For Memorial Day: THIS is what war is.

(I wrote this as an op-ed in March of 2003, but of course there were no newspapers that cared to run it. Perhaps it will have some meaning for you, as you ponder, for the last time until next year, the meaning of Memorial Day.)

Redstone
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As George W. Bush prepares to let slip the dog of war, I wonder if he, or indeed any significant percentage of the American people who profess support for an invasion of Iraq, truly understand what war is.

Of course, among any country’s population, there can only be a few who genuinely understand the nature of war. However, even those without direct experience can gain some understanding with only a small amount of reading and study (though only if they care to, and few Americans do).

This understanding is almost universally lacking among Americans today, primarily because of the way the 1991 Gulf War was presented. We were shown a war that resembled nothing more than it resembled a video game. No blood, no mud, no bodies, just an unending stream of video images of impersonal "smart" weapons homing in on seemingly empty structures, along with the admittedly impressive shots of rocket batteries sending their payloads arcing magnificently toward the horizon.

Mr. President, my fellow Americans: That is not what war really is, as much as the U.S. Government would like for you to believe so. War is not glory, nor is it an adventure, nor is it something to be entered into lightly.

This is what war is:

War is watching an eighteen-year-old boy calling for his mamma as he tries to stuff his guts back into his belly, just before he bleeds out and dies.

War is hearing a young mother wailing over the body of her dead baby girl as she shrieks at you, asking you why your people did this.

War is stumbling over a leg lying alone on the field, the laces of the boot on its foot still neatly tied.

War is a smell that you cannot ever adequately describe, nor ever forget.

War is the copper taste of old pennies in your mouth as the bullet fragments rip through your muscles and smack into the bones underneath like the whack of a ball-peen hammer, and you realize instantly that this is a bad one; the one you're not going to be able to walk away from.

War is body bags, lined up in neat rows by the cargo planes, every one of them connected to a grieving family at the end of the flight.

War is a nightmare shared by the families of those who die, and those who live out their lives so badly damaged that they sometimes wish they had been lucky enough to die.

War is death.

War is pain.

War is final, and, once started, the damage it causes cannot be undone.

War is not a game.

Mr. President, my fellow Americans: do you understand now?
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©2003, R. T. Redstone

and so true. I'm afraid I remember on too many days (and nights) besides this designated once a year day...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=3742495&mesg_id=3754302

Peace.


www.missionnotaccomplished.us -

and touching.

Now, if only the soulless chickenhawk sons of bitches in Washington would ever understand...yeah, sure they will. They've never seen any of this. It'snothing but a fucking game to them.

Redstone

And it's lsargely the media's fault. I am also interested in making the true cost of war more evident to normal Americans. please tell me what you think of my idea.

Crossposted at: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x1818634

I really feel that the reason the anti-war movement hasn't seen more popular support in the US is because of this sanitized version of war that most people are getting. The reason Abu Ghraib, Terri Schiavo and other recent media shitstorms have been so big is because of the power that images have on people. A picture is priceless because it gets past excuses and busllshit and into the heart of the matter, that these are human beings whose future has forever ended or changed because of Bush's war.

What is the solution? Well, I remember a few years back, an anti-abortion group came to our school. They had printed out giant billboards showing pictures of aborted fetuses, holocaust victims and other powerful imagery. They were camped out on campus square talking, often yelling, with people about how abortion is wrong, and has no place in civilized society. It got a real reaction out of almost everybody. I stayed there talking and listening for about an hour, and that exchange significantly changed how I have viewed the issue since.

I propose the same thing, except using images of the American dead and the innocent Iraqi children killed or maimed by the war. We can make large scale prints relatively cheaply at Kinko's. I also know an art-print place that will print and mount large scale images for half-price for me. We can take along literature such as the Downing street memo, the recent UK report revealing that we doubled our bombing immediately before the war started, excerpts from Paul O'Neill's book, and other documents which make the case for this being an illegal war. The key is to bring home the human cost of this war, and the photographs can do this like nothing else.

Redstone and it should have been carried by every paper in the country.

with a non-gutless editor.

Redstone

Some of us understand

Redstone

Take a few moments to honor our soldiers by viewing their sacrifices.

It took a Freedom Of Information Act to pry these pictures out of our government:
http://www.thememoryhole.org/war/coffin_photos/dover/gallery.htm
http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB152/index.htm

The following URL shows a few of our 12,000 wounded and maimed soldiers. CAUTION- contains some VERY graphic pictures:
http://www.thememoryhole.org/war/wounded/gallery.htm

War is about hurting and killing people.