Just Remember, Killing Children is a “Cost of Doing Business” For the United States

According to our warmonger-in-chief, President Donald Trump, the goal of aggressive U.S. military actions in Iran, the Middle East, Venezuela, and countless other “secret” wars waged by American soldiers, planes, bombs, and cyberhacks across the globe, is to bring peace throughout the world. This fantasy has long been believed by those in power, so Trump comes by this delusion naturally. The fact remains that war cannot bring peace. This is akin to saying that a husband beats his wife to improve their marriage. Most of us know that domestic violence NEVER makes a marriage better. So it is with war being the precursor to peace. At best, war brings the cessation of hostilities, until such times as a previous enemy does something that runs afoul of the American myth and we attack them again. The United States has been meddling in Iran for my entire life. There never has been “peace” between the two countries, and anyone who thinks the present war will somehow be different is delusional.

The United States has always used military violence to advance its political, social, economic, and religious agenda. We are a bloody nation; a bloody people; our history is filled with the slaughter of innocents, from indigenous people to Iranian school children. Whatever moral high ground the United States may have had after World War Two is long gone, covered by the blood of millions of innocents murdered in immoral, unconstitutional wars. And what do we do? Increase the military’s budget to over $1 trillion a year, with “what good are bombs if you can’t use them” Trump demanding 50% more for the military budget. Where will this money come from? Record budget deficits and draconian cuts to domestic programs that primarily help working class and poor people.

Trump, Hegseth, and other men of “peace,” say that “collateral damage” is the cost other countries must pay if they want a free world — whatever the hell that means. Innocents always bear the brunt of military aggression, as is the case in Iran. Early on, collateral damage meant killing more than a hundred school children, and then, with a whopper of a lie, trying to blame the Iranians for killing their own young ones. There may have been a time when U.S. presidents could pull the wool over the eyes of American people but those days are gone. Thanks to the Internet, smartphones, social media, and other tools, it is almost impossible for the United States to cover up its international crimes as they help to advance imperialism and protect capitalism. A wide variety of people from across the globe read this site. Perhaps some of my non-American readers will share how the U.S. is viewed by them and their fellow citizens. From what I have heard from several European readers, whatever goodwill the world wars gave us, we have lost it and are now viewed as a predatory state. And maybe we have always been a predatory state, but our predations are so out in the open now that many of us in this country are ashamed to be Americans.

We are world power in decline, headed for the boneyard of human history. World powers come and go: Greece, Rome, Great Britain, Spain, France, Denmark, and the USSR, to name a few, have come and gone. And the United States will one day be added to this list: yet another nation whose hubris and willingness to use horrific violence to advance its agenda brought it to its knees. And when this happens, we will have no one to blame but ourselves. We still have the power to change but it is unlikely we will do so. We have convinced ourselves that the “American Way of Life” must be protected at all costs, even if it means slaughtering innocent people.Capitalism, military might, and economic power must be maintained and advanced at all costs. Sorry if that cost is killing your children on their way to school or destroying your power plants, water supplies, and other infrastructure. That’s just the way it is. USA! USA! USA! We’re #1! We’re #1! We’re #1! And so the American delusion goes.

Bruce Gerencser, 69, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 48 years. He and his wife have six grown children and thirteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.

Your comments are welcome and appreciated. All first-time comments are moderated. Please read the commenting rules before commenting.

You can email Bruce via the Contact Form.