End These Wars

Published: Sunday, February 20, 2011, 7:02 PM

By Guest Columnist  

  By Charlie Phillips

 

This March we will have been at war for eight long and grueling years. It will be the longest period of time our nation has been at war in its entire history.

In all that time, of course, we've not enacted a draft -- which means that soldiers in the regular army and reserves and their families have had to endure numerous tours of duty. We are abusing these people in a conscious effort to prevent opposition to the wars. By avoiding a draft, the wars remain distant and impersonal to the vast majority of Americans, ensuring their continuation indefinitely. And that is cowardly, cruel and un-American.

We have replaced the communist boogieman with the Islamist boogieman and stumbled on the the "War on Terror." Well, there will always be terror; there will always be terrorism. So will there always be war?

Not a bad state of affairs for the military-industrial complex whose budget this year alone approaches $1 trillion -- nearly as much as the entire rest of the world's defense spending combined and nine times larger than the military budget of China.

And to what end exactly? Why are we at war and what are we trying to accomplish? There were no WMDs. Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11 or even global terrorism.

And Afghanistan? What exactly is the realistic end goal?

Apparently, we're at war because the threat of terrorism is so bad, so evil, so large that tens of thousands must die, many more must suffer permanent physical and emotional damage and millions must be displaced from their homes and have their lives torn apart.

Or is it? What exactly is the risk that terrorism represents to you and those you love?

Put it in perspective: Your lifetime odds of dying in a car accident are about one in 83. Your lifetime odds of being killed by lightning are about one in 80,000. Your lifetime odds of being killed by terrorists are about one in 400,000.

Living in fear is exactly what the terrorists want for us. Doing so unnecessarily is what at least some in the military-industrial complex want; it's good for business. And after all, it's a really big business. A trillion dollars a year goes a long way to explaining the last eight years.

It's time for America to stop letting fear rule our lives -- and our pocketbooks. It's time to end perpetual war. It's time to address our urgent needs here at home caused by the recession and years of neglect of our infrastructure, our schools, our basic health as a nation while we paid for these wars. It's time to stop diverting our money into the hands of the few ultra-wealthy who make their money in the business of killing others.

America, it's time to learn to live with fear, get on with the business of living and end these wars.