We Cannot And Should Not Forget

[ajoknoblauch]

If we truly want to honor the veterans of WW2 then we should start by not repeating the events that lead up to world war.

Also, instead of being so "proud" of our troops, why don't we instead start by not sending them off to die in some pointless war in the first place.

So "we" should not allow other countries to produce Hitlers and Mussolinis?

 

[Caliexpat]

I think that there is very little glorification of war. Certainly not by those who have participated or those who have lost loved ones to a war.

It's not those who have served who are promoting war, it's the insane governments whose leaders are, for the most part, sociopaths and psychopaths and who lack empathy for their fellow man.

The US is, unfortunately, a war machine, and the pro war propaganda is as strong as it has ever been. Eisenhower warned us about the takeover by the military industrial complex in his farewell speech. It's eerie to watch this speech now, knowing full well that the US is under the complete control of these war mongers.

Eisenhower warns us of the military industrial complex.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8y06NSBBRtY

The US has been in virtually non stop war since the end of WW2. Where an enemy or legitimate threat does not exist, the Pentagon will create one. The US has something like 1000 military installations in over 160 countries. It spends over $1 trillion annually on its military, more money than all other countries combined. The US is the world's number one arms manufacturer. Its defense contractors will gladly sell you and your enemy plenty of weapons so that you both might blow each other up.

Have you watched an NBA game lately or any other major US sporting event? The entire thing is one giant recruiting ad for the US military. And for what? So that they can come home and be treated like this?

A fatal wait: Veterans languish and die on a VA hospital's secret list
http://www.cnn.com/2014/04/23/health/veterans-dying-health-care-delays/index.html

Fear kept the VA scandal a secret
http://www.cnn.com/2014/06/05/politics/va-scandal-fear-secret/

Today, the govt. will sell you the lie that our troops are out there fighting for our freedoms. More aptly put, they are risking their lives for the military industrial complex to continue fighting pointless wars over exaggerated and sometimes completely invented “threats”. They fight for special interest groups and/or the interests of multi international corporations that covet another nation's resources. Politicians need to create an irrational world with non stop, fear based crises in order to justify their existence. Only the government can save us now, we humans are certainly not smart enough to sort problems out on our own.

None of what I have said in this post reflects negatively against the men & women who serve. They are, unfortunately, victims in this most corrupt and evil of scams we call war.

 

[Redpossum]

So "we" should not allow other countries to produce Hitlers and Mussolinis?

Allow? In the case of Hitler, it was more like aid and abet.

At the end of the First World War, the Germans laid down their arms based upon agreed terms. Then the French insisted upon altering those terms to something far more harshly punitive. The USA was the 800-pound gorilla in the room, and could have prevented this, but did not, because the destruction of the German economy would allow US corporations to buy up German assets for pennies on the dollar. And if this reminds you of what was done to Argentina at the end of the Malvinas War, then you win a gold star.

But the destruction of the German economy also set the stage for the rise of National Socialism.

In the 1930's, many US corporations, (including the nascent Bush Family empire), were heavily invested in German industry. Ford Motor Company bought a controlling interest in Opel as late as the mid-30's. And Opel manufactured the trucks which converted the German leg infantry to motorised infantry. All of this was done, could only have been done, with the at-least-tacit agreement of the US government.

But of course they don't teach us any of this in high school, or even college. Because history books are written by the victors.

If you want to talk war crimes, let's discuss the fire bombing of Dresden, which had been declared an open city. Or the incendiary raids on Japanese cities in 1944 and 1945, which served no military purpose whatsoever, but were intended to punish and terrify the civilian population, in clear violation of the laws of war.

If the Allies had lost WW2, it would have been Allied generals and politicians on trial at Nuremberg. Because history books are written by the victors.

My point is not to defend National Socialism. My point is that we have been sold a grossly oversimplified version of history, one with white hats and black hats, where the hero gets the girl and rides off into the sunset. History is not like that. All parties involved in WW2 had bloody hands up to their armpits. There were no good guys then, and there are no good guys today. War is a racket.

