Here we go again. The leaders of the free world bombastically beating their chests over the strikes in Iran, boasting that they were ‘A spectacular military success.’ As if Iran is going to take this lying down. The Ayatollahs immediately warned the attacks would have ‘everlasting consequences.’
Various countries are now taking sides, giving contradictory opinions, while bracing themselves against terrorist attacks in major cities.
This is not a political essay—there are others more competent that I to give a considered analysis of the facts, which can be read in the papers and news feeds. Opinion pieces abound, one of which bitterly—and accurately—states that the world is ruled by “three angry old men.”
As a layperson, though, I can but wonder—does nobody look at the facts before taking such decisions as politicians have been taking the last several months?
All the American wars of the past years have ended in disasters—think Vietnam, for example, or Afghanistan, where after twenty years the Americans fled, leaving tons of expensive military equipment behind, their Afghan collaborators in the sh*t, and all the improvements in daily life (especially for women) wiped out in one stroke as the Taliban instantly surged back into power.
And it’s not just America—half the world seems to be on a warpath as we speak.
I’m sure a lot of people in various industries benefit financially from all these wars, but who pays the highest cost? The boys drafted from US villages who were sent to the other end of the world to fight the Viet Kong, the unarmed civilians who see fire and hailstones rain over their hitherto peaceful homes, the mothers sending their kids off to war, the old and vulnerable, the healthy young people returning maimed and broken beyond repair.
It beggars belief. Where are the gains from all this? And is there a solution? Probably the only one is endless negotiation until one is hammered out.
Do you remember this old song?
Where have all the husbands gone?
Long time passing
Where have all the husbands gone?
Long time ago
Where have all the husbands gone?
Gone for soldiers, every one
Oh, when will they ever learn?
Oh, when will they ever learn?
Peter, Paul and Mary
Letters from Athens 