Self-censoring journalists
shield us from ugly consequences
of U.S. military power

With all this very cold weather I am feeling down and lethargic. I am not very motivated and feeling much of anything. But even in this low state I had to feel sad when reading this article that appeared in the German magazine SPIEGEL. It is called Obama’s Lists: A Dubious History of Targeted Killings in Afghanistan.

Revealing recently released documents about President Obama’s ‘kill list’ the article asks the questions: “Can a democracy be allowed to kill its enemies in a targeted manner when the objective is not to prevent an imminent attack? And does the goal of eliminating as many Taliban as possible justify killing innocent bystanders?”

We probably will not see this story in the USA press but it does raise the issue of why USA is so hated in parts of the world. I remember after 9/11 Pope John Paul II, not excusing this tremendous act of terrorism, asking the question of what was behind such an terrible and evil act of hate and destruction. The question was around for a few weeks but disappeared as we went to war with Afghanistan, Iraq and supported war and terror in other countries like Yemen, Syria and Honduras. Our killing has led to more hatred of USA and terrorism.

I believe our American military and political leaders and industrial leaders are intelligent people and know that our killing leads to more killing. Yet we cannot seem to stop our killing ways, even when we make them less personal like with killer drones.

Where are the hundreds of thousands of people marching on the Capital asking the President and leaders to stop this killing as there was in the Vietnam War.? Now all we do is blame people, Republicans, Democrats, Muslin militants, leaders of countries, terrorist. Almost anyone will do. We play the blame game rather than try to understand the root causes of such evil and killing.
As I get old the cold gets to me but I do not want to lose feelings for the poor, outcast, people of countries we terrorize to stop terrorism. My goals this year are local and simple but are all I can do. Be a friend to people in need; End military training teaching war and killing at Marquette; expose racism wherever it may appear in our community, justice for Dontre Hamilton or abuse of money for poor by the Milwaukee St. Vincent de Paul Society. I may fail and grow old and die but I can try. I feel cursed and blessed in my goals but what else can we do?

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