By David A. Franklin, Jr.

At the risk of repeating sentiments expressed in my previous article I write on this topic again….
because it is worth it. I am not an isolationist but this Syria urgency must not be approached with military strike as the first attempt at a solution and for many good reasons. Don’t tell me that a ‘small surgical
strike’ sending missiles into a foreign country is not war - because it is!!!!!

"War, huh, yeah.. What is it good for?
Absolutely nothing!!
Uh-huh
War, huh, yeah.. What is it good for?
Absolutely  nothing
Say it again, y'all" ~Edwin Starr (1969)

War means tears to thousands of mothers’ (and father’s) eyes. When their sons (and daughters) go to fight and lose
their lives. War, it ain't nothing but a heartbreaker. War, friend only to the undertaker (AND TO THE MILITARY INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX). Ooooh, war it's an enemy to all mankind. The point of war blows my mind. War has
caused unrest within the younger generation. Induction then destruction…Who wants to die?

Many a young man’s (and young woman’s) dreams made him/her disabled, bitter and mean. Life is much too short and precious to spend fighting wars these days .War can't give life it can only take it away.

Peace, love and understanding. Tell me, is there no place for them today? They say we must fight to keep our freedom.
But Lord knows there's got to be a better way.
EDWIN STARR: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dKAX7Jp8wo                                  
Please take a listen to this emotional rendition!

Insanity
: "It's doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." ~Albert Einstein
Secretary of State John Kerry and the Obama Administration do not believe a military strike on Syria could be called a war. According to Mr. Kerry "We don't believe we are going to go to war in the classic sense of taking American troops and America to war," ‘War in the classic sense’ to me is a play upon words in an attempt to downplay the eminent consequences of a Syrian ‘invasion’, ‘surgical strike’ or whatever we wish to christen this.

I like one definition by Ckaysewitz “war is an act of violence intended to compel our opponent to fulfill our will”. It is in this case but the ‘our’ here are the world nations so America should not adopt and own this and go it alone; as a matter, how things are poised and are shaping up, it seems as if America is the only country barring one or two who want
to apply this solution. 
 
Let us go down memory lane on a few ‘not wars’ and see the devastation.

Vietnam War was an unofficial title but it was never officially declared war under the Constitution’s war powers clause. President Johnson was given the go ahead under the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution in 1964 to authorize 
conventional military force”. Sounds familiar? “Surgical strike”. Over one million people dead including Americans, South Viatnamese and Viet Cong Troops. Civilian toll was astronomical.

Panama Invasion 
in 1989 was another non-war that killed hundreds of soldiers and a count of up to approximately 3,000 civilians. 
 
The Lebanon Intervention another of the species claimed the lives of 300 Americans (civilians and soldiers) and an unknown number of Lebanese. In this non-war the backlash was severe. – a suicide bomber killed 63 at the U.S. Embassy in Beirut, followed by a month later where a Marine barracks in Beirut was attacked killing 241 American Soldiers. This was the largest loss of American military lives since Vietnam. Can America guarantee that Syria and its allies will not or are not planning their own “surgical strikes”? Is America thinking that they will sit back as lame ducks and do nothing? Will other factions within the mix, Al-Qaeda and the bad faction of the rebels in Syria see this as a window of opportunity to execute some devastation of their own?

And these are but a few of the ‘non-wars’ where all that was obvious was that devastation and loss of lives was the result. So call it what you may, you go into another country whether on ground, from the air or sea, it is war.

THE SYRIAN MASSACRE

It will not be ‘long term’ the President and Secretary of State John Kerry say. Neither was it the intention of Vietnam, nor Iraq or Afghanistan. Then it is about what is long term – 5 to 10 years or 20 years? Are they banking that Assad will curl up and die? Will Putin, who has the biggest ego ever bestowed on mankind, sit cowardly by and not help the country in which he has so much investment? No and he said he will not.

Does the expression on her face suggests she is smelling the bull sh*t coming out of her own mouth?

PHOTO: Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtien (R-Florida)

Then for some Republicans there is never a time that they miss the opportunity to politic. In the process they flavor their
utterances with  blatant lies or they might be downright uninformed. This week, Ileana Ros-Lehtien, Florida Republican House Representative a top Republican conjured Ronald Regan’s apparent vigor in her criticism of the President. Again the Republican godhead was praised for his strength to amplify what they say is Obama’s weakness. She said he is weak in not acting ‘more directly’ in response to chemical weaponry in Syria. Of course she was on FOX, the farm for breeding and nurturing lies and misinformation. 

“It is against the norms of international standards and to let something like this go unanswered, I think will weaken
our resolve. I — I know that President Reagan would have never let this happen. He would stand up to this. And President Obama — the only reason he is consulting with Congress, he wants to blame somebody for his lack of resolve. We have to think like President Reagan would do and he would say chemical use is unacceptable.” 
Ms. Ros-Lehtien said.

