterans-day

“When machines and computers, profit motives and property rights are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, materialism, and militarism are incapable of being conquered.”
--- Martin Luther King, from his “Beyond Vietnam” speech April 4, 1967. He was assassinated exactly one year later.

“Love your enemy, pray for them that persecute you.” Mt 5:43

Illumination by Kathy Brahney

BUDGET FOR THE COMMON GOOD--RATHER THAN CONTINUED GREED

Mar 8 2009-photo-Ryan Garza -The Flint Journal-AmeriCorps national service members help clear a path earlier this month to start extending the Mott Lake Trail [article linked below * ]

The House Republicans’ new found fight against the federal deficit will attempt to completely eliminate [along with other public service programs] AmeriCorps. Their target-- the only U.S. based unarmed service program that demands a year’s commitment. Since 1994 it has given 634,000 Americans the opportunity to serve our communities in many ways fighting poverty, national disasters, and improving education and energy resources. It is just now beginning to increase numbers, to involve more of us in national service.

This is one of the first items to face the House budget ax [they propose $100 billion in cuts—a mere drop in the $1.5 trillion deficit bucket]. In cutting AmeriCorps they directly contradict the advice of General Stanley McChrystal who’s led the troops in Afghanistan. Writing in the Jan. 31, 2011 Newsweek he counsels,
“We have let the concept of service become dangerously narrow, often associated only with the military. This allows most Americans to avoid the sense of responsibility essential for us to care for our nation—and for each other. …. All of us bear an obligation to serve—an obligation that goes beyond paying taxes, voting, or adhering to the law. America is falling short in endeavors that occur far away from any battlefield: education, science, politics, the environment, and cultivating leadership, among others. Without a sustained focus on these foundations of our society, America’s long-term security and prosperity are at risk.” 1

He speaks of a real, basic, absolutely required homeland security—our spirit of community responsibility and working for the common good. Congress, banks and hedge fund speculators take note. Read the whole article, and search for a change of heart. Give back to the people your ill-gotten gains. That would soon balance the budget, and then erase the national debt. This Wall St. disasters money {2001 and 2008} didn’t all evaporate—it changed hands, from the many to the few. Five hedgefunds directors testify - US House committee - November 13, 2008 - Reuters photo

The $100 billion cut devised by House Republicans could be patched up real quick, if some 20 or more the likes of John Paulson could return to the public’s purse the $5 billion he’s made just this past year alone. Betting against the solvency of home mortgages {the misfortune of many} became his fortune. 2 He must be very savvy, but nothing constructive was done. The speculators should be required, ideally by moral suasion, to return all they’ve deep-pocketed in this way, and skimmed off war in bloated defense contracts. We desperately need this conversion of heart and purpose.

The extremely clever can contribute so much for their country and the world. In addition, they could themselves profit immensely by joining AmeriCorps, and meeting a cross section of their nation’s people. All of us also, no matter our backgrounds or means, should meet the challenge of serving the needs of others, at least for a year {Peace Corps and faith based programs included}, taking a break from expecting always to be served. To learn more about AmeriCorps go to www.americorps.gov, or in the St. Clair County area contact goblueops@gmail.com.

“Blessed are the pure of heart, they will see God.” Mt 5:8

Happy Valentine's Day

http://www.mlive.com/news/flint/index.ssf/2009/03/americorps_team_embarks_on_imp.html

1 http://www.newsweek.com/2011/01/23/step-up-for-your-country.html

2 http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/01/28/us-paulsonco-idUSTRE70R0X020110128

FROM PRESIDENTS TO PAUPERS, WE ARE ALL PRODIGAL SONS

Our politicians have a propensity for building myths that lock in their grip on the levers of power.

On Sunday Feb. 6th the big news was that Ronald Reagan would be 100 years old if still alive—a birthday memorial to his policies—and all the pundits eulogized once again. It’s becoming an annual event, and right before the combination Washington / Lincoln national birthday holiday. In President Reagan’s case, what is being celebrated?

Representative Candice Miller put it this way in a special email bulletin. “He built a robust economy out of the malaise of the 1970’s by adhering to fiscal conservatism and his firm belief and steadfast commitment to the cause of liberty brought freedom to countless millions across the globe without firing a shot.”

She is referring to the fall of the Berlin Wall during his watch, and there was certainly merit in that. But it was accomplished by challenging the Russians to a military spending duel. A Star Wars nuclear missile defense shield tech race, with a proliferation of our own upgraded nuclear missiles as a huge side bet. We did out spend them, drinking them under the table, dollar for ruble. But the Reagan presidency left us reeling with an unprecedented tripling of the national debt, and little of trickle-down that Reaganomics had promised the common citizen.

