As we head into another conflict, I want to say that I have no appetite for war. I remember watching excerpts from the Vietnam War on television while I was in high school. I knew people who lost their lives, their limbs, and their mental stability who served in that war.
I remember the Gulf War and seeing the final images of the road to Baghdad littered with burned-out jeeps, tanks, and military equipment. I will not forget that image. I remember the bombing of Torah Borah day after day as we looked for Osama Bin Laden. I remember the patriotism people felt when they sent their children off to Iraq and the resulting quagmire. Are Iraq or Afghanistan any better off after all of the American blood was spilled there?
And now, we are bombing various targets in Iran to smithereens. We are sending 5,000 Marines to the Straight of Hormuz. Is it any wonder I cannot get excited about it? Is all of it really necessary? Do we truly have a Cassus Belli that justifies this action? I don’t know. In 1918, Senator Hiram Johnson said, “The first casualty when war comes is truth.” It will take us several months, if not a year or so, to find out if we really were threatened by Iran with a potential nuclear strike in the near future. In the meantime, we will hear the inevitable phrases of war.
Casualties of War – meaning the dead and injured servicemen.
Collateral Damage – meaning the innocent people who were killed or wounded when a bomb or ordinance hit them or their homes or places of work.
Unintended Consequences – meaning the things that happened that we had not planned for, and the inevitable…
Quagmire – meaning we got ourselves into something and now we are going to have a difficult time getting out.
Wave the flag all you want, beat the drum, but for me, I have no appetite for war unless it is honestly necessary for our survival.
Valerie Cullers 
I am enraged by this war.
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I am too.
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it’s madness, or actually one persons madness.
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Yes!
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Valerie, the Lord began 21 years ago to open up my mind to who the US government really is and to what they have been doing to the other nations of the world, one pre-planned and calculated war after another. And the Scriptures warn us, as well, of such a time as this when a harlot, via the beast, will do all kinds of horrible things that impact the people of the world in a bad way. The US government is not who they claim to be, doing all that they claim. They lie to us and about other nations all the time in oder to justify their evil actions. They are the criminals who go around the world killing and raping and stealing while justifying their actions as for our good. One day it will be payback when the 7 horns and the beast take her out.
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Such an interesting perspective. We should all be very careful how we view our nation and the other nations of the world. Thank you for your comment!
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I have wondered for years if indeed, America is Babylon the Great.
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Objecting to needless slaughter is always a morally justifiable position.
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Agreed. So good to hear from you. Hope you are doing well.
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I am doing well, thank you. Likewise. I have been working of detailed lectionary notes (mostly for the benefit of clergy) recently. Also, I have never favored the “my country, right or wrong” position. I have never farmed out my morality to authority figures.
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When every war arrives wrapped in new words but ends in the same graves, ‘necessity’ starts to sound like the oldest excuse we keep reusing.
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Absolutely!
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