View on War

-----but so are people in general. That includes me as I have done stupid things, like killibg another human in the name of serving my nation. Yes war is stupid, as stupid as people. When will people stop being stupid. I do hope so soon.

War doesn't solve ANYTHING. It only makes other countries resent you MORE. Hasen't anyone ever wondered, why ALOT OF THE OTHER COUTRIES HATES THE U.S.

I intend to join the Army via ROTC through Virginia Tech or James Madison University. I dont believe war is good but sometimes is unavoidable, and in some cases it is stupid. However not all war is stupid. You should all listen to "Have You Forgotten" by Darryl Worley. Seriously now, do you think it was stupid how the US won its independence from Britain , and then kept it after the war of 1812? How about the American Civil War where slaves were freed? Some people seriously need to think before they talk. Now if you are referring to the wars in both Afghanistan and Iraq....well they arn't stupid either. There is a purpose you dont neccesarily have to agree with it though. The War in Afghanistan is a just war. "Have you forgoten how you felt that day when those towers fell and our country's people blown away?" Iraq I think was started because of bad intelligence. However now that we are in there and and making a difference, we should stay in there until the job is done. Nothing could be worse than pulling out at this time. You would leave a country open and vulnerable. But no matter what you should always support our troops!

Is war the right way of solving problems, disagreements or disputes? Or is it a vindictive way of seeking to annihilate an opposing threat or different culture. Is war wrong? I for one disagree with war. War is painful, vindictive, horrific, and violent. It is always provoked by greed, power, money, religion or revenge. Yet so many different people use it. History is peppered full of different wars, battles and so on. Countless lives have been wasted because of it. You would have thought that humans on the whole would have learned their lessons on war and never fall to this solution again. Yet history repeats its self over and over again. From the Napoleonic wars to the First World War. From the First World War to the second. From the Second World War to the cold war. History repeats this horrific crime. The list is endless. So why do different country’s and race’s go into war? Some of the earliest battles in the last millennium show that power comes into war. Take 1066 for an example. The lead up to the battle of Hastings was all summed up to power and revenge. William, Duke of Normandy wanted to take over England and king Edward of England claimed according to William that he could inherit the thrown after he died. However the king stated on his deathbed that Earl Harold of Wessex would be king. Historians believe this was a lie made up by William as an excuse to send an army to take over England. King Harold Hardrada of Normandy said the same. So there was a three-way dispute over the thrown. Earl Harold of Wessex was later crowned king. However instead of letting the situation drop Harold Hardrada and William decided to invade England. This is a perfect example of imperialism. To take a country by force just to rule the populace and gain more land and money. I disagree with this as a way of solving this problem. It is not right to take land by force just to gain more power and wealth. There should never have been a war at this particular time. Apart from me disagreeing with how each of these countries were run at the time. There should be no kings or queens ruling. While these royal families and the upper class are showered with riches and gold the rest of the population at this time in Normandy, England and France were living in diabolical conditions. No health care, no decent homes and hardly any money. All as the common peasant had was religion rammed down their necks. The ruling class used this to blind the common folk and said if they stuck to the law and caused no trouble or fuss they would rise to heaven when they died. Why could not everyone at these times have decent homes and food to eat apart from the ruling classed? Then when war breaks out because of kings wanting more land or when they are defending their land they expect the people to fight for them. Of course when you have a monarchy you sometimes have an empire. Empires are all summed up by greed and power and I certainly disagree with this way of running a country. Religion also comes into war with devastating effect. In medieval times all western European countries were supported and advised by the pope who was situated in Rome and still is today. The pope at this time had a tremendous authority over western countries such as England, France, Spain, Germany and so on. Sometimes the pope would advise these Christian countries to go to war with countries that opposed their religion or to fight for the holy land situated in and around Antioch. These religious campaigns would be commonly known as crusades. These enormous armies would travel from their homelands and fight for ‘the will of God’. These crusades would of course kill and slaughter thousands of people to complete their task to appease the pope and to occupy the holy land. This is indeed a barbaric way to do ‘gods work’. The bible certainly does not quote to gather armies and take holy lands by force. This is a very wrong way of organising a religion. However the reasons for this behaviour lie in taking more land to gain more power. It was probably quite true that kings organised these crusades not only for religious reasons but also for more power. Religion has a lot of lives to answer for. I certainly would not agree with this catholic system. Racial hatred also comes into wars. The Nazis are a good example. However another good example for this topic could be the battles between the Europeans and the Native Americans. A whole race almost annihilated by the European settlers who wanted to take over America. The Europeans thought that these native people were barbaric people. The Europeans looked down on them and believed they should be destroyed. However the Aztecs, Incas and so on were organised tribes of people who were very sophisticated and educated.
