War

[judecorp]

You know, all this war stuff bugs me.

I mean really, REALLY bugs me.

When I was a kid, I would get anxious stomach aches thinking about things like the ozone layer and global warming. I don't get stomach aches like that anymore (thank GOD) but sometimes I get stuck on something and can't get off it. And right now it's war. I just don't get it. At all. What's the frickin point?

Maybe it's because I don't have a competitive streak or whatever, but I can think of a million trillion things I'd rather do than have a war.

Comments

[00solstice.livejournal.com]

You should just stop worrying and learn to love the bomb.

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

Maybe there's a book that can help me do that.

[00solstice.livejournal.com]

Or a movie to rent from Netflix... ;-)

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

Exactly.

[buddhafly4224.livejournal.com]

"when the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace." - jimi hendrix.

[hope-persists.livejournal.com]

dude. that's one of my favorite quotes!! did you know i used to have a bumpersticker with it?

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

Indeed.

[cfred.livejournal.com]

I don't like the war, but my brain has been in worse places.

When Gulf War I started, I was in real fear of some fraternity brothers getting their reserve units called up (and, secondarily, that I could wind up getting drafted).

Now, when I was a kid, there was the menace that instant blazing death was always six minutes away.

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

While I am safe from draft (for now), I always had an overarching fear for my brother, especially when he was in the Army Reserves. Thank goodness those days are over.

But I'm more just generally upset at the all-pervasiveness of the "war spirit." It's like so many people see war as the only way rather than the NEVER way. It blows my mind and hurts my heart.

[indigodove.livejournal.com]

I agree. Let's run for president -- except I'd hate being president or even vice president.

[colorbars.livejournal.com]

I'll be able to legally run for President in '08, but I'm not sure you'd want me. I'd be blunt to a fault. I'd make Bush's comment on Sam Donaldson being a has-been look routine.

The speech would go like this. Look into the camera and say "Look people. You don't get it. I don't care if you don't like {Issue X}. This is the way it has to be because of {Y} and {Z}. Any of you who think it doesn't don't know what you're talking about. Now shut up."

I'd get the vote of the Denis Leary Fan Club, but that's probably about it.

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

I don't know if a president is ever really allowed to give speeches like that. I mean, it's fairly counterintuitive to crowd control.

[colorbars.livejournal.com]

I think that depends on the crowd. :)

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

Perhaps.

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I think it would drive me bonkers. But we would be so good at it!

[volumeat11.livejournal.com]

I have mixed feelings about it, only because this here century has a different kind of war -- or, at least a kind we're not used to. I am all for going to go get the bad guys. All for it. 100%. I give those men and women do acutally DO it all the credit in the world, because they're out there doing something I couldn't ever fathom doing; and I thank them for it.

However.

The reasons they're doing it I don't get. I know, I know: "they're following orders." But...those orders are based on biased and/or incorrect intelligence, as well as a cowboy son out to prove to his father that he's worth something -- mop up what dad couldn't.

Something else I don't like about this: Captain Christopher D. L'Heureux. You'll find he's currently based at Fort Wainwright, Alaska -- the 172nd Stryker Brigade. The SAME Styker Brigade that just finished a tour of duty (that's 1 year) in Iraq, and sent some guys home to Alaska...only to have them RECALLED to stay for AT LEAST a few more months. Danielle, Chris's wife, and Ella, his daughter, are none too thrilled about this. He's been talking to me about coming home in August for a long time now...and now that ain't happening. It just sucks.

I'm not getting choked up, either...really, I'm not...

[00solstice.livejournal.com]

mop up what dad couldn't

Or wouldn't. Remember we didn't have a U.N. mandate to continue to Baghdad during Desert Storm. We did, however, have a UN resolulation authorizing use of force this time around. It's just that not all parties agreed to the Bush Admin's interpretation/application/timetable of that resolution.

As for the father/son psychology, the allotment of power and influence in the region seems to be a more reasonable explaination of our involvement there.

I think what Jude may be referring is the Hezbollah/IDF conflict. The saddest part of those developments are, well, the lack thereof. Israel still holds Shebaa Farms in the Golan Heights and numerous political prisoners associated with terrorism. And Hezbollah still holds the two Israeli soldiers and armed positions in the south. And that nutcase in Iran and his lackey in Syria are hardly inspiring group hugs with their continued bellicose rhetoric. So thirty days and hundreds of causalties later, we're at the same point we were before open hostilities started. Talk about a fruitless, pointless endeavor.

Personally, if this UN mandate fails (and I believe it will) I think the entire UN organization will become as relevent as the League of Nations.

[volumeat11.livejournal.com]

League of Nations reference, always funny.

[00solstice.livejournal.com]

Why do you think it's funny? I consider it to be quite sad. I grew up envisioning the U.N. as a respected and powerful mediator and problem resolver. One that served, in large part, as a capable and influencial referee between the U.S. and USSR. Now, almost two decades after the Cold War has ended, people want to laugh at it's ineffectiveness in handling even the smallest of conflicts? Truly, sad. :-(

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

I'm not going to dis on our classmate or anything, don't worry. But I do think the military (any military) has got it all wrong. I don't understand "getting the bad guys" because I don't understand bad guys. The whole idea of conflict just blows my mind because it's so counterintuitive to how I live and run my life.

That said, I wasn't talking about the Iraq Mess directly, more about just the total pervasiveness of the war spirit. There is SO MUCH of it - so much fighting, so much violence, so much death. It's like people who support (or participate in) these things forget that we are all PEOPLE... if you blow us up we all bleed the same. We all have hearts. Deep down, I believe this.

I don't know how ANYONE can support or participate in violence. I just don't. I don't frickin' get it. It hurts me inside.

And that is all.

[volumeat11.livejournal.com]

It's simple: when you can't win with your brain, you try to win with braun. It's been this way for centuries. And when, for example, there are two groups duking it out -- one of which has taught generations upon generations how to hate the other group -- then bad things will happen.

I understand the not frickin' getting it part. It's like me and molecular science. :)

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I'll take molecular bio any day!

[ktmcda.livejournal.com]

(war really bugs me too.)

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

*hug*

[estrange.livejournal.com]

I used to always get really upset about things when I was younger & make myself sick. I'd get that way about going to school or my parents fighting, thinking about death, etc. The war is scary - I just avoid watching anything about it.

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I avoid most of the news these days but it's hard to do. Somewhere along the way my grandfather decided to send me a gift subscription to Time Magazine so it's like All War All The Time in my mailbox.