Nov 13, 2022·edited Nov 13, 2022Liked by Bill Astore
The most important point in Your article, Bill, is contained in its second-to-last paragraph: "And it’s not just veterans who pay the price of endless war. Young people turning 21 today have never known a time when America hasn’t been at war with somebody somewhere. They’ve never known a time when massive military budgets were considered abnormal. They’ve never known, in a word, peace."
1. It’s not just people turning 21 today who have never known a time when America hasn’t been off waging war someplace.
America has been at war since the 80s: Bankrolling Saddam against Iran and ObL against Russia in Afghanistan while unleashing terror and tyranny in Central America. And that was followed by the “liberation” of Kuwait and all its "Incubator Babies," and then the onslaught against the former Yugoslavia in the 90s. And then came 9/11 and the 21 years of lies, hoax, scam, sham, and carnage that has followed that.
So it’s not just folks turning 21 who have never known anything but America at War someplace. Anybody born in the 70s and later is in the same situation. Just like anybody born in the 60s, 50s, 40s, or before.
2. The reason this is the most important point is ~ as You said ~ because America At War someplace against somebody or something is the long-standing NORMAL for this nation; as are the national “security and defense” budgets that go along with that "Normal."
And that is exactly why there are no “peace” candidates running for elective office: Because the very concept of “peace” ~ of America not being at war ~ is totally and completely alien to the American systems of government and governance, and to the way the “leaders” of those systems are put into office and kept there.
3. And on top of Endless War, any American Child old enough to have been directly impacted by The COVID Event ~ with its school closures, lockdowns, social isolation, family economic distress, etc ~ will have a completely different set of issues to deal with as they approach their Teen and Young Adult years.
If the Future of a nation is in its Youth, we have done a totally shitty job of preparing our Youth for that Future.
Given the State of Georgia’s history of relations between Black and White Americans [from Slavery, to Reconstruction, to Jim Crow, to Segregation, to Desegregation and Civil Rights, to what it is today], there is an almost delicious ~ if not supreme ~ irony in the fact that control of the next US Senate could very well depend entirely upon the Runoff next month of the Senate race in Georgia between two African-Americans, Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock and Republican challenger Herschel Walker: “Republicans redirect hopes for Senate majority on Georgia runoff “
That the future control of the Senate may be decided by folks living in the state that gave the world Lester Maddox, on the one hand, and Martin Luther King, Jr, on the other, is almost too much to fully grasp without some serious review of history, and subsequent thought, and reflection.
And then of course, there’s The Money. 'START ADDING ZEROES': BIG MONEY EXPECTED TO POUR INTO GEORGIA by Nathan Layne:
Nov 11 (Reuters) - Even before the contest in Georgia between Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock and his Republican challenger Herschel Walker headed for a Dec. 6 runoff, A STAGGERING $262 MILLION HAD ALREADY BEEN SPENT ON THE RACE.
Now, with control of the U.S. Senate possibly hinging on the match-up, political analysts expect the campaigns to unleash an advertising blitz and boost spending to levels approaching the historic runoffs in Georgia two years ago.
"Just start adding zeroes and stop when you feel like it," said Chuck Clay, a former state Republican chair and former state senator. "Money is going to be no object on either side."
While Republicans are edging towards a majority in the House of Representatives, the Senate remains up for grabs, with large numbers of votes still being counted in Arizona and Nevada. If the parties split those seats, the runoff in Georgia will determine control of the upper chamber.
So far, SPENDING BY THE WARNOCK AND WALKER CAMPAIGNS AND OUTSIDE GROUPS TOTALS $262 MILLION, according to OpenSecrets, a nonprofit that tracks money in politics. FOR A MIDTERM, THAT RANKS SECOND TO THE $372 MILLION SPENT ON THIS YEAR'S SENATE RACE IN PENNSYLVANIA.
Would anybody care to hazard a guess as to how much MORE MONEY individuals, organizations, and institutions are going to dump into Georgia in order to buy this crucial election in which ~ no doubt we will be told incessantly by both sides ~ the “future of democracy” [or “the future of freedom,” pick Your side] is at stake?
All of which should lead at least some Americans to wonder: Exactly What do all those people, groups, and enterprises giving all that money to all those candidates expect to get in return for their investment?
What they expect to get is the best government that money can buy; and the one that best facilitates and enables their own particular political, economic, social, or cultural agendas.