There may not have been a shot fired with the Russians, but Central America was popping with hired Iran Contra guns. As brought out in those hearings, money from arms sales to the Iranians we’d publicly denounced as terrorists, bought us a private army trying to topple the government of Nicaragua. Add to this the collateral turmoil we stirred up in neighboring countries in support of small time dictators. By the end of the Reagan years more than 100,000 had died, many of them peasants in small villages. I’ve met some of the refugees of this “low intensity warfare,” while volunteering in Chiapas, Mexico medical clinics.

Labeled the Great Communicator, there was a certain callousness, incumbent to those holding great power, that shadowed his grandfather image--splitter of wood, teller of stories.

I remember well May 4, 1970, returning from a United Farm Worker march through Virginia to Washington D.C., the radio report of four students demonstrating against the Vietnam War, shot dead at Kent State University. A few days later I read in the MSU campus newspaper, words of Ronald Reagan [then governor of California dealing with campus unrest] that shocked me. To confirm, years later, I’ve researched and found in the April 18, 1970 NYT [reporting on a talk Reagan gave one month before May 4th]:
What did he mean when he told a farmers’ convention in Yosemite that ‘if it takes a bloodbath’ to deal with campus demonstrators ‘let’s get it over with’ ? The audience applauded.

Certainly I don’t believe he would have wanted this to happen, but he was willing to communicate it. An ambience tolerant of violence is fostered in many off-hand ways, by those who hold the reigns of political power.

Knowing what he’d said as governor in the weeks leading up to the Kent State killings by the National Guard {also 1 student dead in California, 4 at a black college Jackson State, by police and National Guard bullets} made him someone I didn’t want to become president.

My admiration for him as president is reserved for the time he sat down with Gorbachov of the Soviet Union, at arms talks in Iceland. He voiced, for everyone to hear, the hope that the superpowers could completely renounce nuclear weapons—and that all nations could beat the nuclear swords into plowshares—a planet with zero nukes. A presidency replete with nuclear weapons, and their countermeasures, had reversed. He was now communicating as our grandfather, a bright future for everyone’s children’s children.

This is the legacy I await. In the mystery of God’s all inclusive heavenly family, may Reagan for us intercede.


Sorry for limited images--having trouble with my system--and email

REVERSING THE DOMINOES OF DOMINATION---SERVICE

Police water cannons against demonstrators--this time in downtown Cairo, Egypt, 1-25-11, photo by APTOPIX

A policy of policing the world, imposing our specifications to every international problem, is now tumbling, from Tunisia, Lebanon, Yemen, Jordan, Egypt, and onward throughout the Middle East. The domino theory, coined to justify our war in Vietnam, is coming home to roost, not because of ignoring communist threats, but because of our hyper-intervention. Every one of these country’s top-down governments has accepted massive U.S. military aid over the years.

The War on Terror, with its invasion & occupation and ongoing carnage in Iraq & Afghanistan, has collapsed the balance of power, by its own arrogant posturing. We can do it alone; you are either for us, or against us. It will take decades for us to be mutually respected within the international community again.

These are the fruits of a weapons-only, minimal diplomatic respect, foreign policy. In the last decade we've created a new isolationism of the single superpower, encased in military might, clothed in the armor of permanent confrontation. To break out of these mental and political chains we desperately need a foreign-language-competent, fully-funded State Department Foreign Service corps.

To better achieve this, we should mount a national effort to provide our next generation access to live-in experiences, in countries throughout the world. An interdependence of interests and understanding are the only means to resolving worldwide conflict. A re-invigorated Peace Corps bigger than the Marine Corps. When initiated by Sargent Shriver and JFK in 1962, they envisioned 100,000 and more Peace Corps strong, serving per year. 1 It never came close. We’ve only mustered an average of 4000/yr, in these past 50 years. The Peace Corps budget stagnates, at equal to the armed forces budget for military music bands. Instead of armed services sign-on bonuses, we have Peace Corps minuses.
I’ve been amazed watching my daughter Bridget’s attempts to apply to the Peace Corps this year. The barriers to participation have ranged from a notarized letter from parents making them responsible for all student loans, to a mandate in her case that could have required the extraction of all wisdom teeth. Application has thus far included required, above-standard-care, dental/medical bills of over $1500 {which we’ve paid as she has no extra money, living & working in NYC}. Application is still incomplete. Peace Corps has become, unwittingly, an exclusive club. Bridget has good language & computational skills, can speak practical Mandarin Chinese with 4 years study at U of M and 3 months intensive study in China. She’s been told that if accepted, she’ll probably serve somewhere in Latin America {does have some beginning Spanish}.

