Home > Remembering on ‘Remembrance Day’: Wouldn’t it be great if we didn’t have a (...)

Remembering on ‘Remembrance Day’: Wouldn’t it be great if we didn’t have a ‘Remembrance Day’

by Open-Publishing - Sunday 11 November 2007

Canada-Québec UK History Australia

http://www.chycho.com/?q=node/1234

Remembrance Day (Australia, Canada, United Kingdom), also known as Poppy Day (Malta and South Africa) and Armistice Day (France, New Zealand, and many other Commonwealth countries; and the original name of the day internationally) is a day to commemorate the sacrifices of members of the armed forces and civilians in times of war, specifically since the First World War. It is observed on 11 November to recall the end of World War I on that date in 1918.”

How unfortunate that we have a need for such a day, especially since “War is a racket. It always has been. It is possibly the oldest, easily the most profitable, surely the most vicious. It is the only one international in scope. It is the only one in which the profits are reckoned in dollars and the losses in lives.” (Major General Smedley D. Butler, USMC, “one of only 19 people to be twice awarded the Medal of Honor, and one of only three to be awarded a Marine Corps Brevet Medal and a Medal of Honor, and the only person to be awarded a Marine Corps Brevet Medal and a Medal of Honor for two different actions”)

Today, and every day, we should remember why we have sent our children to die, and to kill. We should remember that war is meant to consolidate assets for the oligarchy. We should also remember that the majority of casualties of every War have been civilians. That not only soldiers, but countless innocents have been caught in the line of fire between warring corporations to increase the wealth of the privileged few.

One of the best summations of war that I have found is given by Major General Butler in his book, WAR IS A RACKET:

“In the World War [I] a mere handful garnered the profits of the conflict. At least 21,000 new millionaires and billionaires were made in the United States during the World War. That many admitted their huge blood gains in their income tax returns. How many other war millionaires falsified their tax returns no one knows.

How many of these war millionaires shouldered a rifle? How many of them dug a trench? How many of them knew what it meant to go hungry in a rat-infested dug-out? How many of them spent sleepless, frightened nights, ducking shells and shrapnel and machine gun bullets? How many of them parried a bayonet thrust of an enemy? How many of them were wounded or killed in battle?

Out of war nations acquire additional territory, if they are victorious. They just take it. This newly acquired territory promptly is exploited by the few – the selfsame few who wrung dollars out of blood in the war. The general public shoulders the bill.

And what is this bill?

This bill renders a horrible accounting. Newly placed gravestones. Mangled bodies. Shattered minds. Broken hearts and homes. Economic instability. Depression and all its attendant miseries. Back-breaking taxation for generations and generations.”

The above book should be mandatory reading and part of every curriculum, in every school, in every country around the world.

Today we should remember that 2007 is the bloodiest year for US forces in both Afghanistan and Iraq, which implies that it is also the bloodiest year for innocent civilians that US, NATO, and other forces have killed in both Afghanistan and Iraq.

We should also remember our recent history and the legacy of war, maybe then we can prevent it from repeating itself. The following websites contain images that will be a part of our history for future generations to come, after all what better way to remember history then with photos:

 Hiroshima, the pictures they didn’t want us to see and why

 Photo journal of a German soldier on the Eastern Front

 The Iraq War as a Trophy Photo

 "War against Terrorism" in Afghanistan

 A Vietnam Photo Essay

 The War to End All Wars: World War I

And with all wars there is genocide, so we must also remember the end result of war:

 The Canadian Genocide of Aboriginal Peoples

 Native American Genocide in the United States

 Armenian Genocide

 The Holocaust

 Rwandan Genocide

 Genocide in progress: Darfur

The above is just a sample of our deeds and why it is important to have a ‘Remembrance Day’. But today should not be just about our children that we have turned into killers, it should especially be about the innocent civilian victims created due to our ignorance as to the true cause and cost of war. We have sacrificed millions so that we can remain apathetic.

War is neither about honor, duty, justice or peace. War is about money, greed, power, and death and destruction. It is about sacrificing our children to propagate fear, and that is the reason why we, who have stood idly by and allowed 1.1 million Iraqi civilians be massacred by our children with the latest weapons that our tax dollars have paid for, should remember. We must remember so that we can stop those in power from waging Preemptive Wars of Aggression in our name and with our children’s blood.

http://www.chycho.com/?q=node/1234

chycho

http://www.chycho.com