25 disturbing facts about psych drugs, soldiers and suicides

Since the US Military are the aggressors in Iraq, in Afghanistan, and throughout the world, this article is very good news. In this time of rampant fascism, it helps to hear some good news.

How is this good news? This just creates more victims of the war, it doesn't stop the war machine, or slow the killing. What the fuck is wrong with you?

A little compassion, please.

Please keep in mind that many enlistees are young and are being recruited as early as high school. Under No Child Left Behind, schools receiving federal funding MUST allow military recruiters access to students and their personal information if they are to continue to receive funding. Students can "opt out" of the military database at registration at the beginning of the school year (or before October 1 by submitting an opt-out form). See  http://www.themmob.org/lmca (Leave My Child Alone!).

Please also keep in mind that in a difficult economy, more and more young people and their families are opting for the military because it promises college benefits, job training and health care. Although there may not be a draft, there is a "poverty draft." Some young people (and their families) are making decisions about their lives that they probably would not make in better times. Although, even in a difficult economy, there are still some options, many young people do not feel that way or are not being guided in the direction of alternatives. Some of us, frankly, are more dispensable and disposable than others. We are the victims of the poverty draft: the people of color, the low-income, the less academic.

For more information on the poverty draft, please see
 http://www.afsc.org/afsc.civicactions.net/files/documents/ThePovertyDraft.pdf

For alternatives to military enlistment, please see:

 http://www.afsc.org/sites/civicactions.net/files/documents/itsmylife.pdf

and

 http://www.centeronconscience.org/co/alternatives-to-enlistment.html (state-by-state listing)

People sometimes make very poor, life-altering choices in a moment of despair when they are very young. Sometimes these decisions affect only them; sometimes they affect a whole lot of other people.

If we cannot be proactive and help them reach better decisions, then I guess we should support them as they try to make better decisions when they return.

It's better that the mentally-disturbed US soldiers are killing themselves than killing innocent people in Iraq.

Nobody here is calling for sympathy, hugs and kisses, for the military veterans of Germany's Third Reich, for the SS, or for the Gestapo.

Well, the USA and its military are the new Nazis, we are now living in the US-led Fourth Reich, and the all-volunteer US military are the stormtroopers of fascism.

18 year olds are not "children," the US military is all-volunteer, and the US military does not enlist the mentally retarded. All US military volunteers know what they are signing up for, and, as adults, the volunteers are fully responsible for their own decisions and their own actions.

As for the "poverty" excuse, it's no excuse at all. Why did you kill those innocent people? "I did it for the money." Wrong answer, wrong choice.
You killed those innocent people so you could get money for college? Shut the fuck up, you monster!

Nobody in the USA faces the choice of starvation versus military service. It's far nobler to be a bum than a US military scum.

I have huge sympathy for the innocent people harmed by the USA's wars of aggression. I have no sympathy at all for the hoodlums and gang-bangers who serve in the US military and perform that aggression.

 http://www.feminish.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/privilege101.pdf

In relations between the citizens of the USA and the citizens of the vulnerable Developing nations, the preponderance of "privilege" is in the hands of the citizens of the USA, whose Government is in the constant habit of violently aggressing the citizens of the Developing nations. The citizens of the USA are "privileged" and the citizens of the Developing nations are "underprivileged."

The USA has 4% of the world's population, and the USA consumes 26% of the world's resources, a monopoly of "privilege" that the US military guarantees by force against the "underprivileged" Developing nations.

The USA has an all-volunteer military, and US citizens enlist by their own free will. Most Americans are "privileged" to have twelve years of free public education - through high school - before their eighteenth birthday. It is true, however, that an American public school education includes a great deal of political indoctrination, propaganda, and brainwashing.

Nevertheless, the average 18 year old US citizen will have had 12 years of education, and should have developed some ethics - a sense of right and wrong. If an 18 year old US citizen cannot distinguish between right and wrong, she or he may have herself or himself to blame as much as the US education system and the US society.

When the "privileged" US citizens serve the US military to aggress, murder, and oppress the "underprivileged" citizens of the Developing nations, they are doing so by their own free will. We recognize the 18 year old as an adult when they have committed murder, or participated in acts of murder, and service in the US military involves the murder and abuse of the "underprivileged" citizens of the Developing nations.

The "privileged" 18 year old US citizens should know better than to commit murder, torture, rape, aggression, and oppression, and actually they do know better. They just don't care. Which means that they are sociopaths. The sociopathy of the "privileged" US citizens may be a result of bad education and bad upbringing, but the "privileged" US sociopaths are a grave threat to the "underprivileged" citizens of the Developing nations, regardless of whether the cause of the US sociopathy was "nurture" or "nature."