That’s how America’s $ 1 = 1 Vote System of government and governance works, and has worked so well for so long for those folks able to buy their way in for a spot at The Table.
And what does all this have to do with Veterans Day?
How much would even some of all that money going to politicians seeking office be of assistance to those Vets who ~ when asked, as Bill suggests “How are You doing?” ~ respond with “Not worth a shit. But Thank You for asking.”
Caitlin Johnstone tells it like it is again in her article Today.
'Zelensky And Bush To Give Joint Pro-War Presentation'
War criminal George W Bush and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will be appearing at an event next week at the George W. Bush Presidential Center, in partnership with US government-funded narrative management operations Freedom House and National Endowment for Democracy. The goal of the presentation will reportedly be to address the completely fictional and imaginary concern that congressional Republicans won't continue supporting US proxy war efforts in Ukraine.
[...] Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen will also take part in the event next week. She will deliver a recorded message, in which she is expected to underscore that the struggle for freedom is a global challenge.
And sure, why not. If you're going to manufacture consent for proxy warfare against multiple powers as your empire flails around frantically scrambling to prevent the emergence of a multipolar world, you may as well save time and promote them all on the same ticket................................................
From ALL SOULS DAY, November 2, to this VETERANS DAY, November 11 is covered in this Message to the Pope.
Pope Francis offered 'thoughts and prayers' for Ukraine occasionally. Obviously this email via the Vatican Societies was to encourage him to devote the remaining Days of his Papacy to redouble his efforts in finding the way to Peace in Ukraine his priority. As I said in the email, "By the Grace of God, you have the platform to do just that and you must use it urgently."
No one acknowledged receipt of the email but that doesn't matter to me. If the email didn't do it, the Spirit that moved me to write the letter got to him directly.
This is the 3rd Time writing to you in the hope you will take a more active consistent and extraordinary role as the Vicar of the Prince of Peace, striving to end the War in Ukraine. President Macron of France also urged you to undertake this Mission on an urgent basis.
By the Grace of God, you have the platform to do just that and you must use it urgently.
On ALL SOULS DAY, November 2, 1976, The Kansas City Times published this picture 46 years ago,
It is generally understood in religious circles 7 is God's number, and 7 years to the month later, on November 20, 1983, the TV movie 'THE DAY AFTER' Kansas City was incinerated in a Nuclear Holocaust was shown to the World. Of the 100 Million People watching it that night, most probably I was the only one watching it to notice AT THE END, the movie pauses at the same picture frame shown above on ALL SOULS DAY in 1976.
You can see that END for yourself in this brief clip from the movie which could have been made in any other major American City.
It is not random chance or coincidence it was made in Kansas City. It is a SIGN from Almighty God to our Generations, this Material World has arrived at the precipice: https://youtu.be/q7J8eMyK1DI
It is now 37 years since the Spirit of God moved me to interject these words into the Official 1985 Remembrance Day Commemoration in the hearing of the Governor-General, the Prime Minister, the Military Brass, the Ambassadors of the Nations and the Public. This was after the Moment of Silence, the prayers to God by the 3 Establishment Religions there should be no more WAR, during the Silence for the laying of the wreaths by the Dignitaries,
“Hear O people and Nations, even to the ends of the Earth, the Word of the LORD God, who is, and was, and is to come, The Almighty.
The LORD has a controversy with the people.
Do you do well to honour the dead, and yet, deny the God of the Living?
Why do you follow the vain traditions of men, and make of no effect, the Principles of God?
You come here for one hour, one day a year, in a great show of Public Patriotism, and then forgetting, go back to work and make the same careless mistakes made by the generations prior to the 1st and 2nd World Wars.
Hitler is dead, but it’s his legacy that remains. A Soviet-American military-industrial complex consuming $trillions of dollars every year, holding the entire World hostage…………”
“Hostage” was the last word said perched on a bus shelter roof, as police got up and grabbed the megaphone. I was arrested for shouting, causing a disturbance, convicted and fined $250. I appealed without a lawyer to The Supreme Court of Canada.
All these 37 years later, the US-Russian Military-Industrial Complex is holding our current World "hostage" like never before and escalating. THE DAY AFTER will be too late!
p.s. These are 2 sentences in that 1st Message to the Pope sent April 16,
"US/NATO WAR Propaganda does not inform the Public the Ukrainian government increased the shelling of the Civilians in the Donbas that provoked Russia to make the incursion into Ukraine to stop it.
