Your view assumes the people actually doing the fighting have a significant voice in the decision to go to war. That's not true. The decision is made by the rulers, the rich. American soldiers, for the most part, are victims of war too. In fact, as a general rule, the majority of soldiers throughout the history of all countries have been victims of war. Since you are not American, perhaps you are not familiar with Buffy St. Marie, but my belief that rank and file soldiers are not the ones who decide to make war is why I have trouble with her song "Universal Soldier." It goes like this:

 

He's 5 foot 2 and he's 6 foot 4.
He fights with missiles and with spears.
He's all of 31 and he's only 17.
He's been a soldier for a thousand years.

He's a catholic, a Hindu, an atheist, a Jain
A Buddhist, and a Baptist and a Jew.
And he knows he shouldn't kill
And he knows he always will kill
You for me my friend and me for you.

And he's fighting for Canada.
He's fighting for France.
He's fighting for the USA.
And he's fighting for the Russians.
And he's fighting for Japan.
And he thinks we'll put an end to war this way.

And he's fighting for democracy.
He's fighting for the reds.
He says it's for the peace of all.
He's the one who must decide
who's to live and who's to die
And he never sees the writing on the wall.

But without him,
how would Hitler have condemned him at Dachau?
Without him Caesar would have stood alone.
He's the one who gives his body
as a weapon of the war.
And without him all this killing can't go on.

He's the universal soldier
And he really is to blame.
His orders comes from
far away no more.

They come from him
And you and me
And brothers can't you see
This is not the way we put an end to war.

 


by Corpusless on 07/27/2010 10:02:43 PM EST

[ Parent ]
i know the soldiers now dont have any decition in wheater to go to war or not my point was your generel public most of the time are very detached from the wars and if there own lives are at stake maybe they would actualy go and vote out the warmongers

by aristo on 07/28/2010 02:08:56 AM EST

[ Parent ]