In US foreign policy and military affairs, it is very important to recognize which population is "privileged" and which is "underprivileged," as well as which population are the aggressors and which population are the victims. The US government and its citizens are the "privileged" aggressors, and the citizens of the Developing nations are the "underprivileged" victims.

To honor the US military veteran is to honor the rapist or murderer, which is a dishonor to the US military's victims.

Opt-Out: Under No Child Left Behind Act, schools receiving federal funding MUST release students' personal information to military recruiters if they are to continue to receive federal funding. Students may "opt-out" of this military database at the beginning of the school year.
 http://www.themmob.org/lmca

Truth-in-Recruiting:

American Friends Service Committee (AFSC)
"Do you know enough to enlist?" (in English and in Spanish)
 http://afsc.org/resource/thinking-enlisting-0
Video: "Before you enlist" (revised 2011)
 http://afsc.org/video/you-enlist-2011 (in English and in Spanish)

Quaker House (Sgt. Abe the Honest Recruiter Tells All!)
 http://www.quakerhouse.org/documents/enlist.html (comic book in English and in Spanish)
 http://www.quakerhouse.org/documents/toparents.html (in English and in Spanish)

National Network Opposing Militarization of Youth (NNOMY)
 http://www.nnomy.org

Project Yano (Project Youth and Nonmilitary Opportunities)
 http://www.projectyano.org
(Click on Military Enlistment)

War Resisters League
 http://ww.warresisters.org
(Click on Programs/Counter-Recruitment; G.I. Rights Resistance)

Ya-Ya Network (Youth Activist, Youth Allies Network)
 http://www.yayanetwork.org

Alternatives to Military Enlistment:

Central Committee on Conscience and War (CCCW)
 http://www.centeronconscience.org/co/alternatives-to-enlistment.html (state-by-state listing)

Conscientious Objection and Selective Service:

Central Committee on Conscience and War (CCCW)
 http://www.centeronconscience.org

LBGTQ Concerns:

War Resisters League:
"Ten Reasons Why Militarism is Bad for Queer People"
 http://www.warresisters.org/files/10reasonsmilitarismbadqueer.pdf

DREAM Act:

American Friends Service Committee (AFSC)
Commentary (talking points) about the DREAM Act
 http://www.afsc.org/documents/afsc-dream-act-commentary (in English and in Spanish)
Video: "Yo Soy El Army: America's New Military Caste"
 http://www.afsc.org/video/yo-soy-el-army-americas-new-military-caste

Project Yano (Project Youth and Nonmilitary Opportunities)
 http://www.projectyano.org
(Click on Military Enlistment)
See "Thinking of joining the U.S. Military to gain citizenship?" (in English and in Spanish)

Social Services Guide:
Portland-area
 http://www.rosecityresources.org

Educate yourself. Spread the word and educate others!

Thanks very much.

How ironic that someone posted under the name Emma Goldman and decided to bash soldiers. If you were to ask Emma about the value of soldiers, I'd think she'd show more respect than you'd know. Let me make an assumption about this author posting under "Emma", and please disprove me if I am wrong: this author has never carried a gun, shot at a person in anger, survived in combat, dealt with bullet injuries, or formulated a tactical battle plan.

Have you ever shot a man three times and then stabbed him in the leg? Have you ever had the blood of someone else all over you? No, I doubt it. I'd doubt you'd kill a doe or squirrel, much less a man. I don't think you'd have it in you.

This is the value of Soldiers. Every society needs soldiers - more accurately, not professional soldiers, but people who actually live and die by their weapons. People who fight and train, people who will protect your sorry ass from the bad people of the world.

If you want to posture around all angsty and upset, call for the "People's Revolution", then you've got to remember exactly one thing: you don't know how to shoulder a rifle (do you even own a rifle?), you don't want to kill people - you need soldiers on your side, and you need more soldiers on your side then your oppressors have. So, you can bash and blame soldiers all you want, or you can entice and celebrate their culture. Just look at the situation in Syria: do you think the FSA would have even gotten started if the peaceful protesters constantly disavowed soldiers?

Or hey, how about that there Occupy Portland? Remember the Scott Olsen protests here in Portland? That seemed to be, at least as far as my memory goes (and correct me if I'm wrong) - the ONLY time that the police lines have been broken and the cops retreated. Why did the police lines get crossed? Maybe it was because of who was leading the march: veterans. You need veterans more than they need you.