US/NATO War Propaganda does not inform the Public why President Putin said Minsk is Dead in recognizing the Independent Status of Luhansk and Donetsk People’s Republics. He did not annex the territories into Russia."
While I was happy to see it, I'm sure NATO was shocked when 2 weeks later, the Pope Publicly said on May 3, 'Pope Says NATO Might Have Provoked Russian Invasion of Ukraine.'
And every time somebody tells me "Thank You for your service," i tell them that they have nothing to be thankful for about anything that i or anybody else in the American military has done since the end of World War II all over the Planet; particularly in the places i have been: Vietnam and the Middle East.
That either begins what is often a very interesting conversation on that, or an immediate change of subject. or else terminates all communications whatsoever.
On January 3, 1970, at a military funeral in Van Nuys, California ~ five months after Neil Armstrong's "One Small Step"; seventeen months after returning from my second year in Viet Nam; three and a half months before the first Earth Day; and four months and a day before Kent State ~ i asked a question that i have been pondering in one form or another ever since:
“Given what Humans know about the Universe, the Planet, Life, and Ourselves from our Natural and Social Sciences; and, given what Humans can do in that Universe, to that Planet, with Life, and for Ourselves thru our Hard and Soft Technologies…: WHY, then, is there still Poverty, Hunger, and Disease, Illiteracy, Injustice, and Inequity, Ecocide, Genocide, and Democide, Insecurity, Tyranny, and War?”
And 52+ years later. that question that i asked at that funeral that day has my vote as “The Most Important Question” confronting not only Americans, but the entire Human species today.
One answer to that question is because there has never been a WAR AGAINST WAR.
There have been “anti-war” and “pro-peace” movements, but never an openly declared and fought WAR AGAINST WAR, and specifically waged against those who propagate, perpetrate, perpetuate, and of course profit from War.
Among those Humans who could ~ if they chose to ~ play a critical, crucial role in reigning in and then dismantling the Global War Machine are Veterans who have been actually, personally, physically involved in any War any place in the world. But particularly as Americans.
And there have been American Veterans organizations and communities against particular Wars, starting with VIETNAM VETERANS AGAINST THE WAR back in the late 60s to early 70s. And more recently, there have been IRAQ VETERANS AGAINST THE WAR, AFGHANISTAN VETERANS AGAINST THE WAR, and VETERANS AGAINST THE [FOREVER] WAR. And since the mid-80s, there has been a VETERANS FOR PEACE.
But there has never been a VETERANS AGAINST WAR itself; and not just a particular War.
Nor has there ever been a group of Veterans who have openly declared a WAR AGAINST WAR, and then set out to wage and win that War.
And it needs to be understood from the outset that VETERANS AGAINST WAR is a concept about an extended ad-hoc hyper-community comprised of every Child, Woman, and Man on this Planet who has ever been directly or indirectly affected by War ~ anywhere, anytime, in any way whatsoever ~ and who is prepared to do whatever is possible and necessary to ensure that something like that never, ever happens again to themselves, to their loved ones, friends, colleagues, cohorts, and compeers. Or to anybody else, anywhere else on the Planet. Anybody. Anywhere. Ever.
The most important point in Your article, Bill, is contained in its second-to-last paragraph: "And it’s not just veterans who pay the price of endless war. Young people turning 21 today have never known a time when America hasn’t been at war with somebody somewhere. They’ve never known a time when massive military budgets were considered abnormal. They’ve never known, in a word, peace."
1. It’s not just people turning 21 today who have never known a time when America hasn’t been off waging war someplace.
America has been at war since the 80s: Bankrolling Saddam against Iran and ObL against Russia in Afghanistan while unleashing terror and tyranny in Central America. And that was followed by the “liberation” of Kuwait and all its "Incubator Babies," and then the onslaught against the former Yugoslavia in the 90s. And then came 9/11 and the 21 years of lies, hoax, scam, sham, and carnage that has followed that.
So it’s not just folks turning 21 who have never known anything but America at War someplace. Anybody born in the 70s and later is in the same situation. Just like anybody born in the 60s, 50s, 40s, or before.
2. The reason this is the most important point is ~ as You said ~ because America At War someplace against somebody or something is the long-standing NORMAL for this nation; as are the national “security and defense” budgets that go along with that "Normal."
And that is exactly why there are no “peace” candidates running for elective office: Because the very concept of “peace” ~ of America not being at war ~ is totally and completely alien to the American systems of government and governance, and to the way the “leaders” of those systems are put into office and kept there.
