Patriotic Purge: The Real Cost of War

The great Gen. Smedley Butler wrote his classic War is a Racket in response to the pointless carnage of WWI. Some 15-22 million largely adolescent boys died for absolutely nothing. That fact that they can’t provide a more accurate estimate than that tells you clearly about the incomprehensible numbers involved.

In 1846, President Polk decided to wage war on Mexico. Was the land grab that followed, including what became California, worth the lives of the nearly 14,000 Americans who were killed? Or the 25,000 Mexicans, including an unknown number of civilians? Mexico in fact lost 55% of its territory to the U.S. from 1836-1848. No wonder the La Raza folks hate gringos. In April 1847, the Massachusetts legislature passed a resolution denouncing the war as “a gigantic crime” waged against a “weak neighbor” for the purposes of conquest, territorial aggrandizement, and the extension of slavery. In 1848, the House of Representatives passed a resolution stating that “the war was unnecessarily and unconstitutionally commenced by the president.” Among those prominent figures opposing the war was then Rep. Abraham Lincoln, who said, “Any people anywhere being inclined and having the power have the right to rise up and shake off the existing government, and form a new one that suits them better.”

In 2011, the court historians begrudgingly upped the number of deaths in our own Civil War to as many as 850,000, far more casualties than America has experienced in any of its countless foreign misadventures over the years. All those largely adolescent boys died because some southern states wanted to secede from the Union. You know, that whole consent of the governed thing. The entire foundation of our War for Independence. But “Honest” Abe Lincoln, whose words in 1846 foretold exactly the situation with the Confederate states fifteen years later, let every citizen know that this Union was definitely not a voluntary one. Consent of the governed was forever shattered, but very few seemed to notice. Or care. A full quarter of the male population in the South died. Talk about a lost generation. Lincoln annihilated the balance of powers and created the imperial template for all the “best” presidents to follow. The fact that our corrupt establishment promotes him as our greatest leader, the secular saint of our civilization, says everything about that civilization. The rape and plunder of Mexican civilians was perfected to a fine art by Lincoln’s “Total War” strategy.

After perhaps the longest period of relative peace this country has ever experienced, in 1898, the first official false flag caused us to ignore George Washington’s Farewell Address, and the wise words of John Quincy Adams that “America does not go abroad in search of foreign monsters to destroy.” The power of a kept press, led by William Randolph Hearst, manipulated the country into a war on foreign soil, with the chant of “Remember the Maine,” the U.S. ship that sunk, causing 3,289 deaths. The problem was the Spanish didn’t sink the USS Maine, as even the Court Historians would eventually admit. More than 2,000 additional Americans died in the war itself, which took the lives of anywhere from 55-60,000 Spanish troops. But Hearst sold a lot of papers. Another line had been crossed, one the Founders could never have envisioned. President McKinley was a reluctant warrior, and forgotten novelist Taylor Caldwell would depict his 1901 assassination as being directly related to that reluctance.

With the sinking of the Maine a battleship precedent, an identical situation with the torpedoing of the British ocean liner RMS Lusitania in May, 1915, would precipitate U.S. involvement in perhaps the least justifiable war the world had ever seen. Along with the millions of Europeans slaughtered because Archduke Ferdinand had been assassinated were some 116,516 U.S. soldiers. George M. Cohan became a Hollywood hero for writing Over There to inspire these boys to sacrifice their lives in far flung trenches. The odious statist character of Uncle Sam became very popular, with the Orwellian slogan, “Uncle Sam Wants YOU” somehow appealing to the masses. Smedley Butler focused on all the new fortunes this war had created, and declared that war was never about enemies, but opportunities for profit. “There are only two things we should fight for. One is the defense of our homes and the other is the Bill of Rights.“ Butler stated, reminding us that “A few profit-and the many pay.”

We are still told, without any sarcasm meter on, that WWII was a “good war.” A really good war. So good that Hollywood still remembers it every year, in some predictable film or TV series that attempts to further flog the very dead Nazi horse. It was really good that 60-75 million worldwide (and again, why such a wide range- could 15 million be unaccounted for?) died as a result, including 407,000 Americans. My uncle Logan was at Normandy. He didn’t die, but his life was ruined. Long before I was born, he would spend every Christmas crying hysterically, remembering all the boys he heard crying for their mothers. He was left with a plate in his head, never married, never had much of a job, probably died a 49 year old virgin. But hey, thank you for your service! My mother-in-law’s brother was shot down and killed. Never got to participate in the glorious Baby Boom, live in the suburbs, experience the greatest economy the world had ever known. There are 407,000 “good” stories like that.