Somewhat, but not very much.

We can and must do so much better. The world needs our bright, ingenious, generous, creativity. Not dominating, exported, profits-driven, military firepower. Let’s begin the transition now; bring a halt to falling dominoes, by fully embracing democracy that serves the common good, at home and abroad. Ask not what your predominant country can do for you, but what you can do for the people of your country, and the planet.

You get what you pay for. Pray for peace. Pay for peace. Invest in a future without war.

For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. -- Mk 10:45

1 http://ourserviceworld.org/about-us/our-vision/

Thanks to Mike Connell for his 1-23-11 Times Herald column on local Peace Corps member Bonnie Campbell, and her experience in Azerbaijan.

http://www.thetimesherald.com/article/20110123/OPINION02/101230318/1015/Mike-Connell-Taking-seat-Peace-Corps-table

For more information on serving in the Peace Corps or AmeriCorps--contact the local organization, Blue Ops: Opportunities for Community & National Service

goblueops@gmail.com and leave a message for Jeff Coolidge, 810 985 8169, at St. Clair Co. United Way--a cooperative volunteer recruitment project.

THE ROAD LESS TRAVELED - TOWARDS PEACE, AND AWAY FROM WAR

Road through Karakoram Mountains, Northern Pakistan, Hindu Kush area

The Pakistani villagers say the road is nice but they still don’t like America, because American drones bomb their houses and fields. Our strategists tell them, “We’ll just weed out your bad guy neighbors.” But as in the Bible, uprooting them destroys the chance of any good harvest. Potential friend dies with enemy. We must all abide the final harvest, and the separation of bad from good, determined by the peoples of these poor remote areas, and in God’s providential time.



















Contribute some good seed and irrigation if asked, but they are the landholders, and are the only ones accountable or capable as stewards. Our acting as remote control God, raining down hellfire from the heavens in the midseason of an undeveloped country, only helps cultivate the weeds of war. The road-to-war’s hell, is paved with these double-edged sword intentions.

From a 1-21-21 WSJ article, “Setbacks Plague U.S. Aid to Pakistan” –

A road project in South Waziristan, a tribal region that has been a base for Taliban militants and a focus of the CIA's drone campaign, shows how difficult it is to use aid to change public sentiment.
Predator drone shooting a hellfire missile

A year ago, the U.S. signed an agreement to pump $55 million through a local government body into roads, water and electricity in South Waziristan, where anti-Americanism is rampant. Six months ago, to improve access to markets, schools and health facilities, workers began transforming a winding, potholed mountain road between the towns of Tank and Makin into a wide, paved road. Because of militant attacks, the Pakistani army's public-works division is leading construction.

Road through the Kyber pass from Pakistan to Kabul Afghanistan—a major supply route for U.S. war effort—not far from Tank to Makin Rd.

Habibullah Khan, a senior government official in the region, said the move to fund bigger infrastructure projects in South Waziristan has gained local support. But he said it's too dangerous for now to put any USAID [U.S. Agency for International Development] logos on the road because of possible reprisals against workers. He said the government plans to do so once the road is finished.
War driven foreign aid.

Haji Mursalin, a tribal elder from the region, says locals support the road, but don't like America any more as a result. "The construction of roads won't work because our whole social structure has been destroyed," Mr. Mursalin said. "Most of the common people are against drone strikes because most of the time there are civilian casualties and collateral damage." *

hile we try to nation build a road into mountain passes, and across these remote river gorges {a road unlikely to survive or win friends, as it comes wrapped in a drone bombing campaign} our own infrastructure projects in flat St. Clair County don’t have two dimes to rub together. The Port Huron Times Herald, announced on 1-19-11, “Bridge projects delayed indefinitely for funding.” These are CNN railroad overpasses 15 years in the planning stage. The fate of indefinite delay probably awaits the I-94 Bridge over the Black River as well. We’ve undercut our future with a decade of war economy, spent in faraway places, and on over-designed Homeland Security projects. The road to peace is a road less traveled. It takes every bit as much discipline and strength as war, and demands more creativity. At home and abroad it is the narrow path, gives courage and possibility along its course, and is the only way that leads to true resolution of conflict, and hope for the generations to come.

Next week we’ll examine our country’s small “Peace Corps,” attempt to move in this direction, and its legacy—a real challenge for the 21st century.

---Illustrations in body of WSJ article are my own insertions.

