Posts Tagged ‘no’

No War with Iran!

Friday, January 20th, 2012

Do you remember what happened over the past ten years when more and more of us started to really regret the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. The years kept rolling on, the cost and the death toll kept rising and we were left wondering ‘why wasn’t there more critical voices being heard in the lead up to the invasion?’ Mainstream journalists along with most politicians failed to ask whether or not a military endeavor was the best solution, and everyone else was left holding the bag.

Well, if you count yourself amongst the disgruntled, then take heed, because whatever forces made those wars happen are at it again. Except this time the target is Iran. You can see it everywhere, as stories about the Persian nation become more frequent, garnering an ever increasing slice of media coverage. The same thing happened prior to the Libyan invasion. It’s as if the social consciousness is being massaged and cajoled into accepting Iran as this imminent threat growing in severity for every moment we aren’t over there bombing the life out of them.

Don’t get me wrong – Iran is no joke. But so too are many other nations, and if the last ten years of failure have proven anything, its that we cannot hope to secure the world by direct force alone.

But we won’t even get the chance to find an alternative if we allow the pro-war side the inch they need to take their mile. So this time, let’s beat the drums of peace louder than those who are beating the drums of war. We can’t wait until our armed forces get stuck in another decades long quagmire and then bitch about it.

Maybe this time we think less in terms of us and them – Muslims/Christians, or North Americans/ Iranians– and instead take a 21st century mindset, where we recognize that 99% of the citizens of foreign nations are just like the 99% here and that Letting an army attack them would be hurting people no different than us. But, if we work together with them, and essentially unite the 99% of all nations, this global village would be in a far better place to hamper the %1 who’ve been hurting the rest of us.

We’ve tried weapons and war for too long and it has yet to help. Let’s find out if the power of love can work to heal our planet.

Osama’s Dead, But the War Machine Sure Isn’t

Sunday, May 22nd, 2011

The head of the enemy in the war on terror has been dead for three weeks now. If the official story can be trusted, then Bin Laden has likely been absorbed into the aquatic food chain of the Arabic Sea.

Many Americans feel the assassination was warranted. Invading a sovereign nation, eliminating a key target and murdering his unarmed wife were all justifiable acts because America was invaded and unarmed people were murdered.

Well, perhaps Osama’s death can be rationalized. But, by this very rationale, shouldn’t Iraqis, Afghans, and Pakistanis be entitled to the same justice? Are their lives any less valuable than American lives?

Professor Noam Chomsky weighs in on this very notion, asking “How we would be reacting if Iraqi commandos landed at George W. Bush’s compound, assassinated him, and dumped his body in the Atlantic (after proper burial rites, of course). Uncontroversially, he is not a “suspect” but the “decider” who gave the orders to invade Iraq.”

By all accounts then, writes Chomsky, Bush should ultimately be responsible for “the hundreds of thousands of deaths, millions of refugees, destruction of much of the country and the national heritage, and the murderous sectarian conflict that has now spread to the rest of the region.” Crimes which “vastly exceed anything attributed to bin Laden.”

Well, of course all human life is equally valuable. And yes, Americans are ultimately responsible for allowing their war machine to run amok.

But violence is never the answer. Invading Iraq, occupying Afghanistan, bombing Libya, assassinating bin Laden… these actions only reinforces the cycle of fear, hatred and violence, which will likely reap more of the same.

Instead, building a peaceful planet means we have to break the cycle. It’s time to recognize that we are a new generation in a rapidly interconnecting world, and we have no more room for institutionalize violence.

Take a stand and say ‘NO!’ to war.

Saying No to Escalation in Libya

Sunday, March 27th, 2011

There’s been an uproar in the blogosphere about strictly limiting the scope of the intervention in Libya. And by uproar, I mean yesterday’s post on this very blog.

The piece is written with a sense of urgency, as I’d only just recognized the foul stench of the military complex trying to sink its corrupt claws deeper into Libyan soil. The gist of post was states how we need yank back on the war machine’s leash right now, because if we don’t, we might find ourselves wondering how to get out of Libya a decade from now.

But let me expand upon these thoughts.

Speaking out against escalation in Libya doesn’t mean abandoning support for the innocent civilians. There is no doubt that preventing a massacre is indeed a high priority, but this bid to save lives should not provide the pretense for another long, drawn out war.

And, considering how another years-long, blood-soaked money pit is precisely what the war industry desires most, we would do well to make sure this newest armed conflict doesn’t run away on us.

So that’s why we should say no to escalation right now – to strike a preemptive blow against an entity that will take a mile when given an inch.