Yes sir, No sir, Whatever you say sir.

Lieutenant War Puppet, reporting for duty sir.

Well, I found out today that a guy I knew, from my atrocious schooling days, has joined the army and is now in charge of a unit that is as I type raging war in Afghanistan. The person who told me seemed quite worried about him and as far as I could tell wanted me to shed some sympathy for him. But the thing is I can't. I don't feel anything even remotely close to sympathy or worry. Those are two of the many emotions I cannot grasp when talking about this war.

Maybe if he was conscripted or forced somehow to join the army it would be different, but the current war has been around for a long time now and when he signed his name along the dotted line he knew it was happening and knew he could be sent off to fight. So for that simple fact I can feel no sympathy nor worry, but of course, my views on the war and anyone involved are cynical at best. The ones I do feel sympathy for are the civilian loss, the unfortunate ones that that have lost loved ones due to act of war and those that were involved in conflicts with more cause or meaning. I feel nothing but respect for those who have fought for their land and liberty, human rights, fought for freedom and justice, against things like genocide and racism, oppression and militant conquest. Unlike today's "war on terror" where money and material gain seem to be at the forefront of motivation.

I guess my views on some things impede my ability to feel basic human emotions, but I know this is not uncommon among us mortals and I cannot change my views for the simple fact that some people want me to feel a certain way. Each to their own as they say so if this guy wants to become part of the monster slowly tearing the world apart then who am I to stop him, nay, who am I to give a fuck about him.

and now, a few quotes that I feel are relevant to this war:

- "Make the lie big, keep it simple, keep saying it, and eventually they will believe it" ~ Adolf Hitler.
- "Any excuse will serve a tyrant" ~ Aesop
- "This and no other is the root from which a tyrant springs; When he first appears he is a protector" - Plato
- "the world should take notice when someone...with a fanatic mind and with powerful means, receives his marching orders from heaven" ~ Rodrigue Tremblay
-"One reason why the United States finds itself at the edge of foreign policy disaster is its under informed citizenry, a key weakness in democracy." ~Stefan Halper and Jonathan Clarke
-"Everybody is worried about stopping terrorism, Well there's a real easy way: stop participating in it" ~Noam Chomsky.

M