Why don't we try peace?

[eridani]

http://www.thenation.com/blog/168103/why-dont-we-try-peace-interview-dennis-kucinich

It can be unanimously agreed upon that it was a misadventure and a mistake. But the only ones that have really paid a price for it are the innocent people, perhaps a million innocent people in Iraq, who lost their lives. Millions more whose lives were damaged possibly beyond repair, a nation which was basically laid ruined, and American soldiers by the thousands who lost their lives or received permanent injuries—and their families. But let me tell you who didn’t pay the price. George Bush, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz, the neocons—Richard Perle. All of these hawks who had a plan to go after Iraq after 9/11 even though Iraq didn’t have anything to do with 9/11. They never paid a price. The politicians who went out front and supported the war, Democrats and Republicans alike, who burnished their images by being hawks. And then when the entire adventure disintegrated into a fiasco, are still ought after for their sage advice on world affairs. The New York Times and Washington Post, who helped beat the drum for war, they really haven’t paid a price. So actually war is politically profitable, financially profitable, morally depraved.

And we have a culture which is so sated with violence that we will accept war on the installment plan in our own communities. And we buy it as official policy writ large in attacking nations that have no quarrel with us. So this is a cultural problem. It is a problem of our times. And at the root of it is fear. It’s irrational, mindless, fear that paradoxically has nothing to do with who we are as Americans, because the American people by and large are not fearful people. But the fear has been used to cause the American people to support a continuation of wars and military spending that is absolutely adverse to the practical aspirations of everyone in this country with the exception of the people who make money off of it.

We tried war, we tried aggression, we tried intervention. None of it works. Why don’t we try peace, as a science of human relations, not as some vague notion—as everyday work. As diplomacy, as respect, as understanding the essential interconnectedness of all people, that we’re really one. This dichotomous thinking that causes us to think of people as others instead of aspects of undivided human unity is what causes our dilemma.

[MrSlayer]

1. Where is the money in that?

There's plenty of money in bombs and planes and tanks and shit. The more destroyed, the better. But how do you make money off of being cool with other people? Doesn't Dennis realize that profit motive is the only thing that matters anymore? It's the only virtue in this country.

A damn shame we lost him to redistricting, we need more of his "crazy" talk around Washington.

[liberal N proud]

2. Because the military industrial complex owns too many gov. officials.

[dickthegrouch]

3. We're addicted to war

And just like any alcoholic is one drink away from relapse, the warlike are one gunshot away from another "glorious adventure".
I firmly believe that we can advance no more as a race unless the weapons are disposed of (ALL of them) and we find ways to cooperate amongst societies, peoples and nations. Necessity is the mother of invention, but war is not and never has been a necessity.

[mikelewis]

4. Because violence is a natural reaction to danger...

Even the perception of danger is usually enough to trigger a violent reaction. Also violence for its own sake can be a very emotional and immersive experience for both the participants and the spectators... Full Metal Jacket is a great movie, Rocky sucks but is somehow still a great movie...

It's like I tell my boy, if you want to go and fuck up some complete stranger... shoot em, stab em, whatever, it's okay as long as someone in the Army tells you it's okay, other than that, you may wind up in jail. Also, you can't tell the recruiters that you want to murder another human being and that's why your joining thier ranks, they would think something was wrong with you and probably have you arrested.

The problem with giving peace a chance as the primary reaction is that under some circumstances violence is seen as a justifiable action especially as a response to a violent action. You punch me, I'm going to punch you back really hard. I love Ghandi but if he punched me I'd kick that little bastards ass... and it'd be immediate, I wouldn't debate, I wouldn't hesitate, the second his hand left my skin, I'd smack him like a scalded cat.

As a nation, we did the same thing... we got punched in the gut and in our rage we lashed out and killed the children of our neighbors. Turns out... we were wrong... we were lied to... we were mislead... blah blah blah... we were stupid, just as stupid as our fathers and thier fathers before them... stretching back through all the ages of Man, it's who we are... we as a people are no better than our least common denominator, down here in the dirt where I live, violence is alive, it's a part of everyday life so before you can fix violence at the macro level, we need to develop a solution for the microlevel.

[bassooner]

5. Agreed!!

Not only money, but power. There is so much warmongering going on it's enraging.


Check out these voting records to amend the NDAA to allow a fair trial for prisoners in the military.

http://votesmart.org/bill/votes/39904

"....to eliminate indefinite military detention of any person detained under AUMF authority in U.S., territories or possessions by providing immediate transfer to trial and proceedings by a court established under Article III of the Constitution of the United states or by an appropriate State court. "

I can NOT believe the number of representatives that voted this thing down. And that's only one of the many, many militia-pushed bills encouraged by congress.

On a happier note, this was on the dailypaul.. I found it very inspiring!!

And of course, I had to find a message from Iran to Israel.