In the Korean “conflict,” our very first “police action” which featured no attempt to grab land, or settle any real conflict, anywhere from 36,574-54,246 Americans were killed. Such precise numbers, yet with a margin of 18,000? Sure, we left an untold number of POWs and MIAs behind, and covered that up for the next 50 years, but still shouldn’t we have a more exact count? All told, 2.5-3 million died, with as many as a million being civilians. Well, if you’ve read my work, you know that where U.S. troops go, civilian casualties follow. It’s an American Exceptionalism thing, you wouldn’t understand. When “Old warrior” Douglas MacArthur actually attempted to win the Korean thing, “Give ‘em Hell” Harry Truman fired him. We can’t have you winning any war! Stay in your demarcation zones. Rape and rob all you want, just don’t win. I mean, wasn’t the “good” WWII enough for these monsters? They literally couldn’t wait a decade until orchestrating a mad bloodletting in Korea?

Korea was part of the phony “Cold War.” Where we suddenly turned our backs on the beloved Soviets and “Uncle Joe” Stalin, our trusted allies in the “good” war. The same sources that never stop citing the 6 million Jews lost in the Holocaust with the Capital H also quietly admit that the Soviets- you know, our allies in the “good” war, killed as many as 20 million Catholics. Now, I’m just a community college dropout, but it seems to me that this represents an even bigger ethnic/religious cleansing. Genocide. Holocaust with two Capital Hs. And yet, Hollywood has yet to film a single production about it. Weird. During this ridiculous “Cold War,” Joe McCarthy was demonized for trying to expose the connections between the Soviets and our government, and we set up two proxy conflicts, first in Korea, and then in Vietnam. Not once did we ever confront the dreaded Soviets on any battlefield. Only Hitler did that. But we spent a lot of money to “beat” them. At something. Not sure just what.

Over 58,000 Americans died in the Vietnam War. A war where the enemy and ally looked alike, and wore no uniforms. It resulted in the first powerful anti war movement this country has ever had, albeit controlled by the same forces who control all opposition. JFK was killed because he had already delineated his withdrawal from Vietnam, with all Americans to be gone by 1965. It also didn’t help that he was the first and last president to take Israel to task, telling Israel leader David Ben-Gurion that if they continued developing nuclear weapons, he would cut off all aid. We all know what happened to JFK. And what happened in Vietnam. Israel felt so emboldened that they attacked our ship the USS Liberty, an event that was covered up for decades. They now control the vertical and horizontal of our society. It’s funny how we enjoy occupying so many other nations, but are now ironically occupied ourselves. ZOG, as is now being openly referred to by many online.

When the neocons- which consisted largely of former communist Jews like Irving Kristol- took control of the executive branch during the Reagan presidency, the “forever wars” were inevitable. Conservatism was converted from those opposing high taxes and big government, into Ayn Rand (another influential non-Irish figure) devotees, cheerleaders for a Greater Israel. The born-again movement was rebranded as fundamentalist Christianity, and not even the absurdity of televangelists like Jim and Tammy Bakker or Jimmy Swaggart could stop it. It became more about God’s supposed “chosen” people than Jesus Christ. The Gulf War in 1989 concerned CIA asset Saddam Hussein- whom we supported and sold poison gas to during the Iran-Iraq War- “invading” the tiny, artificial oil oligarchy of Kuwait. Ambassador April Glaspie lied and told Iraq that we’d be cool with them going into Kuwait. Think Trumpenstein bombing Iran twice during peace negotiations. We lost 250 U.S. troops when we broke our word, while 200,000 Iraqi civilians were killed, along with the surrendering troops which our brave boys bulldozed and buried alive.

Weapons of mass destruction. Which, of course, didn’t exist. Dubya Bush proclaiming “you’re either with us, or you’re with the terrorists.” The 9/11 inside job. The Patriot Act. The monstrously unconstitutional Homeland Security Department. Over 4,000 U.S. troops killed, and some 200,000 more Iraqi civilians were killed. This doesn’t include the estimated 500,000 babies and young children who died as a result of our embargo on Iraqi. But Madeline Albright said it was “worth it.” Maybe it was “good,” too. As good as Uncle Sam, or the dead at Dresden, or the many, many German and Japanese females our “greatest generation” youngsters raped. No wonder they hate us for our freedom. Then we lost over 2,000 U.S. troops in a pointless occupation of Afghanistan. Over 66,000 Afghani troops, and over 47,000 civilians died during the U.S. “occupation.” Julian Assange and then Bradley Manning got in trouble for exposing the horrendous misdeeds of our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. Like urinating on corpses. Or playing soccer with decapitated heads. Shooting dogs for sport. And raping women, little girls, and boys. Nobody said freedom was free.