---Illumination by Kathy Brahney

*http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703583404576080113980804354.html

Sobering thought for all, of both right and left persuasion, on day of the national Right to Life march.
“But how narrow is the gate that leads to life, how rough the road, and how few there are who find it.”
Mt 7:14


Another road less traveled---

Robert Frost (1874–1963). Mountain Interval. 1920.

1. The Road Not Taken

TWO roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth; 5

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same, 10

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back. 15

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.


AND ANOTHER…

NOW YOU SEE IT, NOW YOU DON’T—DEFENSE CUTS

Typical Pie Chart of Annual U.S. Discretionary Funds Appropriations--for full description see http://www.warresisters.org/pages/piechart.htm

All the papers and TV networks were trumpeting the news a couple of weeks ago. The Department of Defense was proposing to cut its own budget by $100 billion [over 5 years]. An unprecedented offer-- from the military that has been driving more than one half of the U.S. government's annual discretionary budget for most of my lifetime. This would apparently mean $20 billion less than the $693 billion military appropriations of 2010 [3% savings]. But we need to examine what conservative commentator Paul Harvey used to call "the rest of the story."

The proposed DoD budget "cut" is only from a wish list of budget increases they had proposed. As NPR reports 1-7-10, "Defense Secretary Robert Gates did something of the impossible today: He announced cuts to the defense budget, and at the same time, though, he unveiled a plan to grow military spending." It will in fact grow by 3%. Some programs are cut, but the savings, plus a little extra, are shifted to other places in the Pentagon. 1

Source--Library of Congress, 1913 photo-- Houdini gets ready to take a dip into the water torture cell

Ms. KORI SCHAKE (Former Bush Administration Official): "My sense is that he's actually pulled off one of the great Houdini acts of our time because everybody's talking about this $100 billion-cut in the budget. What Gates has actually done is moved $100 billion from his existing budget to his existing budget." 1

"Retired Republican Senator Alan Simpson of Wyoming wanted Gates to make real cuts. Simpson was part of a presidential commission that proposed 100 billion cuts in one year alone and would use it to cut the [national] deficit, not let the Pentagon pocket its savings." 1

The Pentagon, and its business partners, have made the military into our most profitable, but profligate, industry. No audits of its accounts are performed. Cost overruns are guaranteed payment, with profit margins above and beyond, that are also guaranteed. Can there be greater incentive to forever drive up the costs? Waste is "job one" at the Pentagon.

"Military spending has more than doubled since the 9/11 attacks." Article in NYT July 29, 2010 2 Our giant consumer economy and financial sectors certainly outspend the military industry, but it's disregard for good business practice has set the tone for all others, and is bankrupting us.

Remember post 911, shadowed by the tragedy of the Trade Towers in that financial crisis Enron went down, and our investment retirement accounts with it. We were told our patriotic duty was to go out and buy things [using credit for money that didn't materialize]. It would help defeat the terrorists. No need to sacrifice. Up puffed housing bubbles, banking derivatives bubbles—then burst.

We were all using shopping, or a select few playing the financial markets, as a distraction from facing our real situation in the world. We can't spend or shoot our way out of trouble. We live in an interdependent world, in which we are not police headquarters, just one of the neighbors with the nicest {yet some threat of foreclosure} house on the block.

Our reliance on inflated money and military aspirations, was only self-defeating. The U.S. is confined deeper in international debtors' prison—the Bush administration legacy.

On Jan. 19, 2001, Bush inauguration, the national debt was 5,727,776,738,304.64
On Jan 19, 2009, Obama inauguration, it was 10,625,053,544,309.79 Nearly doubled. Unfortunately, we are still bringing it on, as of Jan. 13, 2011 it is 14,007,216,975,377.59
We march on, trillion dollar debtor, war-on-terrorists. 3

"Our future on this planet, exposed as it is to nuclear annihilation, depends upon one single factor: humanity must make a moral about-face. – Pope John Paul II

"The choice today is no longer between violence and nonviolence. It is either nonviolence or nonexistence." -- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"Faith in the dawn arises from the faith that God is good and just. When one believes this, one knows that the contradictions of life are neither final nor ultimate. One can walk through the dark night with the radiant conviction that all things work together for good for those that love God. Even the most starless midnight may herald the dawn of some great fulfillment." Martin Luther King, Jr.

1 http://www.npr.org/2011/01/06/132713970/Pentagon-Announces-Billions-In-Defense-Cuts

2 http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/30/business/30defense.html

3 http://www.treasurydirect.gov/NP/BPDLogin?application=np