The Country of War

I have been conflicted about my acceptance of the US. I guess some American readers may say, who cares? Of course Mexicans do not have to understand our pain. The white man's burden.

I hope that my views are representative of Mexicans, and other invaded people. I remind my American readers that the US has never been invaded. The only invasion I know of, is Pancho Villa's near Ciudad Juarez almost a hundred years ago. That provoked the US to invade Mexico.

Eighteen year olds reading this, may benefit more than seasoned readers. Maybe that is why they did not extend my contract in the American high schools I worked at. I have views that do not encourage young people to invade other countries.

I do this reflection for me, if others find it useful, that is a plus.

The US has been at war since the end of WWII. Here are some names: Korea, Santo Domingo, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Panama, Grenada, Viet Nam, Laos, Cambodia, Iraq, Afghanistan, .... I guess it would be easier to write down the names of the countries that have not been invaded by the US.

Why is that?

I do not think that somewhere in the US Constitution, there is something written to the effect that the US should be at war. Democrats and Republicans, have been equally at ease fulfilling that role. I have lived several years in the US, and it always surprises me how easily the average person accepted that role for the US. The only politician I know of that has proposed a Department of Peace, is Dennis Kucinich. I guess just because of that, he doesn't count as a US politician.

I believe the reason is that for US citizens War is profitable.

I think that Afghanistan will prove to most Americans, that the ride is over. It was sad to see Hillary Clinton giving President Hamid Karzai, such a welcome to the US.

Bob Herbert writes today in the NYT:

"On Thursday, the president of Afghanistan, Hamid Karzai, a loose cannon who presides over an incompetent and terminally corrupt government, visited the Arlington National Cemetery. That evening, the “NewsHour” on PBS listed 10 more United States service members who had died in Afghanistan (and one in Iraq). As always, most of them were young: 19, 21, 20, 22, 21.

...

A Marine at the end of the first part of the Wisconsin documentary summed up this phenomenon perfectly.

Speaking of Vietnam, he said, “A lot of the vets tried to justify, rationalize for all the death and dying. But there is really no explanation to it. Figuring it out is a waste of time. It’s just another war that’s started by old men and fought by young boys.”"