A friend of mine relayed a story from Marine Corps basic training: the drill instructor laid out the truth of this world, "Marines, 80% of the people never do anything. 10% of the people are sheepdogs, and the other 10% are tyrants. The sheepdogs protect the 80% from the other 10%."

So ask yourself Emma, who's the sheepdog in your community? Who protects you from the bad people? & do you really think they'd stand one second of a chance against a person with two tours of Arabia under their belt?

So, the initiation to being a respected and valued member of society requires killing someone? Sounds like the Blood, or the Crips, or the Mafia, don't you think?

While I understand much of what you've said, Alexander, what I don't understand is why members of the military don't question the reason why they're doing what they do. Why wouldn't I get the idea at times it seems they're just the portion of the sheep willing to kill? What I see is a rigid command structure where the majority have given in to the motives of someone else. Admittedly necessary at times, should it be all the time, unquestionable in every situation and circumstance? Hasn't it been apparent that so much of the fighting has been brought on through lies? In the ME, hasn't it been apparent that we might not have an Arab or Persian enemy if it wasn't for the mechanizations going on for decades of our secret government thugs, religious misconceptions, and the desire to do the bidding of their selected business interests or some deviate egotistical craving with imperialistc aims which, as Americans, we're not supposed to believe in? Why in hell aren't we willing to just pay for the oil, or whatever resource we're chasing today, if we're so damned capitalistic? Is it really 'for us' as a society? At that, really we know so little about those things because of the secrecy (which strangles the very idea of the democracy for which the soldier claims to fight) that what we don't know would likely burn the hair off the balls of the best. If one is not willing to question themselves, and that's quite understandable, it seems one should, at least, question why they're asked to do what's going to be done. I know, in the middle of a firefight that's not very reasonable, but was that really the circumstance when one agreed, in civilian clothes or even in uniform before boarding the plane or the ship, to be in that firefight to begin with? Anyone thought that maybe these suicidal soldiers carry the guilt of those thugs and businesses and that's the only way they see out? I don't mean just nightmares of killing because it's personally believed to be wrong and it's conscience that motivates the nightmares, but the nightmare of others and exposing oneself the bidding of others while they sit at home and enjoy the show.

Please don't blame it on the nonviolent part of the population claiming protection or give me the 'betrayal through inaction' thing. The only betrayal through inaction is with our own leaders, our own 'pillars of business', and our own lack of coming to grips with the obvious in trade for promises of a good life and its acommpanying loss of ethics in circumstance. For that most of the nonviolent deserve all the blame that can be heaped upon them. Where would change begin if there was this alternativeless 'confrontation with reality' paradigm as suggested and nothing else? Be proud, but think of the alternatives, ask why you're 'told what to do' and then have the pride to act upon the personal answer to the question. Seem reasonable?

I'm really not trying to be demeaning, Alexander. I really do understand, and can see why one can feel how you feel. It's deep in all of us. I can ssee sacrifice and recognize it. But is it beyond the thought to deal with one another on the basis of one thug to another without being branded as a coward or a fool? It isn't fair, not any more fair than Cheney or Bush sending people somewhere far away, in a fight that they and their ilk began in the first place. How does it feel to know they're watching video of it all and enjoying it like Friday night wrestling? It's hardly WWII anymore with such clear ethical imperative.

Take this as you will. Maybe you're beyond being impressionable enough to change even a little. It's too bad, because I can imagine that you do have ethics that are more than the Blood or the Crips or the Mafia (and probably Bush and Cheney, even if that might not be too difficult for anyone).

Do you ever ask yourself, Alexander, why even the best of revolutions often and quickly become so similar to what they claim to replace?

@ Alexander Berkman:

The issue is not fighting; the issue is who we fight for.

The US troops are fighting for the wealthy corporations that rule the USA and want to dominate the world using US military force.

The US troops are not fighting the bad guys; the US troops ARE the bad guys.

The US troops do not defend me against anything. The US troops kill innocent people in foreign countries in service of the corporations.

I don't feel threatened by communism, or socialism, or by Islam.

The US System isn't worth defending.

The sheepdogs work for the tyrants, not for the sheep.

It's always been that way, because the tyrants control the wealth, and the sheepdogs want their pay.

It took me a while to sort out being a sheepdog and being a good person who isn't looking to be paid for it. I have fight in me, as something I was born with, or partially born as. That doesn't mean I go looking for a fight or don't try to diffuse volatile situations, but it is a simple reaction of responding accordingly if me or mine are attacked.

Not being afraid of myself is also why I'm not afraid of guns. I am afraid of motives behind gun-control because really it is people-control. Violence happens. We do not live in a safe world so I know nobody can guarantee my safety or the safety of those around me. It's up to us. People in the military know and feel this and unfortunately to fill the ranks this feeling is taken advantage of.