3. And on top of Endless War, any American Child old enough to have been directly impacted by The COVID Event ~ with its school closures, lockdowns, social isolation, family economic distress, etc ~ will have a completely different set of issues to deal with as they approach their Teen and Young Adult years.
If the Future of a nation is in its Youth, we have done a totally shitty job of preparing our Youth for that Future.
Even better than asking them how they are doing is this: Support Our Veterans by Ending the Wars
https://original.antiwar.com/jonathan_grotefendt/2022/11/10/support-our-veterans-by-ending-the-wars/
Totally Off-Topic yet Totally On-… :
Given the State of Georgia’s history of relations between Black and White Americans [from Slavery, to Reconstruction, to Jim Crow, to Segregation, to Desegregation and Civil Rights, to what it is today], there is an almost delicious ~ if not supreme ~ irony in the fact that control of the next US Senate could very well depend entirely upon the Runoff next month of the Senate race in Georgia between two African-Americans, Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock and Republican challenger Herschel Walker: “Republicans redirect hopes for Senate majority on Georgia runoff “
[ https://www.politico.com/news/2022/11/11/republicans-redirect-hopes-for-senate-majority-on-georgia-runoff-00066517 ].
That the future control of the Senate may be decided by folks living in the state that gave the world Lester Maddox, on the one hand, and Martin Luther King, Jr, on the other, is almost too much to fully grasp without some serious review of history, and subsequent thought, and reflection.
And then of course, there’s The Money. 'START ADDING ZEROES': BIG MONEY EXPECTED TO POUR INTO GEORGIA by Nathan Layne:
Nov 11 (Reuters) - Even before the contest in Georgia between Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock and his Republican challenger Herschel Walker headed for a Dec. 6 runoff, A STAGGERING $262 MILLION HAD ALREADY BEEN SPENT ON THE RACE.
Now, with control of the U.S. Senate possibly hinging on the match-up, political analysts expect the campaigns to unleash an advertising blitz and boost spending to levels approaching the historic runoffs in Georgia two years ago.
"Just start adding zeroes and stop when you feel like it," said Chuck Clay, a former state Republican chair and former state senator. "Money is going to be no object on either side."
While Republicans are edging towards a majority in the House of Representatives, the Senate remains up for grabs, with large numbers of votes still being counted in Arizona and Nevada. If the parties split those seats, the runoff in Georgia will determine control of the upper chamber.
So far, SPENDING BY THE WARNOCK AND WALKER CAMPAIGNS AND OUTSIDE GROUPS TOTALS $262 MILLION, according to OpenSecrets, a nonprofit that tracks money in politics. FOR A MIDTERM, THAT RANKS SECOND TO THE $372 MILLION SPENT ON THIS YEAR'S SENATE RACE IN PENNSYLVANIA.
Continued at https://www.reuters.com/world/us/start-adding-zeroes-big-money-expected-pour-into-georgia-midterm-runoff-2022-11-11/ [EMPHASES added.]
***
Would anybody care to hazard a guess as to how much MORE MONEY individuals, organizations, and institutions are going to dump into Georgia in order to buy this crucial election in which ~ no doubt we will be told incessantly by both sides ~ the “future of democracy” [or “the future of freedom,” pick Your side] is at stake?
Of course, the $262 Million already spent on the Georgia election is chump change compared to the $16.7 BILLION already spent on State and Federal elections in 2022 as of a week ago [https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2022/11/total-cost-of-2022-state-and-federal-elections-projected-to-exceed-16-7-billion/].
All of which should lead at least some Americans to wonder: Exactly What do all those people, groups, and enterprises giving all that money to all those candidates expect to get in return for their investment?
What they expect to get is the best government that money can buy; and the one that best facilitates and enables their own particular political, economic, social, or cultural agendas.
That’s how America’s $ 1 = 1 Vote System of government and governance works, and has worked so well for so long for those folks able to buy their way in for a spot at The Table.
And what does all this have to do with Veterans Day?
How much would even some of all that money going to politicians seeking office be of assistance to those Vets who ~ when asked, as Bill suggests “How are You doing?” ~ respond with “Not worth a shit. But Thank You for asking.”
A long but interesting discussion by Col. Douglas Macgregor on the current state of affairs in Ukraine and China-Taiwan
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ceD9hxjTZmQ
Caitlin Johnstone tells it like it is again in her article Today.