Moving on much later through history we meet one of the biggest and most destructive wars in history. In 1914 the First World War broke out. This was the opening chapter of a new era of war. New technological advances, alliances and events made this war one of the longest and most devastating of wars in human history. The large European powers fighting each other for colonies and resources of Africa and Asia, became embroiled in a worldwide blood bath. Once again ordinary men found themselves fighting not for their own class interests, but for the capitalist class that had been fast developing with the industrial revolution. Why can’t the people who start the war fight for themselves? Such as the world leaders and Generals at that time. Instead the ordinary common man is brought in to the situation and ordered to die for his country. All the high up Generals at this time were 30 or 40 miles away from the front line, doing nothing but ordering their soldiers to launch another pointless assault on the German trenches. Only to get slaughtered by machine gun fire. Lives wasted, by pathetic upper class Generals. Wars just make things worse. All my statements so far have been against war. This has enforced the reason why I do not think war is right. Moving on yet again to almost present day we encounter the war on Iraq. This yet another war that I think should not have happened. The so-called ‘war on terror’ movement aimed to remove the dictator Saddam Hussein, and free the people of Iraq from Saddam. However anyone who believes this story should think again. The real problem with Iraq lies with Oil and other factors. The amount of oil needed to fuel cars, manufacture goods and supply the world with power (electricity) is phenomenal. The amount of oil left around the world is falling due to vast consuming oil companies. Where else is there oil? There is a vast amount of oil in Iraq however there is one problem. The recent rise in the Baghdad regime has refused to let America gain any more oil from Iraq. Also America cannot tolerate with any country that opposes the big rich oil companies and American capitalism. So President Bush needs to eliminate the threat and to do this he decides to go to war. Of course Bush’s ‘puppy dog’ Prime Minister Tony Blair is obliged to help and take Iraq by force for imperialist reasons, such as for more resources (oil). Blair and Bush then cover up the real reason why they are going to war with Iraq with another story. They say they need to eliminate the dictator Saddam Hussein who has supposedly gained weapons of mass destruction. However Blair and Bush do not care about the dictatorship in Iraq, they just want the oil back. They make up a perfect cover up. Of course now England and America can go to war. To some it up shortly they carpet bomb major cities in Iraq killing thousands of innocent people then send their troops into Iraq killing even more innocent people when it is occupied. Of course there was no ‘weapons of mass destruction’ which supports the fact that this was a cover up pumped through the media. Of course the funding of this war has to come from somewhere. According to the national audit office (parliament’s financial watch dog) the UK alone is overspending £6 billion on the UK’s big weapons projects on the last two years, while social benefits are on the decrease. The government has been making cuts in education and they have unveiled their plans to raise top up fees. The government should be concentrating on improving social services not pumping billions into useless military resources. All that money funding war, this is surely not right. In conclusion the ruling classes, kings, leaders and government in power can always find an excuse for going to war be it over religion, land, resources or empire building. However it is the ordinary working class and innocent people who usually lose their lives through these wars, which are glorified and sold to the general population by the making out that they are ‘doing their duty’ or ‘fighting for their country’. The governments and ruling classes are not usually the ones giving up their lives. War creates misery and despair for people who have lost someone they care about, war is painful making you bleed to death or gives you a long agonising death, war devastates towns, cities and countries, war creates hatred and revenge, war creates poverty, famine, and greed, war annihilates surrounding landscapes, trees and all living things. In my opinion war may one day end our existence.

What about the WW2? What do you think should have been done there? Should everyone have done nothing? Great idea! it would have saved some soldiers, and now we would all speak German!