Post by justfacts on Jan 21, 2006 12:14:52 GMT -5
To anyone that might be interested in ramblings from the past that shows how the system is not teaching our children the history that matters - not to us - but to them!
There's been quite a bit of discussion recently by the pro-Bush and anti-Bush campaigns over our involvement in the war. My own views are highly colored by my own personal experiences prior to, and during, the Korean War. I know of fellow signal corp soldiers, sent up a telephone pole to replace someone just shot by a sniper, to repair communication lines. A few of them were still wearing civilian shoes or pants, because there was a shortage of GI equipment. Much of which was thrown overboard from ships full of GI's returning from WWII just a few years before. I, personally, was never issued my own boots, nor rifle. That's why I have mixed feeling's today about reports of GI armor being "too light" - at least they have armor! But - as a human being I really can't begrudge their need for even better armor and equipment.
However, we are where we are today because of our failure to be educated about this whole business of war. [/b] For an insight as to what I mean by that statement, I"d like to share with you an overlooked chapter in American history that I wish was taught in the school I went to as a child. It is straight out of the "current affairs" history of my time - but still so very appropriate today.
It plays itself out around the fabulous times of one of our most famous Presidents, and concerns a very outspoken hero of the day. A military hero of the same stature as Powell is today. Yet this story remains buried, its lessons never to be learned but by a few.
The summary writing by the military hero, named "Smedley Butler" (What! You never heard of him? Oh! How our educational system has failed us!) tells it all about war. Even though it is based on records and facts of WWI, it is applicable today. How many more such "war" incidents will repeat themselves (Some "people of power" are even now advocating going into IRAN) before we begin to learn what WAR is all about?
To learn some details, to read some opinion that will give you pause as you think about them, please visit the following sites;
For a short, but concise writeup on the war topic:
www.ratical.org/ratville/CAH/warisaracket.pdf
For background on the Author's credentials to write on the war topic:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smedley_Butler
Does anyone out there still want to advocate war?
There are sidebars to this story, sidebars of information that show the power of the moving force behind political overthrow and war actions.
To see how carefully our own history has been "edited" and agreements made to stifle information about plots see:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_Plot
My basic question becomes, why don't we at least see to it that our own children are taught these facts of American history at an early age? Doing so might at least lead to a change in our whole approach of trying to make the rest of the world "right" - while we still don't have too many clues on how to make our own little neighborhood right.
Ed
There's been quite a bit of discussion recently by the pro-Bush and anti-Bush campaigns over our involvement in the war. My own views are highly colored by my own personal experiences prior to, and during, the Korean War. I know of fellow signal corp soldiers, sent up a telephone pole to replace someone just shot by a sniper, to repair communication lines. A few of them were still wearing civilian shoes or pants, because there was a shortage of GI equipment. Much of which was thrown overboard from ships full of GI's returning from WWII just a few years before. I, personally, was never issued my own boots, nor rifle. That's why I have mixed feeling's today about reports of GI armor being "too light" - at least they have armor! But - as a human being I really can't begrudge their need for even better armor and equipment.
However, we are where we are today because of our failure to be educated about this whole business of war. [/b] For an insight as to what I mean by that statement, I"d like to share with you an overlooked chapter in American history that I wish was taught in the school I went to as a child. It is straight out of the "current affairs" history of my time - but still so very appropriate today.
It plays itself out around the fabulous times of one of our most famous Presidents, and concerns a very outspoken hero of the day. A military hero of the same stature as Powell is today. Yet this story remains buried, its lessons never to be learned but by a few.
The summary writing by the military hero, named "Smedley Butler" (What! You never heard of him? Oh! How our educational system has failed us!) tells it all about war. Even though it is based on records and facts of WWI, it is applicable today. How many more such "war" incidents will repeat themselves (Some "people of power" are even now advocating going into IRAN) before we begin to learn what WAR is all about?
To learn some details, to read some opinion that will give you pause as you think about them, please visit the following sites;
For a short, but concise writeup on the war topic:
www.ratical.org/ratville/CAH/warisaracket.pdf
For background on the Author's credentials to write on the war topic:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smedley_Butler
Does anyone out there still want to advocate war?
There are sidebars to this story, sidebars of information that show the power of the moving force behind political overthrow and war actions.
To see how carefully our own history has been "edited" and agreements made to stifle information about plots see:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_Plot
My basic question becomes, why don't we at least see to it that our own children are taught these facts of American history at an early age? Doing so might at least lead to a change in our whole approach of trying to make the rest of the world "right" - while we still don't have too many clues on how to make our own little neighborhood right.
Ed