Wishing death on all soldiers doesn't solve anything. I agree that the military is the wrong way to go but recruits are kids who are too young to really know what they are getting into. Its a lot easier to brainwash a teenager. Look up prefrontal cortex. Its why the drinking age is after teenage years.

This complete disrespect for veterans is similar to feminazis wishing death to all males.

Vets are trying to get back to be human and get spit on.

I've been indoctrinated with a Feminist worldview, but there are parts of me that never fit into it. I was given a book called "What It Is Like To Go To War" by Karl Marlantes that helped explain to me that who and what I am is okay, and those parts that a lot of Feminist literature told me were evil got sorted out so I've been recomending this book a lot recently.

We're in tough times. Tougher times are coming on down the line. We won't get through it very well marginalizing groups of people. We'll need conservative views and progressive views and peace minded people and people who can fight. If you start tearing apart groups of people because you are too close minded to even listen to where they are coming from then you lose. You are out and we will go on without you.

Here's Karl Marlantes on Bill Moyers:

 http://billmoyers.com/episode/full-show-what-its-like-to-go-to-war/
 http://billmoyers.com/episode/encore-what-its-like-to-go-to-war/

Respect the veterans as human beings.

Disrespect the US Military as the Tool of Fascism and Imperialism.

That means no respect for the act or the record of US Military service.
Only show respect for human beings - all human beings.

The US Military veterans are no better than anyone else for having served the Fascists and Imperialists. Do not honor or respect their US Military service; respect only their status as human beings.

I don't care if you were a veteran of the US Military.

I have no respect for your US Military service.

Instead show me something good you've done with your life.

Here's what the US Military is used for:

American Revolution: mainly served the interests of Colonial Plutocrats who wanted to avoid English taxes. The Revolution did not liberate women, slaves, indentured servants, or Native Americans.

Indian Wars: US aggression of the Native Americans.

US-Mexican War: US aggression to take possession of California and parts of Mexico.

Civil War: An internal US struggle, not relevant to US foreign policy.

Spanish-American War: Highly questionable who sank USS Maine; the US Government had been discussing a War against Spain for years (it's well documented). US aggression to take possession of Spanish Colonies in Cuba, Philippines, Peurto Rico, and Guam.

US-Philippine War: Brutal US suppression of the Philippino Independence movement.

US interventions in Latin America, 1900-Present: Manifest Destiny means US control of Latin America through puppet dictators and death squads.

World War One: European conflict posed no threat to the USA.

US Expeditionary Force to interfere with Russian Revolution: US Capitalists wanting to stop Communism. How about minding your own business and staying out of other nations' internal affairs?

World War Two: Stopped Nazi and Japanese expansion. Good work for once.
But also set the stage for the USA to become the world's top Colonialist and Imperialist bully. Meet the new Boss, same as the old Boss.

Korean War: Capitalism versus Communism. Count me out.

Viet Nam War: US aggression against Vietnamese Nationalist movement. They won, and where's the harm in that today?

US/NATO War on Terrorism: Started with US False-Flag attack on 9/11. (Remember the Maine!) US aggression against Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria, and Iran to gain control of resources and territory of Middle East and north Africa.

Never Forget that the US Government was the main supporter of the murderous Pol Pot regime of Killing Fields fame in Cambodia. And of the Campesino Genocide in Guatemala.

It's not "hateful" to reject the Imperialist aims and murderous methods of US foreign policy.

It's not "hateful" to reject the US Military's role in enforcing that brutal, Imperialist US foreign policy.

It's not "hateful" to reject the role of the US Military veteran in enforcing that brutal, Imperialist US foreign policy.

By all means, respect the US veterans as people. But also feel free to show no respect for their service in the US Military.

Let's also Never Forget the slaughter of one million dissidents in Indonesia in the 1960s, which was assisted and coordinated by the USA.

@it's just sad - You asked a lot of questions, but the first sentence is the most important: "What I don't understand is why members of the military don't question the reason why they're doing what they do."

Members of the military live in intense propaganda, and for the most part, a good portion of them DO question why they did what they did when they leave the propaganda machine. Lots of veterans become very politically radicalized because of their military experience, specifically because of the questions you're asking.

