We are constantly told we don’t have enough money as a society to pay for various social programs, fix the roads, fund schools, rebuild infrastructure, etc. And yet when it comes to a new war or military adventure, there never seems to be a shortage of funds.

Now we are involved in yet another one. This time the excuse is the murder of two reporters and one social agency worker in the Middle East. Obama and Co. couldn’t put over a war against Syria last year, but now they feel they have the perfect cover. We are told that the ISIS fanatics are barbarians that threaten civilization itself (they’re bad, no doubt). There is always some extreme example that is held out to justify military action.

But if we look deeper we can see the hand of U.S. foreign policy at work leading to these new crises.

There was no Al Qaeda in Iraq before the U.S./British invasion of 2003. There was no ISIS until years of oppressive rule in Iraq that victimized Sunni Muslims. Indeed, there was no ethnic/sectarian conflict at all to speak of in Iraq until, that’s right, the aftermath of the invasion of 2003. Now we are told we must go to war in Iraq, again, to clean up a mess caused by the disruption and horror caused to begin with by imperial war moves of the Western powers. It’s a vicious circle of death and maiming which benefits no one—no one, that is, except politicians, military brass careerists, big oil companies, arms manufacturers, various other corporate ghouls, and reactionary proponents of “American exceptionalism.”

Look at the numbers of homeless and mentally ill veterans of these wars, right here in SLO and SLO county. What about the physically damaged vets, their lives decimated? What about the money going to war that could go to cities and states like SLO and California for social and economic needs and debt relief? Have any of the candidates running for office locally said anything at all about any of this? No, they haven’t, and they won’t.

Don’t go along with the war drive this time. Don’t buy into the propaganda and demagoguery. It has nothing to do with any noble causes or humanitarianism fights against barbarism. It’s the same old drumbeat of imperialist geopolitical power plays and the manipulation of your mind and consciousness. Don’t drink the poison Kool-Aid. Demand that money for war be used here at home for human needs and maintaining our home turf.

-- Jim Griffin - San Luis Obispo

-- Jim Griffin - San Luis Obispo

-- Jim Griffin - San Luis Obipso

-- Jim Griffin - SLO