The world has been at war almost my entire life. Even though no war has been declared by congress my countrymen and those of other nations have been dying in combat virtually all that time. There has been Korea, there has been Vietnam, one longer than the other. Both of them bloody messes with a catastrophic effect on the participants.
And now there are what I call the Bush / Cheney wars but whose planners also included Colin Powell, Donald Rumsfeld and Paul Wolfowitz. These back to back wars are the longest in the history of the United States and truly appear to have no ending possible given the gluttony of the American economy and the insatiable appetite of the U.S. defense industry. The architects of these wars have indicated there will be no end to this war in the foreseeable future.
"These defense plans that embody the Cheney-Powell-Rumsfeld-Wolfowitz (CPRW) strategy would lead to the U.S. war policies of the twenty-first century. They would lead to the wars in Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya among others. They would lead to the effort to oust Syria’s government, to sanctions on Iran and Russia, and to drone warfare in Yemen, Somalia and Pakistan. They would lead to the blowback of 9/11 and to the Islamic State. They would lead to the Department of Homeland Security, to the growth of the national security state, and to the TSA. They would lead to confrontation with Russia over Ukraine and to a Pacific “pivot” that confronts China. They would lead to AFRICOM." This quote is found at "World News Daily Information Clearing House website in an article by By Michael S. Rozeff published October 30, 2014.
The poem below was published in the spring 2011 issue of aaduna. I wrote the poem several years earlier while the Bush / Cheney / Powell / Rumsfeld / Wolfowitz wars were in their infancy. I was not able to imagine the horror their planning would bring to the American People. Today the horror is palpable and the 'blowback' from those wars has hurt all but the planners of the wars.
You can read 'Advent of Spring' by clicking the link under the title. It is a poem by Tang dynasty poet Du Fu and it too is about the effects of endless war on a civilian population.
The War Lords
The warriors have ruled
from time immemorial.
They have come and gone and
come again
time after time:
nations, princes and kings one after another
building on the pile of corpses
stacked beneath their feet.
None have served the people honestly.
Who has given them control?
Where have they come from?
Will they ever leave us alone
to raise our families
and die in our own beds
with our children by our side?
Their grip is on our neck
and they force us
to our grave
in their search for
others to plunder.
They cannot live without war;
it is their meat and drink
as ours is the hearth
and the embrace of our lovers.
They declare those who call for
peace and complain of war
enemies of the state
and seek to silence them
while we the people are victims
of their lust
and made to pay for their
desires to be satisfied.
© 6/03/06 David H. Roche
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