Joyce L. Arnold, Liberally Independent, Queer Talk, equality activist, writer.
Cindy Sheehan, whose son Casey was killed in action on April 4, 2004 in Iraq, became one of the best known activists against the “Bush wars.” She’s continued her activism, though along with protests against what we can now accurately call the “Obama wars,” this “issue” generally doesn’t make the news. Neither Electeds nor the Public, at least in general (and if you don’t have a family member or friend deployed), seem all that interested. One reason for this lack of attention is summarized by Sheehan:
… when one becomes an activist who is outside established acceptable parameters and challenges the entire system, not just one tiny portion of it, the base of support narrows as the real problem of Empire (not just Republicans) is expanded. Trust me, it was far easier to be an activist when Bush was prez … .
What do you want to bet it would be easier – at least in terms of support from the broad Left – to be an Occupier if there was a Republican in the WH? Or, maybe it wouldn’t make that much difference, because first of all, it’s “old news.” And because what’s being challenged, as Sheehan phrases it, is “the entire system … the real problem of Empire.” And war, of course, plays a major role in the Empire.
On May 4 there will be another war related anniversary. It was on that date in 1970 that the Kent State shootings occurred. I know, even older news. But some continue to work to bring to light what happened that day. For example, read 13 Days for Kent State Peace.
Kent State Peace is a VIRTUAL PETITION running for 30 Days from April 4th thru May 4th, 2012.
WE ARE DEMANDING President Obama, Attorney General Holder and the Obama Admin OPEN an Immediate, Impartial Investigation into the New Evidence in the Kent State Massacre by May 4th. …Around noon on May 4, 1970, Allison Krause, Jeff Miller, Sandy Scheuer and Bill Schroeder were shot dead with armor-piercing bullets as they protested the Vietnam war, President Nixon’s Cambodian Invasion, the war’s draft and the military occupation of their Kent State University campus.
This particular petition is new, but the efforts have continued since 1970, with every president receiving a letter, asking for an impartial investigation. No WH occupant has yet replied.
Not as easy to forget or miss or whatever is what’s happening now, though the nation’s appetite for war seems greater than it’s appetite to pay attention to war. Or perhaps more accurately, don’t do the latter and you don’t have to deal with the former. Not that support for the war is high. A recent Pew Research Poll, via Think Progress:
Public support for keeping U.S. forces in Afghanistan has fallen to a new low. A new poll from the Pew Research Center finds among the all important swing voters, over half, 59 percent, favor withdrawing from Afghanistan as soon as possible. Swing voters make up 23 percent of registered voters.
Some people, of course, don’t have the option to lose sight of the “war on terror,” and likely don’t link it to “swing voters” as much as to living with the daily realities of being deployed or worrying about someone who is. For example, from David Wood via OpEdNews:
Beyond The Battlefield: From A Decade Of War, An Endless Struggle For The Severely Wounded
‘Beyond the Battlefield’ is a 10-part series exploring the challenges that severely wounded veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan face after they return home, as well as what those struggles mean for those close to them.
From a March 2012 CBS News report: Study: Suicide rates among army soldiers up 80 percent.
From Defense.gov, this summary, as of today, April 24, is only related to U.S. killed and wounded, as provided by the Defense Department:
Operation Iraqi Freedom U. S. Military & DoD Casualties: Totals: Total Deaths – 4,422; KIA – 3,488; Non-Hostile – 934; WIA – 31,924
Operation New Dawn U. S. Military Casualties: Total Death – 66; KIA – 38; Non-Hostile – 28; WIA – 301
Operation Enduring Freedom U.S. Military & DoD Casualties: Total Deaths – 1,940; KIA – 1,527; Non-Hostile – 413; WIA – 15,713
TOTALS: Deaths – 6,428; KIA – 5,053; Non-Hostile – 1,375; WIA – 47,938
The enormous casualties and costs of war continue mounting, whether or not they make the news, and whatever else is going on.
(Casey Sheehan photo via Casey’s Peace Page
Kent State photo via Kent State May 4)
We are destined, I’m afraid, to become Britain. Since we are not capable of learning from history nor experience, their can be no other outcome. We are going broke and will continue to go broke as we waste our future on endless wars of choice. One day there will be a war of neccesity and we will not have the ability to fight it. Only in the last few days did we hear the the administration had assured Karzai that we would support his country ten years out. This is of course a lie since we will be incapable of doing so. In previous comments I have talked about those I call the undead. They are the soldiers whose lives have been destroyed by bodily injuries beyond repair. When you subtract the human toll you are left with the financial toll, which stretches into the trillions. They must be kept alive so that they can watch members of the Bush Administration walk the streets of this country without fear of reprisal. Based on the current rhetoric and the probable outcome of the coming election ( or coronation ) we can expect more of the same. By 2016 it will be too late. The current parties resemble the antichrist, it’s as if they were put here to destroy the country. Nothing is acceptable but wholesale change and the American people are simply not capable of it. I sometimes wonder if the American people are actually human; they seem more like fiends you do nothing but react to stimulus.
Every empire eventually fades, quickly or slowly,and there’s certainly no reason to think the same won’t happen here. The wars, and what it does to so many, are one of the worst parts of empire building, maintaining and the eventual downhill slide.
The very fact that the anti-war-on-terror actions mostly faded away once W. was out of office, even though Obama has moved in the same directions, says a great deal.
Not to mention the opportunity costs, both in human potential and money, lost in that quagmire.
Plus, as I wrote five years ago about Iraq, we’ll be lucky if that’s all it costs us.
OTOH, it wasn’t until I saw the Democrats in power for the last few years that I realized just how useless they were going to be when it came to doing anything to end those wars, lower defense spending, or re-orient any of our priorities in a more sane direction.
The main difference between the two parties these days is how loudly the Republicans do things, where Democrats have to mislead their voters about what they’re doing much of the time.