Let's look at another example: a lot of Americans open up credit-cards and go into debt: this is an extremely self-destructive action, the choice to do so is entirely irrational, and it has a net-negative long term effect on their own individual wealth. And yet, millions upon millions of ignorant people, living in intense propaganda about why debt-slavery is perfectly acceptable make this choice routinely, some even thrive in this environment, some even encourage their friends to get credit-cards too. My point is that political education is not universal, it's a process, and sometimes 18 year olds make bad choices. I'm quite open to continuing this dialog if you'd like.

@Ben Reitman - Will you please stop quoting famous class warriors if you don't understand the basics of class structure? The person who works as the bank teller is not the banker who is foreclosing homes. The US Troops do not equal the corporation or corporatism that oppresses you. People at the bottom of the system will support the system, but they are not the system themselves, nor are they best target for attacking. You might as well blame the slaves of Egypt for building the Pyramids, and call for their handlers to whip them harder for building them. Applauding the death of a lonely 19-year old Private in the Army is entirely different than applauding the death of a 54-year old General. Although the 19-year old might obey orders from the 54-year old, it is because the 19 year old can be imprisoned or killed for not following those orders, it is because the 19 year old has friends on the ground and is told by everyone within their circle that fighting the war is a Good thing.

@Enrico Danhavad - I consider myself a sheepdog, no one pays me. I don't think you have any idea what the word "Sheepdog" means, or how people come to associate that term with themselves. A professional "Sheepdog" would be akin to a professional emergency responder (think Cops, EMTs, Firefighters). Those people are obviously motivated by, but not exclusively motivated by, money.

@And - I did your mom once, it was nasty - but still the best thing I've ever done outside of the military. What's the best thing you've done?

@Lefty - I don't think anyone is debating imperialism. You contradict yourself, "It's not "hateful" to reject the role of the US Military veteran in enforcing that brutal, Imperialist US foreign policy. By all means, respect the US veterans as people." By all means, it's not hateful to condemn their past actions, but don't disrespect them as people. Just so you know, @Lefty, "Veterans" typically are people who are no longer in the military, so "veterans" are not normally a part of the imperialism anymore. Hey, @Lefty, tell you what: I'll personally apologize to you and repent for all of my sins if you go through your neighbor's closet and get them to apologize for buying Nike's sweatshop clothes.

Just remember: US Soldiers are a victim of Imperialist war too. Just keep cheering on the death of victims folks, it's real classy.

@ Fidelity:

If a US military veteran understands that the US military perpetrates aggression, oppression, and Imperialism throughout the world, he or she should not be proud of his own military service, or of US military service in general.

(World War Two veterans possibly excepted.)

For a US military veteran to be proud of his or her US military service is like a "ex-" neoNazi or "ex-" KKK member who says that he is proud of his service in a neoNazi group or the KKK.

If a US military veteran truly rejects the US military, he or she should say so, and not present himself, or herself, as a veteran as a matter of pride, or expect any special respect from others for being a US military veteran.

When a US military veteran expresses pride in his or her service, that is the same as endorsing the US military and its aggression and oppression. Why? Because all US military service supports the USA's military "Mission" of aggression, oppression, and Imperialism.

Whenever I hear US military veterans expressing pride in their service, or expressing the idea that the US military performs a needed service, I understand that as an endorsement of US aggression, oppression, and Imperialism.

If a US military veteran identifies himself, or herself, as a victim of US propaganda, I can respect that.

What I cannot respect is the US military veteran who wants special respect or honor for his or her US Military service. That amounts to respect for the US Military itself - which I cannot and will not respect.

That's why I say respect the person - not the veteran.

Special treatment for US military veterans in education, medical services, employment, and housing is the US Government's way of rewarding those who have served the US Government's aggressive and oppressive Imperialist foreign policy.

Let's have equal rights and equal respect for all.

So you're a veteran? So what? You got duped by the propaganda, and you served the US Government's agenda of aggression, oppression, and Imperialism. That doesn't earn you any special respect from me.

Clearly Lefty, you haven't spent much time with Veterans, and you're making a shit load of assumptions from a really uneducated perspective.

First off, if you think World War 2 was fought for anything but the International Bankers, then I highly recommend you read the book "War is A Racket" by the most famous Marine of all time, Major General Smedley Butler.

There's a copy located here:  http://www.ivaw-oregon.us/sites/default/files/War%20is%20a%20Racket%20(v2).pdf

After you read that, you might ask yourself if you really think that General Butler was ashamed of his service, or if he *should* be ashamed of his service. By serving in the military (of any country) you come to understand a lot of things about the world that civilians will never really understand, for example, how prevalent and destructive violence truly is. You can easily understand how much violence we're exporting overseas, you can feel, taste and smell the violence (not just watch and listen on TV), and that experience reshapes the core of people.

