Some worthwhile comments from UFPJ listserve

"What is needed is for the peace movement to return to its historic mission, which is to educate people on the wars and to convince them that the wars are wrong, no matter how they are fought and no matter what their costs."   Tyler Cullis

 

Tyler and all,

I agree 100% with your point about the costs of war, and have made this argument many times.  Focusing on the costs of war, such as with the campaign to reduce military spending by 25%, is well-intentioned but false.  Wars and occupations are wrong regardless of their cost, and we lose both our moral focus and our political clarity by focusing on the costs of war, as if somehow this is an exercise in budgeting.   And yes, the increasing reliance on drone attacks, which are relatively cheap and which reduce US casualties while increasing civilian deaths abroad, fit it quite nicely with efforts to "streamline" the military.  Let's return our focus where it belongs, on the horrors of warfare and on the imperialist nature of US wars and occupations, not on their economic cost.

Mark Stahl