According to the war costs web site, the war in Iran is costing U.S. taxpayers $21,800 per second. Just since 1995, when the neocons had grabbed complete control over our “bipartisan” foreign policy, the U.S. has intervened in 37 countries, spent nearly $5 trillion, and caused death and devastation in its wake. If “Climate Change” was a real thing, no one would be guiltier of negatively impacting the climate than the United States military. Too bad DOGE never got to audit the Pentagon as Elon Musk wanted. Imagine the gems they would have found. From Abraham Lincoln to Donald Trump, the only president who resisted the pressure to go to war was John F. Kennedy. Trump went from criticizing all the “senseless wars” to becoming the biggest interventionist we’ve seen in the White House since WWII . He already kidnapped the Venezuelan leader. He says that he will take Cuba “if he wants to.” Maybe the disaster in Iran, with our forces displaying predictable levels of incompetence, will slow him down.

Everybody knows war is wrong. Unless your home is being attacked, it’s unethical and stupid. The forgotten Jeannette Rankin, the only member of Congress to vote against declaring war on Japan, said that “war is the slaughter of human beings, temporarily regarded as enemies.” Some families who lose a child can be assuaged with medals and sanctimonious words from politicians. Some, like my friend Cindy Sheehan, can’t. To those whose lives ended so prematurely because of a government edict, or those who came home maimed forever, war was exactly what one of the most despicable military leaders to ever draw a sword, William T. Sherman, said it was: hell. None of our soldiers died “for us.” They died for Bell Helicopter. And Standard Oil. And Brown Brothers. And Blackwater. And the Federal Reserve. And in our lifetimes, first and foremost Israel. There were individual displays of heroism, but they weren’t heroes. They were victims. But they aren’t allowed to be in our culture of victimhood.

War has never made the lives of the common people any better, with the exception of our fight for independence and the War of 1812, in which our shores were attacked. It has padded the pockets of those who were already rich, and paved the way for new fortunes for those willing to sell their souls. WWI introduced deadly globalism to the world. WWII made the world safe for communism and Zionism. Boys too young to vote, who would have been husbands and fathers, some perhaps inventing things that would benefit mankind, were lost in the slaughter, their last words whispered to loved ones who were too far away to hear them. Are parades and flag waving worth that? War is the only way humans can legally kill each other. I advocate for death row inmates to be placed in prominent roles of any war. They’d make good soldiers, and would welcome the excitement. And some are now following up on a notion I’ve had for years; every politician voting to commit troops somewhere must have their closest blood relative in the front lines. Today is no different than it was during the Civil War, when the cry was “rich man’s war, poor man’s fight.”

So our utterly insane foray into Iran is in keeping with our hallowed traditions. Sure, Trump’s bewildering pronouncements give it a surrealistic flair that the others didn’t have. Sure, this was the most obviously pointless war yet that was fought directly because of our subservience to another nation. But at its essence, it’s like the others. Death and destruction. Loud bellowing. Immoral leaders attempting to take the moral high ground. Iran has never done anything to us. We, on the other hand, overthrew their elected leader Mosaddegh in 1953. And shot down their civilian airliner, killing 290 Iranians, in 1988. But, the propagandists in our state controlled media assure us that “Iran has been at war with us for 47 years.” We need to stop them from “killing Americans.” I have yet to see a single documented instance of any American killed by Iran. But Israel feels threatened by them. And alone among all the nations, they have given themselves a “Samson Option” to destroy the world if they feel threatened.

So here we are, after all this ugly history of war, embroiled in yet another quagmire. Assured that by our foolhardy involvement, our economy may very well collapse. But it’s worth it! You can’t put a price tag on freedom, although Pushup Pete Hegseth is already begging for $200 billion more. And where will that money come from? Doesn’t it have to be “appropriated?” I mean, if they could just get the money when we need it, surely our woefully neglected infrastructure would have been rebuilt. I don’t know how many U.S. families will be notified of their loved one’s death, but if it’s your family, it becomes the biggest tragedy in the world. One would think Americans would be tired of war by now, but I suppose it’s appropriate that we should be at war, as usual, on the 250th anniversary of our independence. After all, we’ve been at war for about 90% of our existence. That’s what we do. Waste money and prematurely end the lives of those who have barely started living. Ignore the home front, and the welfare of the citizens. Harry Patch, last surviving soldier of WWI, defined it as well as anyone ever has, when he said, “War is organized murder and nothing else.”

https://donaldjeffries.substack.com/p/patriotic-purge-the-real-cost-of