The only other people I've met (outside of veterans) who seemingly understand violence in the way that I do are gangsters. I was in a gang out in Hillsboro when I left the military, and after sobering up I did anti-gang work here in Portland, Seattle and in Oakland. I understand gangsters pretty damn well, and they seem to understand me. Maybe that's because the military is akin to a gang, just on a larger scale, maybe that's why General Butler said he was a "Gangster for Capitalism."

You're making some big assumptions about people you don't understand, like how veterans as a whole feel about their military service. Do you think Bradley Manning should be ashamed of his military service? Because, from where I sit, that guy is a legitimate war hero who saved countless lives, and that never could have been done if it wasn't for him joining-up. Bradley Manning continues to be an emblem of bravery and sacrifice in the service to mankind, and to the service of his country.

I don't think you've heard many stories about why some veterans are proud of their military service, you haven't heard about the people who have saved lives, or who have come home and tried to stop the wars, or of veterans who have lost the fear of death and have used their lives for amazing things.

Some veterans (and active duty) certainly recognize their brainwashing and propaganda, and those people are equally likely to (perhaps more likely) to commit suicide - and here's an article in which people, like yourself, are cheering on their unnecessary death. The callous disregard for their life is... .not shocking, not upsetting, but... very common place. You are the perfect example of the byproduct of our violent culture: you seem to have the same disrespect for veterans that you assume veterans have (as imperialistic oppressors). Look in a mirror if you want to see who oppresses my people: it's you, the ignorant ass citizen who has no respect for what veterans are dealing with. Rather than try to understand our story, it's easier to make some assumptions and tell veterans how they should feel about their own life.

Here's ultimately where we part ways: you look at military service as oppression. I look at military service as trauma. So, I empathize with my brothers and sisters who have experienced significant trauma, you seem to disregard and disrespect that trauma.

I never wanted or asked for respect from you. I don't know why you assumed that I would, or that anyone would. You strike me as an ignorant and disrespectful person, posturing around like everybody in this world should share your same values, and you kick in the teeth people you don't understand because they might not share the values you have. Good luck in life Lefty, I'm sure your attitude will take you real far.

@ Fidelity:

I've read "War is a Racket."

General Smedley Butler died on June 21, 1940 - about 17 months before Pearl Harbor, so he didn't have anything to say about World War Two.

Perhaps, as you say, World War Two was also fought for the International Bankers. You won't hear any disagreement from me on that - it actually supports my thesis.

General Smedley Butler said that "War is a Racket," and if that's so, no person with intelligence, integrity, and a conscience should have anything to do with the US military.

The US military troops may be victims who experienced trauma, and perhaps they deserve some sympathy for that. However, that doesn't sanitize the US military or the profession of US military service, which functions to enforce aggression, oppression, and Imperialism.

Respect for the US military is an example of "feeding oppression while denouncing it."

"...he didn't have anything to say about World War Two." Really?

Chapter 1

Chapter 4

You know as much about "War is a Racket" as you know about what military service means.

Granted, Smedley Butler could see World War Two coming, and so could a lot of other people. But he died more than a year before it started.

Even though Smedley Butler saw Mussolini and Hitler as threats to peace, he was an isolationist who wanted to restrict the US military to being a national defense force. I'm for that.

Bradley Manning disobeyed orders when he published secret US Military documents, and he is regarded as a Traitor by the US Government and by the US Military. That's why they have him in custody.

I agree with you that Bradley Manning is a Hero, but he is a Hero in spite of being in the US Military, not because of being in the US Military. Bradley Manning acted as a human being, not as a soldier under orders - and that's how he became a Hero - by becoming a Traitor to the US Government.

With the Government we have in the USA, which exists only to serve the rich, that's the only way anyone can become a Hero - by becoming a Traitor to the US Government.

When I think of Heroes fighting for their country, I think of Afghani or Iraqi resistance fighters, or the Viet Cong, or Palestinians. I don't think of the US military that way at all.

For Bradley Manning to become a Hero, he had to disobey the US Military and become a Traitor to the US Government.

"Traitor" really depends upon your perspective. It's interesting that you find yourself agreeing with the war mongering bastards of the world who also apply that title to Bradley Manning.

Your ignorance of the military is so profound that I'm confused as to why you continue to respond and provide further commentary on the matter.

I am resolute that blowing the whistle on unconstitutional actions is clearly a part of the military Oath, it's entirely obvious that unconstitutional actions must be stopped: "... I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God."

