the basic message #E265
6/20/04
As we continue to hear the casualty count in Iraq, or perhaps of yet another beheading of an American, we must wonder about the value of war. I read someone's opinion about war today, and I'd like to share that with you:
"Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and not clothed..... The cost of one modern bomber is this: a modern brick school in more than 30 cities. It is two electric power plants........It is two fine, fully equipped hospitals. We pay for a single fighter plane with a half-million bushels of wheat. We pay for a single destroyer with new homes that could have housed 8,000 people."
Have you ever really considered the cost of war, both financial and non-financial? It is staggering, yet we continue to go down the same path. We lost between 50 and 60 thousand soldiers in Vietnam, yet we are now "exploring business ventures" in the same land that claimed our people. We fought the Germans and Japanese tooth and nail, but now the Toyota Camry and Honda Accord are the best selling cars in America. And if we ever get wealthy, we'll trade them in on a new German made BMW or Porsche. What a strange world in which we live. Fathom for a moment the statement above and think of the hungry, the cold and the naked when some people announce that we "oughta nuke 'em" when talking about our enemies. If every war-mongering American would have to write a check out for his or her part of the war in Iraq, they might think twice. I once heard a news report that said the Gulf War, which was a lot shorter and a lot less expensive, was going to cost every man, woman, and child in America about $2400 each in taxes. I would guess that the war in Iraq will be 4 times that amount, if not more.
Can you guess who made the "cost of war" statement at the beginning of this message? Was it Bill Clinton? Nope. Ralph Nader? Nope. You can probably guess all day and not correctly guess that it was General Dwight Eisenhower. Yes, "Ike" made this statement about 3 months into his presidency way back in April, 1953. Think about it- here's a beloved General that became President of the United States. We expect the draft-dodgers to talk like this, but would you ever guess that old Ike would ever say something like this? Lest you think that someone is slandering President Eisenhower's memory, consider the identity of the author of the article that reveals this information: John S.D. Eisenhower, Ike's son. Let's hear Ike's other thoughts that John recorded:
"The most fundamental conviction that the period of Ike's command in Europe and the Mediterranean imprinted on his mind was the cruelty, wastefulness and stupidity of war. He saw firsthand how war destroyed cities, killed innocent people (in which I would include most of the participating soldiers), wiped out national economies and tore up the structure of civilizations. Its wastefulness cut him to the bone, and its specter never left him."
These are powerful words that leave no room for doubt. Ike obviously abhorred war, but probably had to walk a fine line with the public regarding the merits of war. Have you ever considered what would happen if we never had another war? As a kid, I was in constant fear that the Communists would take over America. We look back on that time today and find it almost humorous. We had some really good fear-mongers in Washington then, and it appears that the new breed of fear propagator is just as good as the ones from the 50's. If we could ever (and the possibility is slim) rid America of foreign terrorists, does that make us safe? If you're naive enough to believe that it would, have you ever heard of Timothy McVey? He blew up the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma killing 168 innocent people in 1995. I believe there are hundreds of Timothy McVeighs out there, waiting, like ticking time-bombs.
I have an opinion about America's preoccupation with global conflicts, and I'd like to share that with you. I don't think I can ever remember a time in my life that something or someone wasn't "threatening" America. Whether it was the Cuban Missile Crisis, Vietnam, Ayatollah Khomeini, Moammar Quadaffi, or any number of other places or people, we've always had someone to focus our concern and hatred towards. Is it simply a coincidence that just as soon as we're past one crisis another one is following on its coattails? I honestly believe that our government needs to distract us with various crises to keep us from focusing on what sort of job our politicians are doing in Washington. The average American, prior to the war in Iraq, was more than happy to let their congressman know that they supported the war no matter the cost. Call me a conspiracy theorist if you want, but giving politicians an open checkbook is one dangerous move.
President and General Eisenhower was a man who knew all of the facets of war. He "saw the light" and stated his convictions for posterity. Maybe George W. should read John Eisenhower's work. I like Ike.