James Petras: How the Empire Destroys its Own People!

On May 29, 2011, President Obama visited Joplin Missouri, the site of a devastating tornado which killed 140, and at the time, pronounced it "a terrible tragedy". During the same week, Afghan President Karzai condemned the killing of a family of 14 by a NATO fighter bomber, and pointed to a total of several hundred civilians killed so far this year, plus thousands over the decade! The relation between the civilian deaths in Joplin and and Afghanistan raises fundamental questions about the priorities, character and direction of the US Empire, and the future of the American republic. After I served as Advisory Team Leader in Vietnam, and watching too many Vietnamese and Americans die, I became somewhat poetic, and composed the following: About war much has been written. More must yet be said by those who saw them die, so that the dead may rest, and sight be gained, to see war for what it was, and is! War is not fighting, though fighting's what we see, nor is it death, for death is but its end! It is the rancor of disunited hearts, the death of love, the end of hope. The war around us echoes in our hearts, and grants it life. Once, mortals dared to tame this ancient beast, and yet it thrives. Each age must fight this force again, or pay its price!