The war we don’t celebrate

Shouldn’t we celebrate the anniversary of a war?  Don’t the lost lives deserve recognition?  Most wars do deserve celebration; but not all wars.  Wars that never seem to end, that have ongoing deaths, are difficult to celebrate.  Wars like those in many third world countries seem endless; seem to be a way of life, continuing for decades.  How do you celebrate that type of war?  The Palestinians and Israelis have been at war so long the violence is a daily routine. 

How do you celebrate the seemingly senseless loss of lives?  How do you celebrate a war when you cannot see a way out without admitting maybe you should not have entered it in the first place?  How do you celebrate not being able to bring back those lives already lost?  You cannot undo what has already been done, you feel forced to continue.  How do you celebrate helping those who claimed oppression who are now the oppressors taking more lives than before? 

What if the reasons and information you used to justify entering the war turned out to be incorrect?  What if some people knew the information was incorrect but propagated it anyway?  Can you celebrate the anniversary of a war when the reasons you entered are dubious, the loss of life is great, and there is no end in sight? 

Sometimes those advocating the war are so certain they are correct the factual information becomes massaged. When new freedoms are at stake is it wrong to bend the rules a bit?  Is it wrong to allow the ends to justify at least some of the means? Aren’t new freedoms worth any price?

Years ago we were told that tens of thousands of people were dying each year, a number not unusual in many Middle Eastern countries.  We were told these deaths were unnecessary and were occurring in a barbaric, illegal, way.  At high levels in Washington, supporters quietly presented the data and we presumed it was accurate. We were told these were innocent lives that must be saved.  We were persuaded to enter an undeclared war; much like the United States has done other times in its history.

But, the lives we could save did not seem to justify the effort put forth in this war. It was like the initiators of this undeclared war had an agenda beyond saving the lives they so eloquently told us about.  In fairness, the United States has reacted in the same way.  We have gone to war, declared or undeclared, to save what we believed to be innocent lives. Our country has sacrificed millions of lives defending and protecting freedom.

And, we have not always been correct in our assessment of who is right and who is wrong and what is occurring.  We have helped groups we should not have helped. We have learned with hindsight we were helping people who were not there to save lives and protect freedom, but there for their own personal agenda. 

This war is like that.  It was decided to not formally declare war, rather to interpret the laws so they would accommodate our objectives.  This is not too different from what we did supporting the contras in Central America. 

How successful have we been in this undeclared war?  The results are not what anyone could have expected.  There is ongoing debate if it was right to even enter this war in the first place, to use the law to allow this war?  And there are facts suggesting the information given to justify this war was inaccurate? 

Rather than tens of thousands of people dying, as we were told, the number dying each year more accurately approximated 100!  What was the cost in human life to save these 100 lives?    This is important because it was these lives we were told were the reason for the war. 

The war is abortion.  We were told we must make abortion legal to save the lives of women dying, the result of illegal abortions.  The year before Roe v Wade about 80 women died from an illegal abortion.  The data we were given suggesting much higher numbers was outdated and inaccurate.  And the goals were not as stated.  The true goal was not the health and safety of the mother, the goal was the convenience of abortion on demand.

It  has been 35  years and t here are no  celebrations,  no parades.    If abortion were used as promoted there would be roughly 100 abortions a year.  Instead we have 1,300,000 abortions a year!  How do you celebrate ending the lives of over 45,000,000  babies?   The real  goal of Roe v Wade has  been imminently successful.    

Why no parade, no celebration?

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