1. The stated purpose is seldom the outcome.
2. Politicians who start them rarely fight them.
3. Although disguised as defending liberty, they are often at the expense of liberty.
4. Civilian populations are rarely exempted from the killing.
5. Governments sensor media reporting to hide the "realities of war".
6. The soldiers return traumatized, if they return at all.
7. Soldiers who survive come back to a ruined country and/or unemployment.
8. The treasury is opened to "contractors" who raid with impunity.
9. Social and legal pressure is used to silence dissent.
10. Dissent is either labelled as "treason" or "sedition".
11. Religion endorses killing, and is silent on civilian deaths.
12. Conscription is often necessary to avoid defeat.
13. Lies, half truths, and distraction are employed to motivate support for war.
14. Habeas Corpus is often suspended.
15. The victors are left with debt, which is passed to future generations.
16. The losers are left with broken families and a devastated country.
17. Most nations have nuclear weapons, or have strong allies who have them.
18. Rape is a weapon of war.
19. Genocide is war's constant companion.
20. War can come to American soil.
I'm not a pacifist. I understand that war is necessary under certain narrow circumstances. I would fight to DEFEND my country. The problem is that our leaders frame everything in terms of national defense. Before we're aware of the deception, war hysteria has gripped the country.
I hope that we will all realize the true horrors of war, and the fact that it could come home to roost, before we participate in the patriotic fervor of war hysteria.
