December, 11 2009, 10:07am EDT
Congressman Kucinich's Response to President Obama's "Just War" Doctrine
"Yesterday,
our president mused about the inevitability of war, war's
instrumentality in the pursuit of peace and just wars. It is important
for us to reflect on his words, because once we believe in the
inevitability of war, war becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. Once we
are committed to war's instrumentality in pursuit of peace, we begin
the Orwellian journey to the semantic netherworld where War IS Peace,
where the momentum of war overwhelms hopes for peace.
WASHINGTON
"Yesterday,
our president mused about the inevitability of war, war's
instrumentality in the pursuit of peace and just wars. It is important
for us to reflect on his words, because once we believe in the
inevitability of war, war becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. Once we
are committed to war's instrumentality in pursuit of peace, we begin
the Orwellian journey to the semantic netherworld where War IS Peace,
where the momentum of war overwhelms hopes for peace. And once we wrap
doctrines perpetuating war in the arms of justice, we can easily
legitimate the wholesale slaughter of innocents. The war against Iraq
was based on lies. Wars in Afghanistan and Pakistan are based on
flawed doctrines of counter-insurgency. War is often not just;
sometimes it is just war. And our ability to rethink the terms of our
existence, to explore the possibility of peace without war, may well
determine whether we end war, or war ends us."
Dennis Kucinich is an American politician. A U.S. Representative from Ohio from 1997 to 2013, he was also a candidate for the Democratic nomination for president of the United States in 2004 and 2008.
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