Open letter opposing the San Diego City Council’s resolution which dramatizes the effects of the military spending “cuts” on local economy

Dear Councilmember Sherri Lightner, I am writing to express my disappointment at your efforts to dramatize the potentially negative effects the reductions in military spending authorized by the US Congress could have on the San Diego economy and for proposing the corresponding resolution in the City Council to oppose them. Perhaps, you are not familiar…

The Price of Freedom?

Something came to me as I walked past the church of epiphany in Washington D.C. I had just viewed numerous monuments designed to memorialize our legions of war wounded, war dead and those that served. At the American History museum our war making past and present is codified as “The Price of Freedom”. A quarter…

War is not Glamorous

I was saddened when I recently read in the San Diego Union Tribune the following headline: US Soldier Kills 16 Afghan Civilians. Isn’t it ironic that a few days ago (March 16th) marked the 44th anniversary of the My Lai massacre? On that infamous day, a group of American soldiers systematically killed 500 innocent, Vietnamese…

The Impossible Mission

The recent incident of an alleged US soldier murdering 16 Afghan civilians and the burning of some of their corpses, including those of children, in addition to instances of Quran burning and Marines urinating on corpses of insurgents solidified my view that the US troops on the ground will not be able to “win over…