The Oath serves as a warning that enemies can be domestic, and that the "true faith and allegiance" should be to the Constitution. So, when Bradley Manning claims that he's blowing the whistle on an unconstitutional war, I don't see how he could be considered a "traitor." His heroic actions were exactly what I expected when I naively joined the military: that somehow I would be spreading freedom and democracy, Bradley Manning actually did that with the Cablegate files (fueling the Arab Spring). Bradley Manning ended the Iraq War, Bradley Manning provided the most extensive reporting of a war ever documented. He released all of this information with the specific purpose of blowing the whistle on illegal and immoral actions, with the intent of sparking a debate about American's foreign policy. It's interesting that you call him a traitor, and that you do not see his suffering, imprisonment, and torture as "fighting for their country."

I wrote quite plainly that, like yourself, I regard Bradley manning as a Hero.

I also wrote quite plainly that the US Military and the US Government regard Bradley Manning as a Traitor. That is their opinion, not mine.

Fidelity, you wrote: "The Oath serves as a warning that enemies can be domestic, and that the "true faith and allegiance" should be to the Constitution."

You recognize that, and I recognize that, but the Courts of the US Military and the US Government interpret the Constitution and the Oath in their own way, and, given their history, they are not likely to decide the Bradley Manning case in Manning's favor.

There is a difference of opinion between what Bradley Manning, you, I, and many others think on the one side, and what the US Government and the US Military think on the other side.

One person's Patriot or Hero is another person's Traitor. I understand why you reject that negative label, and I respect that. I'm just saying that's how they see it.

Personally, I don't recognize the authority of the US Government, and I don't care how they label me. I consider myself free to decide all matters based on my own views and my own conscience.

Yes, Bradley Manning is "fighting for his country." But the US Military and the US Government obviously don't see it that way.

The US Military and the US Government interpret the Law their own way, and I don't think that's going to change without a "sea change" in the US culture.

"A billion dollars of the people's sweat and blood is to be expended for dreadnaughts and submarines for the army and the navy, all to protect this precious America.

The pathos of it all is that the America which is to be protected by a huge military force is not the America of the people, but that of the privileged class; the class which robs and exploits the masses, and controls their lives from the cradle to the grave. No less pathetic is it that so few people realize that preparedness never leads to peace, but that it is indeed the road to universal slaughter.

Forty years ago Germany proclaimed the slogan: "Germany above everything. Germany for the Germans, first, last and always. We want peace; therefore we must prepare for war. Only a well armed and thoroughly prepared nation can maintain peace, can command respect, can be sure of its national integrity." And Germany continued to prepare, thereby forcing the other nations to do the same. The terrible European war is only the culminating fruition of the hydra-headed gospel, military preparedness.

Like a plague, the mad spirit is sweeping the country, infesting the clearest heads and staunchest hearts with the deathly germ of militarism. National security leagues, with cannon as their emblem of protection, naval leagues with women in their lead have sprung up all over the country, women who boast of representing the gentler sex, women who in pain and danger bring forth life and yet are ready to dedicate it to the Moloch War. Americanization societies with well known liberals as members, they who but yesterday decried the patriotic clap-trap of to-day, are now lending themselves to befog the minds of the people and to help build up the same destructive institutions in America which they are directly and indirectly helping to pull down in Germany--militarism, the destroyer of youth, the raper of women, the annihilator of the best in the race, the very mower of life.

To uphold the institutions of our country--that's it--the institutions which protect and sustain a handful of people in the robbery and plunder of the masses, the institutions which drain the blood of the native as well as of the foreigner, and turn it into wealth and power; the institutions which rob the alien of whatever originality he brings with him and in return gives him cheap Americanism, whose glory consists in mediocrity and arrogance.

The very proclaimers of "America first" have long before this betrayed the fundamental principles of real Americanism, of the kind of Americanism that Jefferson had in mind when he said that the best government is that which governs least; the kind of America that David Thoreau worked for when he proclaimed that the best government is the one that doesn't govern at all; or the other truly great Americans who aimed to make of this country a haven of refuge, who hoped that all the disinherited and oppressed people in coming to these shores would give character, quality and meaning to the country. That is not the America of the politician and munition speculators.

... How is a military drilled and trained people to defend freedom, peace and happiness? This is what Major General O'Ryan has to say of an efficiently trained generation: "The soldier must be so trained that he becomes a mere automation; he must be so trained that it will destroy his initiative; he must be so trained that he is turned into a machine. The soldier must be forced into the military noose; he must be jacked up; he must be ruled by his superiors with pistol in hand."

