World Peace = Make Friends

"Thou shalt not kill" 

A former Air Force Drone Operator says "I knew in my soul I had become a murderer."

Could you kill a stranger who had harmed no one?

Peace starts with understanding where war has gotten us, meaning America and its Allies through the centuries. If we understand that nothing has been accomplished for the “common good,” then we can start on a plan to do better in the world. Keep in mind that we are the commoners (royalty’s term, the grunts (military term), the coolies (British Empire term).

So Peace begins with us. Our willingness to have a tiny thought that perhaps our enemies were pushed into terrible wars through no fault of their own. Perhaps, they were manipulated to think there are enemies out there who do not care for anything but their oil, and in the case of West and South Africa, their gold and diamonds. I do have a tiny thought that perhaps all of us have been used. We are going to examine that supposition—to see if we can do better. Is there a way to make friends, instead of  enemies.

A Message for World Peace
Charlie Chaplin was a famous Hollywood film maker, and comedian. However, in the throes of the beginning of WWII, he got real serious and inserted an inspirational appeal for peace in his 1940 film: "The Great Dictator."

It has always been surprising to me that after the horrific attack and loss of lives on 9/11, no investigation or inquiry was done to find out why the perpetrators hated the U.S. and its capitalism. The twin towers were a symbol of that international control. When there is a crime, there is an investigation to find out the motive. The punishment in the death of one person is based on the intent and motive. Why wasn’t this done in 9/11? There was a commission to find out why and how the perpetrators of the crime could be punished and , so U.S. could go destroy them.

But the question “Why did they do it?” was never addressed.       

Why do we have enemies??

There is one and only one reason: Colonization

For the sake of exploitation of natural resources of oil, gold, diamonds, land to grow cash crops, cheap slave labor, the European countries fought, stole and murdered their way across the globe! Yes, the U.S. was involved: Philippines was their worst-case scenario as far as murder and torture.  The big winner is Britain -- having invading nine out of ten countries, actually, all but 22 countries in the world, according to a recent report in a British newspaper. France comes in second, Vietnam and traditionally with large holdings in west Africa. At one time, Spain had large holdings in South American with the goal of extraction of precious metals. The county of Spain left South and Central America, but the overlords who had grabbed the land and wealth stayed to rule the countries. The saddest side effect of colonialism is "racism." To steal, pillage and destroy others you have to create a "lie" that you are superior. Superior in killing innocent people who were created with hands and feet and smiles and tears--just like you. Did the native rebel? You bet they did. But often there was an interesting anomaly, they were often civil wars. We will examine this contradiction carefully. 

First, let's take a look at the U.S. intervention in many of the countries that were once ruled and exploited by the European countries. A handy one is the current situation in Syria. Prez Obama recently stated that we had to protect the "national security interests" of U.S. So is he saying that Syria is a threat to U.S. that has the largest arsenal of weapons of mass destruction on the planet? About 4,000 estimated at present time. Enough to destroy the entire planet 100 times at least! What are we doing??? and WHY?? Syria has become another country Middle East that U.S. forces have invaded or occupied or bombed, killing American soldiers too.

Let’s count the countries invaded-since 1980...
1) Iran (1980, 1987-1988)
2) Libya (1981, 1986, 1989, 2011)
3) Lebanon (1983)
4) Kuwait (1991)
5) Iraq (1991-2011, 2014-forever)
6) Somalia (1992-1993, 2007)
7) Bosnia (1995)
8) Saudi Arabia (1991, 1996)
9) Afghanistan (1998, 2001-forever)
10) Sudan (1998),
11) Kosovo (1999)
12) Yemen (2000, 2002-?),
13) Pakistan (2004-?) 14) Syria 
Bet you didn't know that! And I bet Obama and Trump didn't either. One thing what we learned from the long, insightful confession of a former Secretary of Defense, Robert McNamara, is that the U. S. Presidents and Secretarys of Defense don't know history.

Big Question is "what would Americans be doing if we were being bombed?" Would we love our enemies?

GET INFORMED!! Inform yourself by reading good books on the reality of war.  Recommended readable authors (books I have read read). If you only read one--read "FDR Goes to War" and you will be shocked!! (But not my Grandfather--he knew FDR was a liar!)

David Swanson: War Is A Lie, Curing Exceptionalism, When the World Outlawed War
WWW.WorldBeyondWar.org

Andrew Bracevich: American's War for the Greater Middle East: "A Military History*, The Limits of Power: The End of American Exceptionalism. He is a prolific writer and hss articles in every major news media, including the New York Times. Common Dreams has compiled a list of his very relevant and easy to read and understand article! 
www.CommonDreams.org

Chamers A. Johnson: Dismantling the Empire, Nemesis: The Last Days of the American Republic, Revolutionary Change.