“War, huh, (good God ya’ll), what is it good for?” That is the start of the lyrics to a song that was popular when I was in High School. Vietnam was going strong and so were the protests.  This song has been stuck in my head for most of my life. For the last week it has been running through my mind like I was still in my buddy’s car, we are driving down hwy 32 and singing it at the top of our lungs. It almost seems like all these years we have been just running in place. After all these years it is like we are still on the “eve of destruction” to steal a phrase from another song.

 Children are dying. I don’t care what nationality they are I am just appalled that they are dying. Israeli, Palestinian, Ukrainian I don’t care. It is appalling that they are being used as pawns in war. The situation in the Middle East was started by a terrible terrorist attack on Israel by the terrorist group, Hamas. From what I can tell they didn’t care who they killed. Their goal was to terrorize not just Israel but the world with their actions. AL-Monitor has reported that citizens from 25 different nations have been killed or are missing. Hamas, trying to put the blame on Israel, states that 13 foreigners have been killed in Israeli bombings. Don’t kid yourself those 13 hostages have died because of the actions by Hamas.

I do think that people who criticize Israel for the bombings should not be called Anti –Semitic. Should Israel show more restraint? When it comes to civilians, yes. I wonder how much restraint we would use in the same situation. After 9/11 we attacked an entire country not because they caused the attack but because they gave safe refuge to the group that did. How many Afghan civilians died because of our actions? The killing of Israeli civilians does not justify the killing of Palestinian civilians. Through all this we must remember that some of the civilian deaths will be because of Hamas using them as a human shield which is unacceptable.

In war civilians are the biggest casualties. They have been since the invention of war. Is there a difference between civilians dying in war or by terrorism? Yes, a huge difference. In war there is what is called collateral damage, most of the time this is where we see the death of civilians. The carpet bombings, carried out in the past, caused a great deal of what would be called collateral damage but the goal was not to kill civilians even though many died. The goal was to win the war. The target for terrorism is civilians. The goal is to terrorize not win a war. Why attack a music festival that has no military importance? It is meant to terrorize the civilian population just like the 9/11 attack was meant to terrorize us. A lot of the time the opposite happens and the ones being terrorized just increase their resolve against the terrorist. That is what has happened in Israel and that is what happened here. Did our retaliation in the Middle East really help? Only time will tell but at least the world saw that we would not be intimidated. Did we win our War on Terror? There again only time will tell but one thing I know for certain Hamas did not hesitate to kill and take American hostages. That alone makes a statement that they want the Superpowers involved.  

What is happening in Israel and what it happening in Ukraine though different is very similar. Russia is targeting civilians with the intent to terrorize. Russia invaded an independent country  with the intention of annexing the country. Ukraine had done nothing to Russia to deserve this. Funny on how Republicans have condemned Hamas but yet seem to support Russia. Both are using terror tactics against the civilian population. There is no justification of targeting civilians especially women and children but that is what both terrorist organizations do and what terrorist countries do and we have to oppose both. Ukraine did not start this. Israel did not start this. How it will finish I don’t think anybody knows for sure. The retaliation from all sides may go on for years. I am not going to sugar coat this by saying the Israel is completely blameless with its apartheid polices but I always remember that Hama’s ultimate goal is to drive Israel from the Middle East. It is hard to make peace with someone that wants you dead and has been working toward that goal for decades.

You hear a few people talk about a weakened America. I truly do believe that we have been weakened and we continue to be weakened every day. Not that Biden is doing a bad job. Just the opposite I think he is doing a great job. The problem is that the chaos and the dysfunction that has been created by the Republican Party have really weakened our nation that had already been weakened.  A divisive President Trump that wanted to pull out of NATO and had closer relationships with dictators than our traditional allies weakens us internationally which doesn’t help us today. Because of the Republicans we have no Ambassador to Israel. We have no Ambassador to Egypt.  Egypt stated that they knew that something was going to happen. If we would have had Ambassadors to both Israel and Egypt could we have improved the communications between Egypt and Israel. If we had Ambassadors to both Egypt and Israel could we have help save not only Israeli lives but also our own Americans lives. There are so many posts within the Biden Administration that remain unfilled within the State Department and National Security that it is scary. I am not even talking about all of the Military promotions that Senator Tuberville has held up. All these things are being done to obstruct the Biden Presidency and the end results is a weakened America. At the time the world needs a unified America the Republicans are working hard to weaken us so they will win the next election. A few Republicans like Marjorie Taylor Greene has used  Ukraine as a whipping tool to criticize both Obama and Biden. Instead of standing up for a Democratic and Independent Ukraine she has sounded more like a mouth piece for Russian aggression. The same with Matt Gaetz. To weaken our nation should never be a political tool to win elections because it not only creates chaos here but also around the world.