This was not said by a Prussian Junker; not by a German barbarian; not by Treitschke or Bernhardi, but by an American Major General. And he is right. You cannot conduct war with equals; you cannot have militarism with free born men; you must have slaves, automatons, machines, obedient disciplined creatures, who will move, act, shoot and kill at the command of their superiors. That is preparedness, and nothing else.

Preparedness is not directed only against the external enemy; it aims much more at the internal enemy. It concerns that element of labor which has learned not to hope for anything from our institutions, that awakened part of the working people which has realized that the war of classes underlies all wars among nations, and that if war is justified at all it is the war against economic dependence and political slavery, the two dominant issues involved in the struggle of the classes.

Preparedness, therefore, will only add to the power of the privileged few and help them to subdue, to enslave and crush labor. Surely Gompers must know that, and if he joins the howl of the military clique, he must stand condemned as a traitor to the cause of labor.

Just as it is with all the other institutions in our confused life, which were supposedly created for the good of the people and have accomplished the very reverse, so it will be with preparedness. Supposedly, America is to prepare for peace; but in reality it will be the cause of war. It always has been thus--all through bloodstained history, and it will continue until nation will refuse to fight against nation, and until the people of the world will stop preparing for slaughter. Preparedness is like the seed of a poisonous plant; placed in the soil, it will bear poisonous fruit. The European mass destruction is the fruit of that poisonous seed. It is imperative that the American workers realize this before they are driven by the jingoes into the madness that is forever haunted by the spectre of danger and invasion; they must know that to prepare for peace means to invite war, means to unloose the furies of death over land and seas.

That which has driven the masses of Europe into the trenches and to the battlefields is not their inner longing for war; it must be traced to the cut­throat competition for military equipment, for more efficient armies, for larger warships, for more powerful cannon. You cannot build up a standing army and then throw it back into a box like tin soldiers. Armies equipped to the teeth with weapons, with highly developed instruments of murder and backed by their military interests, have their own dynamic functions. We have but to examine into the nature of militarism to realize the truism of this contention.

Militarism consumes the strongest and most productive elements of each nation. Militarism swallows the largest part of the national revenue. Almost nothing is spent on education, art, literature and science compared with the amount devoted to militarism in times of peace, while in times of war everything else is set at naught; all life stagnates, all effort is curtailed; the very sweat and blood of the masses are used to feed this insatiable monster­­militarism. Under such circumstances, it must become more arrogant, more aggressive, more bloated with its own importance. If for no other reason, it is out of surplus energy that militarism must act to remain alive; therefore it will seek an enemy or create one artificially. In this civilized purpose and method, militarism is sustained by the state, protected by the laws of the land, fostered by the home and the school, and glorified by public opinion. In other words, the function of militarism is to kill. It cannot live except through murder.

But the most dominant factor of military preparedness and the one which inevitably leads to war, is the creation of group interests, which consciously and deliberately work for the increase of armament whose purposes are furthered by creating the war hysteria. This group interest embraces all those engaged in the manufacture and sale of munition and in military equipment for personal gain and profit.

The more reason for those who still have a spark of libertarianism and humanity left to cry out against this great crime, against the outrage now being prepared and imposed upon the American people. It is not enough to claim being neutral; a neutrality which sheds crocodile tears with one eye and keeps the other riveted upon the profits from war supplies and war loans, is not neutrality. It is a hypocritical cloak to cover, the countries' crimes. Nor is it enough to join the bourgeois pacifists, who proclaim peace among the nations, while helping to perpetuate the war among the classes, a war which in reality, is at the bottom of all other wars.

It is this war of the classes that we must concentrate upon, and in that connection the war against false values, against evil institutions, against all social atrocities. Those who appreciate the urgent need of co-operating in great struggles must oppose military preparedness imposed by the state and capitalism for the destruction of the masses. They must organize the preparedness of the masses for the overthrow of both capitalism and the state. Industrial and economic preparedness is what the workers need. That alone leads to revolution at the bottom as against mass destruction from on top. That alone leads to true internationalism of labor against Kaiserdom, Kingdom, diplomacies, military cliques and bureaucracy. That alone will give the people the means to take their children out of the slums, out of the sweat shops and the cotton mills. That alone will enable them to inculcate in the coming generation a new ideal of brotherhood, to rear them in play and song and beauty; to bring up men and women, not automatons. That alone will enable woman to become the real mother of the race, who will give to the world creative men, and not soldiers who destroy. That alone leads to economic and social freedom, and does away with all wars, all crimes, and all injustice."

-- Excerpts from "Preparedness: The Road to Universal Slaughter"
by Emma Goldman (1915)

[First published in Mother Earth, Vol. X, no. 10, December 1915, and also as a pamphlet.]