‘The Leaden-Eyed’

Let not young souls be smothered out before
They do quaint deeds and fully flaunt their pride.
It is the world’s one crime its babes grow dull,
Its poor are ox-like, limp and leaden-eyed.

Not that they starve, but starve so dreamlessly;
Not that they sow, but that they seldom reap;
Not that they serve, but have no gods to serve;
Not that they die, but that they die like sheep.

  —Vachel Lindsay

Lest We Forget - #By A Khokar, February 3 : “Today USA is a biggest enemy of Mujahideen, now called Taliban….. This is the out come when you don’t deliver a ‘Just Cause’ to your forces and only think that soldiers are merely a fodder for the war; and an enabling agent to full fill the malicious desires…”

“...taking part in Ashura is to be absolved of sin. A popular Shia saying has it that, ‘a single tear shed for Hussain washes away a hundred sins’...”

People in the West don’t understand Ashura or Eid (the Islamic Easter) or the concepts of sacrifice and self-sacrifice that go with it. Nor do they understand fasting as they once did. These things make Islam strong while Christianity and the states supposedly founded upon it have become weak and have lost their way in the world. All have fallen from the “One true Path”.

The concept of Christianity was in living in peace and it was a religion of healers and knowledge-seekers. Instead, it has been degraded into a cabal of crusaders and militarism and materialism are now its only goals. But even Islam has gone astray thus its followers too are easily deceived. Saudi kings with vast wealth and corrupt military dictators running self-righteous boys’ clubs at their populace’s expense are not the path to redemption.

The original concept of all genuine religion was to find and to maintain a balance between the emotional and the spiritual and the physical aspects of ourselves and thus to live successfully in harmony with the natural world and with each other.  Instead, this has been replaced with ever more repressive rules and regulations in a guilt and shame-ridden travesty of un-spiritual legalisms designed to control and enslave individuals and the populations of countries by scheming and manipulating priests.

The faithful of any religion should turn away from any kind of violence and refuse to be coerced into it by the state or by any king or ruler. Instead, they allow themselves to be herded like sheep. Many even rush headlong into disaster, misled as they are. They have their reasons but they have stepped off the Path of Peace and onto a stony road of involution back to a more primitive existence. Even the nuclear states and superpowers have to learn the same lesson in the end.

It is said that all wars will be finished by Christmas when they are started. Note that they are all “started”, they don’t just happen by accident. Nor is Christmas an auspicious date to be quoted or referred to in such a way. Then, there are those who will never learn…....

................“Love for all, Hatred for none”.................

Yes.

Example of Mujahideen of Afghanistan is in front of us. The devout Muslim Ummah in the entire world of Islam ( in early Eighties) were lead to believe that Soviet Forces had occupied a Muslim Country Afghanistan and it was their duty to dislodge the infidel and free the their Muslim Brethren. Although this was US covert operation to dismantle Soviet Union and lower ranks of Mujahideen were being totally kept aloof;  they were scrambled from all over the Muslim countries in thousands; trained and made to fight for supposedly a Just cause. They were able to dislodge and defeat the Soviet Union which ultimately resulted into crumbling down of Soviet Empire and in turn US also became the sole Super power.

The Mujahideen had come to know about all this covert operation very late; that they were covertly used for paltry gains. Although it was too late for them to rebut but now we can well see that what could be the consequences of this deceit.

Today USA is a biggest enemy of Mujahideen, now called Taliban and the Muslim countries like Pakistan; the US abettor and the sole conductor of Afghan war, who pocketed billions of dollars in exchange; the Saudi Arabia who partially funded this scheme… they all are in peril and engulfed in the menace of unending turmoil and anarchy.

This is the out come when you don’t deliver a ‘Just Cause’ to your forces and only think that soldiers are merely a fodder for the war; and an enabling agent to full fill the malicious desires.
—————————————————
Love for all, Hatred for none

Mike Mid-City February 2:

I agree with you totally.  As I am often at a loss for words concerning their despicability.  My adult son says “they’re dirty fucks”.

I can’t think of a more precise definition.  Oh,...I can swear like a butcher, but for the most part choose not to.  Just the same, I feel my son’s accurate description, is fitting.  You know why…?  ‘Cause they ARE “dirty fucks”.