 

[Joe]

One thing that we can do, if we have friends or family members contemplating joining the military, is to offer support in directing that individual to alternative information sources, e.g. information about all the soldiers coming back with PTSD sometimes for participating in atrocities that invariably occur in wars. These people are scarred for life. And of course information on all the soldiers that come back with permanent physical injuries. Try to get them to think about why the US is involved in these overseas adventures - and not just from the prospective of the establishment media, viz, CNN, FOX, NYT etc.

Instead of honoring that family member or friend by visiting their grave, you can honor them by seeing them grow up happy and healthy.

 

[GS_Dirtboy]

I believe in a strong, well-trained, and well-supplied military for national defense. Bombing "terrorists" just creates more "terrorists" and spreads hatred against the USA. We've now indoctrinated a full generation of young men in Iraq and Afghanistan in how to despise the US and have provided them excellent combat training.

Just my $.02 as a former military officer and fairly informed and observant guy.

 

[Hybrid Ambassador]

Allow? In the case of Hitler, it was more like aid and abet.


In the 1930's, many US corporations, (including the nascent Bush Family empire), were heavily invested in German industry. Ford Motor Company bought a controlling interest in Opel as late as the mid-30's. And Opel manufactured the trucks which converted the German leg infantry to motorised infantry. All of this was done, could only have been done, with the at-least-tacit agreement of the US government.

True that the Opel manufacturing was bought off by a US Auto manufacturer..But it wasn't _Ford_. Instead it was the biggie GM and it also acquired the Vauxhaull brand as well.

quote]
Adam Opel AG (Opel) is a German automobile manufacturer headquartered in Rüsselsheim, Hesse, Germany and a subsidiary of the American General Motors Company. The company designs, engineers, manufactures and distributes Opel-branded passenger vehicles, light commercial vehicles and vehicle parts for distribution in Africa, Asia, Europe and South America. Opel designed and manufactured vehicles are also sold under the Buick brand in the United States, Canada, Mexico and China, the Holden brand in Australia and New Zealand and the Vauxhall brand in the United Kingdom.
Opel traces its roots to a sewing machine manufacturer founded by Adam Opel in 1862. The company began manufacturing bicycles in 1886 and produced its first automobile in 1899.
Opel became a share-limited company (German: Aktiengesellschaft) in 1929; United States-based General Motors took a majority stake in Opel that same year. General Motors assumed full control in 1931 and today Adam Opel AG is a wholly owned subsidiary of General Motors Company. Although Adam Opel AG continues to be a share-limited company, shares of the company are not publicly listed. Adam Opel AG is the parent company of General Motors UK Limited, better known as Vauxhall, and various other General Motors subsidiaries.

 

[Gringoboy]

You'll notice that combat veterans don't talk about it much, if at all ...

Both my uncles Tom and Rhys, from a coal mining village in South Wales, flew in bombers over Germany during the war.
They both survived and came home, but never ever spoke about their experiences, at least not to us.I respected them for that.
My father was a Captain in the Royal Navy (submarine service), but was too young to serve in the war and whenever I asked him about his job he would say "Is that on a need to know basis?"
I used to rib him him about that surly type of reply, but eventually I understood.

 

[Matiasba]

I thought this might be interesting:

http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/d-day-landing-sites-then-now-normandy-beaches-1944-70-years-later-1450286

 

[ARbound]

I am against war as a tool to resolve conflict and prefer a small DEFENSIVE military, and I don't think any of us like war,
and many wars in the last 100 years can be called terrible, wrong, unjustified or illegal. However, I think this is one of those
times where hindsight has proven that it was justified and a good thing that occurred. Many perished storming the beaches
of Normandy, but it ultimately resulted in the liberation of Europe from the Third Reich and Nazism in less than a year.

This is why we should remember.

 

[ivan]

I stop short of respecting the SS and its ilk.

My grandfather's brother, who grew up during the war, later became a German teacher and for years travelled in west and east Germany, where he got to know many people whose parents were involved in the war. He explained to me that the Wehrmacht and the Waffen-SS hated each other, and that the soldiers in the Wehrmacht viewed the SS as savages.

I think he had a point and I am also inclined to see the Wehrmacht soldiers as just soldiers, albeit on the wrong side, whereas the SS are just criminals who deserve no respect and no pity.