In the last speech President Dwight D. Eisenhower ever made as President of the United States, he offered up words of wisdom and of warning. This speech was likely the most controversial of his career, much of it quite prophetic. Here was a man who had experienced war, understood the cost, and knew the importance of avoiding it at all costs. His words still hold meaning and impact for the nation today.
It’s disturbing to me that those in Washington DC who would take this country to war(s), and KEEP this country in a constant state of war, have never SEEN or experienced war first hand or made any personal sacrifice of their own. They’ve only seen the benefits to their portfolios and gratitude from their corporate cronies. The men (the generals) who have experienced war up close and personal, and who have advised this president against his chosen path, have been disregarded, discredited, or replaced.
We have a President who spent a year AWOL from his Air Guard duty, a Vice-President with five deferments, a Secretary of State who has never served, and they are getting their plans for a “New Way Forward” from neo-conservative think tanks run by people who have never served in the military or experienced war in any capacity. These people should not be making decisions on behalf of our entire nation, with the cost being so dear, and so immense: the blood of our young men and women, our treasure, and the goodwill of the entire planet.
With the cost of nearly one million lives lost in Iraq, we now occupy their country, which is in shambles and civil war. We still don’t know the reasons why we are really there, as they change from month to month, speech to speech. Now we are told we will be in Iraq for a years to come. It is time for America to wake up and put a stop to this.
I thought it might be a nice thing to revisit the speech President Eisenhower offered the nation on that day in January of 1961. I was reminded of his words of warning this morning.
(Thanks Thom Hartmann..)
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