Thoughts on Veterans Day

by Stephen Lendman

From extermination of Native Americans to the halls of Montezuma, the shores of Tripoli, and today's forever conflicts against invented enemies, what's gone on throughout US history created a permanent culture of violence, rapaciousness and war on humanity at home and abroad.

Formerly called Armistice Day, Veterans Day commemorates the war to end all wars that led to endless US ones of choice that followed.

What ended in 1918 on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month has nothing to do with waging war for peace.

Militarism, forever wars, mass slaughter and destruction in pursuit of global dominance and enrichment of corporate interests dishonors veterans living, dead, all other Americans and survivors in nations smashed by US aggression.

Washington's addiction to war has nothing to do with defending and protecting national security.

It's not about making the world safe for democracy, a notion the US ruling class abhors and tolerates nowhere.

Americans are lied to and mass deceived.  

Young men and women of military age are enlisted to military service on false pretenses.

Barbarians at the gates are us. No nation in world history harmed more people over a longer duration at home and abroad unaccountably than hegemon USA.

Patriotism is the last refuge of scoundrels.

Youths enticed into the military are used, abused and discarded like disposable trash when discharged.

I was lucky. At a time when military service was compulsory for fit American males, I was in the army stateside after US preemptive war on North Korea ended and before Vietnam began.

My dad was extremely lucky. A WW I vet who served in France, he came home unscathed.

The same was true for several uncles and older generation cousins who served during WW II.

One of my two best boyhood friends — both retired doctors — lost his older brother on a WW II battlefield.

My next door neighbor in the late 1940s was a holocaust survivor and it showed.

He was different from other kids from what he and his family endured.

For me during WW II, life was normal.

I recall being unable to buy my favorite bubblegum because it was earmarked for US armed forces.

Looking back, it was a nonissue at a time of my life I'll always cherish. 

Growing up in inner city Boston before, during and after WW II, it was a time when teachers in public schools taught, children and adolescents learned, and a kid like me with nothing special going for me was able to move on to higher education in top schools when tuition and related expenses were affordable for most everyone.

What once was no longer exists. Nor does peace with my native land committed to waging endless wars on invented enemies for invented reasons.

Instead of honoring those who served in the US armed forces, Veterans Day should condemn wars and vow never again.

Instead the US glorifies wars in the name of peace it abhors.

It's been at war throughout most of its history.

It has the highest rate of homicides among developed countries.

Violent films and similar video games are some of the most popular.

American football is war by other means.

Former Hall of Fame running back Frank Gifford/turned broadcaster once said the sport is like nuclear war — with no winners, only survivors.

In revving up teams before games, some coaches compare them to going to war.

Terminology used reflects it, including blitzes, long bombs, blowing away opponents, defensive strategy, sacking QBs instead of cities, and trenches where lineman battle each other.

The term Red Zone applies to the game and a part of US-raped and destroyed Baghdad.

Football suicide, bomb or kamikaze squads refer to players involved in kick-off and punt returns.

In WW II, a submarine maneuvering into a better attack position was called an end around, the same term used in football.

What Washington calls humanitarian intervention is smashing nations to control them, plunder their resources, and exploit their people like serfs.

The US is a warrior state, a belligerent one engaged in permanent wars.

Days honoring America's war dead and vets ignore the highest of high crimes committed by its ruling class.

Today, men and women in the US military are required to destroy their health through syringes or be dishonorably discharged and be  denied rights afforded others when leaving active duty.

They're forbidden to own a firearm, work for the government, get bank loans, be able to vote, or get other federal assistance.

They're hampered in finding private employment with firms that check military records before making job offers.

The mark of Cain is permanently harmful, a forever stain on the character of imposed individuals — even when unjustly.

Today's brave new world adversely affects ordinary Americans in all walks of life.

The nation I grew up in long ago no longer exists.

Most youths today don't have the benefits afforded me at that time of my life.

Tyranny that arrived unannounced replaced what I still cherish in wonderful memories of long ago.

A nation serving privileged interests at the expense of grievously harming most others is tyrannical by any other name.

It mocks what a free and open society is all about.

Unsafe and unfit to live in, it made much of planet earth the same way by its rage to own and exploit it.

That's the disturbing reality of today's  world — a terrifying situation that threats to get much worse without popular revolution throughout the US/West to turn things around while there's still time.

VISIT MY WEBSITE: stephenlendman.wordpress.com (Home - Stephen Lendman). Contact at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.

My two Wall Street books are timely reading:

"How Wall Street Fleeces America: Privatized Banking, Government Collusion, and Class War"

https://www.claritypress.com/product/how-wall-street-fleeces-america/

"Banker Occupation: Waging Financial War on Humanity"

https://www.claritypress.com/product/banker-occupation-waging-financial-war-on-humanity/

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