'Zelensky And Bush To Give Joint Pro-War Presentation'
War criminal George W Bush and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will be appearing at an event next week at the George W. Bush Presidential Center, in partnership with US government-funded narrative management operations Freedom House and National Endowment for Democracy. The goal of the presentation will reportedly be to address the completely fictional and imaginary concern that congressional Republicans won't continue supporting US proxy war efforts in Ukraine.
[...] Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen will also take part in the event next week. She will deliver a recorded message, in which she is expected to underscore that the struggle for freedom is a global challenge.
And sure, why not. If you're going to manufacture consent for proxy warfare against multiple powers as your empire flails around frantically scrambling to prevent the emergence of a multipolar world, you may as well save time and promote them all on the same ticket................................................
https://caitlinjohnstone.substack.com/p/zelensky-and-bush-to-give-joint-pro
From ALL SOULS DAY, November 2, to this VETERANS DAY, November 11 is covered in this Message to the Pope.
Pope Francis offered 'thoughts and prayers' for Ukraine occasionally. Obviously this email via the Vatican Societies was to encourage him to devote the remaining Days of his Papacy to redouble his efforts in finding the way to Peace in Ukraine his priority. As I said in the email, "By the Grace of God, you have the platform to do just that and you must use it urgently."
Having the historical Newspaper records to back up my appeal helped because in fact he has redoubled his efforts making it a priority in his Daily Vatican meetings as reported by Vatican News on November 4: https://www.vaticannews.va/en/vatican-city/news/2022-11/believers-saying-no-to-the-blasphemy-of-war-andrea-tornielli.html
and on November 5: https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2022-11/pope-francis-mass-bahrain-national-stadium-peace-and-justice.html
and more often since then.
No one acknowledged receipt of the email but that doesn't matter to me. If the email didn't do it, the Spirit that moved me to write the letter got to him directly.
From: rayray
To: info@vaticannews.va; direzione.affarigenerali@spc.va; direzione.editoriale@spc.va; segreteria.tecnica@spc.va; info@salastampa.va; nuntiatura@nuntiatura.ca; valoisiux@gmail.com
Sent: Wednesday, November 2, 2022 4:49 PM
Subject: ALL SOULS DAY
Dear Francis, my Brother in Christ,
This is the 3rd Time writing to you in the hope you will take a more active consistent and extraordinary role as the Vicar of the Prince of Peace, striving to end the War in Ukraine. President Macron of France also urged you to undertake this Mission on an urgent basis.
By the Grace of God, you have the platform to do just that and you must use it urgently.
On ALL SOULS DAY, November 2, 1976, The Kansas City Times published this picture 46 years ago,
https://ray032.files.wordpress.com/2013/09/kansas-city-times-november-2-1976-all-souls-day-2.jpg
It is generally understood in religious circles 7 is God's number, and 7 years to the month later, on November 20, 1983, the TV movie 'THE DAY AFTER' Kansas City was incinerated in a Nuclear Holocaust was shown to the World. Of the 100 Million People watching it that night, most probably I was the only one watching it to notice AT THE END, the movie pauses at the same picture frame shown above on ALL SOULS DAY in 1976.
You can see that END for yourself in this brief clip from the movie which could have been made in any other major American City.
It is not random chance or coincidence it was made in Kansas City. It is a SIGN from Almighty God to our Generations, this Material World has arrived at the precipice: https://youtu.be/q7J8eMyK1DI
It is now 37 years since the Spirit of God moved me to interject these words into the Official 1985 Remembrance Day Commemoration in the hearing of the Governor-General, the Prime Minister, the Military Brass, the Ambassadors of the Nations and the Public. This was after the Moment of Silence, the prayers to God by the 3 Establishment Religions there should be no more WAR, during the Silence for the laying of the wreaths by the Dignitaries,
“Hear O people and Nations, even to the ends of the Earth, the Word of the LORD God, who is, and was, and is to come, The Almighty.
The LORD has a controversy with the people.
Do you do well to honour the dead, and yet, deny the God of the Living?
Why do you follow the vain traditions of men, and make of no effect, the Principles of God?
You come here for one hour, one day a year, in a great show of Public Patriotism, and then forgetting, go back to work and make the same careless mistakes made by the generations prior to the 1st and 2nd World Wars.
