The Longest Conflict in American History

A friend of liberty sent me an email the other day with a subject that read, "Mass Arrests at White House as Soldiers Put Their Bodies on the Line for PEACE". In this email was a link to a YouTube video shot on a snowy Thursday, December 16th 2010, featuring war veterans from our wars in Vietnam, the first Iraq war, and many fresh from Afghanistan and Iraq. Before I clicked the link, I thought of my experience when I was in Washington D.C. back about a year ago and walking in front of the White House. Standing there by the fence were a few wacko hippies protesting Nuclear Arms. I assumed these type of people were constantly standing out front of our President's home always yelling about unfair this and baby killer that, so I assumed the same about the video emailed to me. I thought, oh great, a video of a bunch of hippies yelling about something they clearly have no understanding of. I was wrong. In this 13 minute video by Skylightmedia films, I discovered very quickly these men and women are not burned out hippies, but Purple Heart awarded soldiers, Rangers, and infantry men and women who have seen death and destruction at the hands of the Untied States and have decided to stand up for something greater.

The media did not pick up on this little protest that got 131 people arrested. You did not see this on the nightly news or read about it on the front page of USA Today. These heroes have seen the error in our offensive wars based on greed and power and have chosen to speak out. I applaud them because they are the people that make a difference. The man speaking in this 13 minute video is Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, Chris Hedges, and his speech that is not only succinctly accurate but moving, provides an extraordinary overlay for this documentary.

As I watched and listened, I pictured Brigadier General Smedley D. Butler in the crowd. For those who do not know who Smedley Butler was, he was America's most decorated general who fought during World War I and witnessed first hand the destruction of war. During the Great Depression he wrote a book called "War is a Racket" and two quotes stood out to me as I watched this documentary.

"War is a racket. It is the only one international in scope. It is the only one in which the profits are reckoned in dollars and the losses in lives."

"There are only two things we should fight for. One is the defense of our homes and the other is the Bill of Rights."

We are in the longest conflict in American history and it has not made us safer, richer, wiser, more powerful, or popular. What it has done is destroyed our economy, made people from around the world hate us, and increased recruitment for terrorist organizations in the Middle East and Asia. The heroes of American liberty and freedom are not fighting in the Middle East, they're fighting right here at the steps of our Capitol.