What does this administration care?As long as the American people keep buying the emptry mantra of “support the troops"which in real terms means as long as they are able to fight the psycholiogical problems of these heroes will continue to be ignored.People we must demand that those who fight in our name are treated with first class treatment wheter it be for real injuries or psychological injuries.I find it more than depressing that American soldiers are committing suicide at a high rate.These are our kids they deserve better.

Although patriotism is a granted phenomenon expected of all the soldiers of the world; volunteering themselves to die for the honour of their countries; but this phenomenon requires a just cause to support and keep them inspired. They only want to know and be convinced that their sacrifice will bring a real change in the lives of their country fellows.

Since the lives of the soldiers remain always laid on the line; but it has never been difficult for them to judge or differentiate between a just and a wrong cause.
Only the just mission motivates them to die for it; where as when it is found; that the fallacy, deception or greed of some, at the top is tending them to sacrifice for their personal reasons; it results adversely and sadly; they are demoralized beyond recovery.
—————————————————
Love for all, Hatred for none.

All war is always hell..

Please, yearn, pray, work, and strive, internally and externally, for Peace…...
There is no other path worth pursuing…
          ..............................Strive On, Friends….........................

“The Army was unprepared for the high number of suicides and cases of post-traumatic stress disorder among its troops, as the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have continued far longer than anticipated. Many Army posts still do not offer enough individual counseling and some soldiers suffering psychological problems complain that they are stigmatized by commanders….”

Well, that’s one reason. Shoving people out in the field for six months and then telling them they have to stay there for another six months and even another….....?!?! Will some even have spouses or lovers waiting around for them to come home after that? It affects all of their lives with far-raching consequences.

The other aspect of that is that there is NO war. Is it a politically motivated invasion for a variety of reasons which could have been avoided by accepting the normal terms of trade and international diplomacy in foreign affairs. “Theirs not to reason why, theirs but to do or die” belies the fact that these people are citizens as well as soldiers.

But that is only considering the ordinary soldiers and lower-ranking officers. At some stage, a series of military campaigns based on dishonest policies for the sake of generating business for the military’s contractors and bolstering the value of the $US by ‘gunboat diplomacy’ must attract a breed of men (and women) whose interest does not lie in the welfare of their nation but in the pleasure they can derive from command and control at others expense.

As Outraged, January 31, said “This is the sad reality of what war really is. ..”. If you want to have wars, this then is what you get. The generals and the politicians get the glory, the beer-drinkers get to shout and rave, but the soldiers come home with psychic and physical scars which they mostly never recover from - and neither do their families. Nor is there any easy chemical solution.

Simply “attaching more chaplains to deployed units” is yet another pathetic atempt to wash it all away with religion instead of the soldiers’ usual mainstay of alcohol. That, of course, is a myth which is so totally shattered with the realization that one is killing other human beings and that it could have been avoided if politicians and diplomats had really wanted to.

So that takes us back to the one area in question which people never want to adddress - if they are ever even aware of it. That is the functioning of their own minds, the reasons for always resorting to violence as a solution and the willingness to use violence as a means to an end. Justifying the consequently abominable actions they have indulged in is done through denial and refusal by both the individual and the state.

Inevitably, that leads to mental turmoil in the conscientous and the diligent and further callousness in the minds of some who are always willing to go on to using whatever weapons of mass destruction the state can obtain.  All of these bring their problems home to their families and their loved ones. They suffer as well and it distorts their thoughts and feeelings for the remainder of their own lives too.

This is the sad reality of what war really is.  The part that, all to often, people ignore.  I find it unconscionable not to think of EVERYONE who’s endured this despicable stupidity.  Once you’re there, you’re in it.  Civilians, soldiers, journalists, doctors, and the like.  What do you do…....?

This isn’t a surprise, it was a inevitability.  All the lost lives, all the lost people.  As I sit here, I know I’m lucky…...but I don’t feel lucky.

We need to make it a point to fight for them in any way we can.  And even though I’ve always felt this war was a horrific lie….THEY FOUGHT FOR US.

Let’s save at least those we can.  My condolences and thanks to families and friends of these soldiers.  My God, what the hell is wrong with us…..

The Army was unprepared for the high number of suicides and cases of post-traumatic stress disorder among its troops, because they NEVER learn and don’t pay attention to..those who would advise them,the real soldiers,who are override by “Imbeciles” (like the many awol’s in this gutless administration)!