Hitler is dead, but it’s his legacy that remains. A Soviet-American military-industrial complex consuming $trillions of dollars every year, holding the entire World hostage…………”
“Hostage” was the last word said perched on a bus shelter roof, as police got up and grabbed the megaphone. I was arrested for shouting, causing a disturbance, convicted and fined $250. I appealed without a lawyer to The Supreme Court of Canada.
All these 37 years later, the US-Russian Military-Industrial Complex is holding our current World "hostage" like never before and escalating. THE DAY AFTER will be too late!
https://ray032.files.wordpress.com/2011/02/remembrance-day-19853.jpg
Peace
Ray Joseph Cormier
www.rayjc.com
p.s. These are 2 sentences in that 1st Message to the Pope sent April 16,
"US/NATO WAR Propaganda does not inform the Public the Ukrainian government increased the shelling of the Civilians in the Donbas that provoked Russia to make the incursion into Ukraine to stop it.
US/NATO War Propaganda does not inform the Public why President Putin said Minsk is Dead in recognizing the Independent Status of Luhansk and Donetsk People’s Republics. He did not annex the territories into Russia."
While I was happy to see it, I'm sure NATO was shocked when 2 weeks later, the Pope Publicly said on May 3, 'Pope Says NATO Might Have Provoked Russian Invasion of Ukraine.'
https://www.wsj.com/livecoverage/russia-ukraine-latest-news-2022-05-03/card/pope-says-nato-may-have-provoked-russian-invasion-of-ukraine-E7VAcqXGK8xNoHxJPQFs
He doubled down on that June 14.
I will continue watching even though the Pro WAR MSM doesn't report very often what he says.
On November 11 – Remember Who Profits From War:
https://theanalysis.news/on-november-11-remember-who-profits-from-war/
And every time somebody tells me "Thank You for your service," i tell them that they have nothing to be thankful for about anything that i or anybody else in the American military has done since the end of World War II all over the Planet; particularly in the places i have been: Vietnam and the Middle East.
That either begins what is often a very interesting conversation on that, or an immediate change of subject. or else terminates all communications whatsoever.
A MUSING ON VETERANS DAY 2022
On January 3, 1970, at a military funeral in Van Nuys, California ~ five months after Neil Armstrong's "One Small Step"; seventeen months after returning from my second year in Viet Nam; three and a half months before the first Earth Day; and four months and a day before Kent State ~ i asked a question that i have been pondering in one form or another ever since:
“Given what Humans know about the Universe, the Planet, Life, and Ourselves from our Natural and Social Sciences; and, given what Humans can do in that Universe, to that Planet, with Life, and for Ourselves thru our Hard and Soft Technologies…: WHY, then, is there still Poverty, Hunger, and Disease, Illiteracy, Injustice, and Inequity, Ecocide, Genocide, and Democide, Insecurity, Tyranny, and War?”
And 52+ years later. that question that i asked at that funeral that day has my vote as “The Most Important Question” confronting not only Americans, but the entire Human species today.
One answer to that question is because there has never been a WAR AGAINST WAR.
There have been “anti-war” and “pro-peace” movements, but never an openly declared and fought WAR AGAINST WAR, and specifically waged against those who propagate, perpetrate, perpetuate, and of course profit from War.
Among those Humans who could ~ if they chose to ~ play a critical, crucial role in reigning in and then dismantling the Global War Machine are Veterans who have been actually, personally, physically involved in any War any place in the world. But particularly as Americans.
And there have been American Veterans organizations and communities against particular Wars, starting with VIETNAM VETERANS AGAINST THE WAR back in the late 60s to early 70s. And more recently, there have been IRAQ VETERANS AGAINST THE WAR, AFGHANISTAN VETERANS AGAINST THE WAR, and VETERANS AGAINST THE [FOREVER] WAR. And since the mid-80s, there has been a VETERANS FOR PEACE.
But there has never been a VETERANS AGAINST WAR itself; and not just a particular War.
Nor has there ever been a group of Veterans who have openly declared a WAR AGAINST WAR, and then set out to wage and win that War.
And it needs to be understood from the outset that VETERANS AGAINST WAR is a concept about an extended ad-hoc hyper-community comprised of every Child, Woman, and Man on this Planet who has ever been directly or indirectly affected by War ~ anywhere, anytime, in any way whatsoever ~ and who is prepared to do whatever is possible and necessary to ensure that something like that never, ever happens again to themselves, to their loved ones, friends, colleagues, cohorts, and compeers. Or to anybody else, anywhere else on the Planet. Anybody. Anywhere. Ever.
###