Trey Smith
A degenerate society is characterized by expansionism and imperialism, starting unjust military operations against innocent countries, killing innocent people, cutting off the heritage of ancient sages.It's uncanny. If I didn't know any better, I would almost guess that Thomas Cleary had penned a pseudo ancient text as a vehicle to criticize the US-led attack on Iraq! Of course, it would have to involve a bit of prophecy too because this book was published in 1990.
Large countries go on the offensive; small countries become defensive. People's livestock are driven off; people's children are taken captive; people's prized possessions are taken away. Blood flows for a thousand miles, and skeletons litter the fields -- all to satisfy the desires of greedy rulers and governments.
This is not what armies are really for. A militia is supposed to put down violence, not cause violence.
~ a passage from The Book of Leadership and Strategy by Thomas Cleary ~
Does it bother anyone else that this nation's war making agency is called the Department of Defense? There are less than a handful of cases in which we've been attacked by another country. Most often, our Department of Defense genuinely is a Department of Offense!
These days it makes even less sense because we now have a Department of Homeland Security. If Homeland Security is here to protect us -- defending the nation from terrorists and others -- what does the Department of Defense defend?
Sadly, we know the answer to that question. The DoD defends America's corporate interests! And the best way to protect the interests of the rich is to go on the offensive. If we need to kill tens of thousands of innocent civilians to protect the wallets of the pampered few, so be it.
To read the introduction to this ongoing series, go here.
All just nomenclature. The history is interesting:
ReplyDeleteFrom Wikipedia:
The United States Secretary of War, a member of the United States Cabinet, headed the War Department.
The National Security Act of 1947 merged the Department of War and the Department of the Navy into the National Military Establishment, later the United States Department of Defense. On the same day this act was signed, Executive Order 9877 assigned primary military functions and responsibilities[16] with the former War Department functions divided between the new Army and Air Force departments.
In the aftermath of World War II, the American government (among others around the world) decided to abandon the word 'War' when referring to the civilian leadership of their military. One vestige of the former nomenclature is the War College, which still trains military officers of the United States in battlefield tactics and the strategy of war fighting.
and...
Whereas the Department of Defense is charged with military actions abroad, the Department of Homeland Security works in the civilian sphere to protect the United States within, at, and outside its borders.
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