Chris Hedges, War Correspondent: Even Lost Wars Make Corporations Rich

Chris Hedges understands that the power to end wars does not rest with our electorate, nor is our press to blame, or is it arbitrated by a judiciary that protects us from predators: Power rests with our corporations, and these gain a lucrative profit from war, even those we are not winning. All polite appeals to the formal systems of power will NOT end the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. So, what do we do to deserve peace? We must physically obstruct the war machine, or accept a role as its accomplice. The moratorium on anti-war protests in 2004 was designed to help elect the Democratic presidential candidate, Senator John Kerry. I was a foolish and humiliating concession. Kerry snapped to salute like a windup doll, when he was nominated. He talked endlessly about victory in Iraq, and assured the country that he would not have withdrawn from Fallujah. When George W. Bush was elected to another term, the anti-war movement had lost its momentum. The effort to return Congress to Democratic control in 2006 and end the war in Iraq became another sad lesson in incredulity. The Democratic Party, once in the majority, funded and expanded the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.