A little history lesson for this Republican and FOX News and its die-hards. As recent as August 2013 the news revealed that declassified CIA documents confirmed that the “U.S. knew about and in some case helped Iraq’s chemical weapons attack against Iran in the 1980s” New Docs Detail U.S. Involvement in Saddam’s Nerve Gas Attacks, The
Atlantic Wire, Abby Ohlheiser, August 25, 2013:
http://www.theatlanticwire.com/national/2013/08/new-docs-show-us-involvement-saddams-nerve-gas-attacks/68698/.  

It was Ronald Regan who turned a blind eye to the use of chemical weapons against Iraq.

Donald Rumsfeld who should have no voice to talk or lips to form words such as “oust Assad or stay on the golf course” .. “take responsibility”. Isn’t he who said of Iraq and Afghanistan that “history will judge the two wars a success and the harbinger of freedom for literally millions”? These wars (or non-wars) belonged to him as Secretary of Defense but of course he and his Neo-Con buddies are given large platforms to lecture the American people on matters of grave importance such as war. The unfortunate thing is majority listen and absorb as truth and gospel. Sad, sad day. 

Representative Michael Grimm (R-N.Y.) has switched his ‘yes’ to the Syria strike to a ‘no’ and for no other reason
than fundraising:

"Today, I decided to withdraw my support from President Obama's proposal for a military strike against Syria. I have heard from many of you in Staten Island and Brooklyn, and it is clear to me that their [sic] is strong opposition to the strike. As your voice in Washington, I will continue to listen and take a stand for you,"….  "Will you stand with me in opposing President Obama's plan with a donation of $25 or more right now?"


Whether it is to save face, ego, politics, self-aggrandizement, posturing for upcoming elections, fundraising, what we are witnessing are politicians playing games and nothing of real thought as to what end is this ‘surgical strike’? What do
we expect to accomplish and how realistic is our expectations? What are the unintended consequences and who will it hurt?
VIDEO: Why Americans Are Against War On Syria
Published on Aug 30, 2013  
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJYuViS-XVI
In this video Luke Rudkowski documents an anti-war protest on August 29th 2013. He asks the protesters why they are  protesting, what people should know and what they hope to happen:

CARNAGE IN SYRIA

Senator John McCain (R-Arizona) said “it will be heavy lift” for the president, but it is a heavy lift for the American people. I implore the president and Congress to cut the ego (red line) crap and pivot back to home. Two or three of the 189 countries who signed on to the 1993 Chemical Weapons treaty have indicated they will go along with any strike,
most are not buying into it. Has somebody died and left America god? Why are we playing World Police?
1. America cannot deal with its own weapons of mass destruction and get gun control enacted.  Why does 
    the President and those who support this strike think the country has the gonads or the moral authority to 
    singlehanded (without the input of UN or other member countries) to stop Assad from using his WMD? Explain it to 
    me because there must be a plausible explanation to this puzzle.

2. Why don’t we have funds to give 30 million additional Americans healthcare, to pay teachers, to fund schools, to 
    fund school feeding programs to nurture poor kids who might be heading to mal-nutrition, to … BUT we can, from 
    out of thin air decide to launch missiles which cost $1m apiece and an estimated $60,000 an hour for planes that 
    drop bombs on targets? Yet there are cuts galore at home to feed the very persons who voted these lawmakers in to 
    run their lives. $40m cut from food stamps, cuts in education, cuts in police, fire department and housing and 
    no funds for infrastructure upkeep.  

3. When Iraq and Afghanistan were entered, there was money in the coffers which was used to fund these non-wars at 
    the expense of all other things. Now Mr. President, there are no funds… where is the money coming from to support 
    this ‘invasion’, ‘surgical strike’ or whatever innuendo we wish to attach to this planned war.

4. What is happening to the inequities in unemployment of blacks sitting at 13%, for Hispanics ticking up to over 9% 
    while never even equating to the national average while white unemployment sits at 6.0% never ticking above the 
    national average.

5. What of immigration reform, the budget, sequester, public service employee layoffs?

6. Shouldn’t you Mr. President and Congress be putting this level of energy and effort to addressing these domestic 
    problems rather than seeking to go it alone to invade a country on a problem which, by your own admission, is a 
    world problem - a world majority of whom seem not to give a damn because they themselves are trying to build their 
    own country? There is wisdom in the thinking that you can only truly help someone else when you have the strength 
    and wherewithal to help yourself. And I dare say America is not showing that capacity to help itself-
    not now.                    
 
Charity---It Begins At Home...
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Haig Kazarian
9/10/2013 01:58:16 pm

The single biggest reason for war is to convert billionaires into trillionaires. Meanwhile the poor, mostly young innocents pay the price.

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