No Good Reason

[ebonypearl]

Pansy
Originally uploaded by nodigio

http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSN0459630220080205

Yanno, at this point, it seems as if the Bush Administration wants to ruin whatever reputation America had when he became president, ensuring the next president will have a very long and hard job ahead of him. When Bush took office, he took office with a reasonably balanced budget, an economy that was working, and a citizenry that was relatively happy, and he managed to turn that 180º so that we have the greatest deficit ever, are involved in a senseless war that’s taking the lives of our people (4 of whom are my children deployed to Iraq and environs), an economy that’s generating ever more homeless people each week not to mention the unemployed who fall off the record because they cease to receive unemployment benefits and yet are still unemployed (the unemployed people who don’t receive unemployment benefits don’t count, which is why our unemployment rates look so rosy), and an increasingly unhappy citizenry.

Much of what makes us unhappy is how our government is forcing us to collude in torture, in prosecuting children as if they were adults, in invading other countries in acts of conquest. Sure, Bush and Co will deny that we’re on a conquest mission, but why else would they declare war on a country whose leadership they didn’t like? We can either believe we’re a conquering nation or we can believe we are global bullies.

Both are bad.

As wrong as “conquering nation” is, it at least has the virtue of centuries of history behind it – countries have always tried to conquer other nations for their wealth, and if that’s why we attacked Iraq, then we have the weight of centuries behind our actions. Doesn’t make it right, just makes it understandable.

That we attacked Iraq in as act of forcing them to comply with our country’s rules is bullying. There is no valid excuse for it. There is never a good reason to bully someone else. All the various justifications in the world will never make bullying right or acceptable.

I am disgusted and appalled that we have not set a reasonable age limit on prosecuting war criminals. They shouldn’t be punished by us as well as by their own people for the acts they were forced to do. Most children fighting in wars are not doing so either voluntarily or with the full understanding of what it means. Children should be treated gently and rehabilitated, retrained in the ways of peace, and re-educated in skills they can use to support themselves when they do become adults.

Gentle treatment of the children caught up in war will do many good things – for the warring countries and the future generations. It can end the war in a positive way for everyone involved, for the bystanders, for the civilians, for the soldiers – it’s a win-win-win-win situation if we treat the child soldiers well, and if we treat the prisoners of war well.

There is no valid reason for us to be bullies about it.