What Will It Take to End Our Destructive, Pointless Wars?

[upstatecajun]

What if, from the beginning, everyone killed in the Iraq and Afghan wars had been buried in a single large cemetery easily accessible to the American public? Would it bring the fighting to a halt more quickly if we could see hundreds of thousands of tombstones, military and civilian, spreading hill after hill, field after field, across our landscape?

I found myself thinking about this recently while visiting the narrow strip of northern France and Belgium that has the densest concentration of young men’s graves in the world. This is the old Western Front of the First World War. Today, it is the final resting place for several million soldiers. Nearly half their bodies, blown into unrecognizable fragments by some 700 million artillery and mortar shells fired here between 1914 and 1918, lie in unmarked graves; the remainder are in hundreds upon hundreds of military cemeteries, still carefully groomed and weeded, the orderly rows of headstones or crosses covering hillsides and meadows.

http://www.alternet.org/world/150817/what_will_it_take_to_end_our_destructive%2C_pointless_wars/

[FirstLight]

1. wow

what a concept... I am reposting this article on my fb too!

[BlueIris]

2. Real consequences for those who've started and perpetuated them. nt

[Overseas]

3. A draft, starting at the top of the income scale.

Richest first.

Then let's see what happens.

[mountainlion55]

9. the wars

would stop tommorow. :smoke:

[Armstead]

4. The disappearance of humanity

I hate to say it, but I don;t think we'll ever evolve to the point where war is not pursued.

Best we can do is minimize its role.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

5. Disagee completely and wholeheartedly!

When it gets down to a population of 1, I think it'll end there.

You're way too pessimistic.

[Armstead]

7. If it's me that's left there'd still be a lot of internal wars going on

I would storm my own beach head at some point.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

8. Do personal Demons count in a census?

:shrug:

[Armstead]

11. Just proves my point. No humanity, no demons....Unless the survivor is Mr. Rogers

O8)

[sabrina 1]

6. It would take very strong leadership, people of character

who would have the guts to stand up the MIC. But I don't think there are many people like that around, especuially those who go into politics. Most politicians are not particularly strong characters. Those who are, will never be allowed to make it into a position where they could change our horrendous, brutal policies. Such a person would have to pretend to be 'on board' with the war machine in order to be allowed past the real rulers of this country.

[mountainlion55]

10. Man oh man

I'm such a cynic. They would just kill him.Change only comes from the ordinary citizen standing up and putting shit on the line.:smoke:

[sabrina 1]

12. I agree. And to have to agree with that awful fact shows how

far gone this country is.

So, is there any hope of restoring some kind of democracy to this country?