Reading the book JFK and The Unspeakable: Why He Died and Why It Matters, I am struck by the influence wielded by people who manufacture bombs and other implements to dismember people and destroy stuff. When Henry Kissinger died last month, some folks grumbled about how he was a war criminal.
What is a “war crime,” anyway? It seems to be defined as a crime against humanity that exceeds even the rules of conduct in a war zone. But what is a war if not a violation of civilization’s rules of conduct?
War IS the crime. It’s time to get past the notion that war is acceptable but certain behavior is unconscionable even in war. No: It’s all unconscionable. We need to get to a place where it’s generally agreed that killing as many of your adversaries as possible is an abomination.
Dwight Eisenhower’s farewell address as president cautioned against the growing power of war profiters and racketeers.
“In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of undue influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex,” said Eisenhower, a soldier who led the Allied military in the war against the Third Reich.
The world emerged from World War II weary of the struggle. The preamble to the United Nations Charter said as much: “We the peoples of the United Nations determined to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war, which twice in our lifetime has brought untold sorrow to mankind …”
But the war profiteers had other ideas, so here we are, 105 years after the War to End All Wars ended, 78 years after the end of World War II, and 63 years after Eisenhower’s warning, still spending millions and trillions for killing on a horrifying scale.
One might conclude that by saying war is the crime, I am accusing the good men and women who have served in the armed forces of being criminals. Nothing could be further from the truth. They acted, often courageously, on the belief and culture that killing was appropriate in a time of war. They were and are creatures of that mindset. I recognize that I am hammering at the foundation of that mindset.
I have friends and family who served, and I do not condemn their service. I do question the assumption that lies at the heart of it all, however, the assumption we were taught that mass killing is sometimes acceptable and unavoidable. We will probably not make progress as a species until we change that assumption. But I cannot condemn centuries of soldiers and other military personnel who believed there was no other way.
