In January 2003, a CBS poll reported that 63% wanted President George W. Bush to find a diplomatic solution rather than go to war in Iraq. Only four nations; the U.S., U.K., Australia, and Poland, participated in the Iraq invasion of March 20, 2003, due to the opposition to it by traditional U.S. allies such as France, Germany, New Zealand and Canada. On February 13, 2003, a month before the invasion, there were staunch anti-war outcries from around the world and in Rome, a record-breaking three million people assembled in protest. Between January 3 and April 12, 2003, 36 million people across the planet took part in nearly 3,000 protests against the Iraq war. The Secretary-General of the U.N., Kofi Anann, said that the war in Iraq was an "illegal act that contravened the UN charter."4 U.S. Congressman, John Conyers, Jr., investigative journalist Robert Parry, and law professor Marjorie Cohn asserted that the Iraq war was a violation of the U.N. Charter and as such, a war of aggression (crime against peace) and is therefore a war crime.
The purpose for the U.S. invasion of Iraq on March 20, 2003 was to confiscate "weapons of mass destruction." Seven years and $748 Billion later, 4,727 coalition troops have perished along with hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqi civilians. The U.K. and U.S. contended that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction, which we now know was either an intentional deception on their part, or because of false information reported by the intelligence agencies. Either way, the entire purpose of the Iraq war is based on a fallacy.
When the U.S. violated the United Nations Security Council decision, and declared war without the U.N.'s approval, it undermined and refuted everything that the U.N. stood for, and because of this, it was left powerless and ineffectual to carry out its prime directive to ensure peace. The Inter-Parliamentary Union, League of Nations, and the United Nations were all formed with the intention of preventing war and maintaining peace through means of communication, diplomacy, negotiations, and mediation. And yet this is where they have all failed.
The Iraq War was also called the "war on terror," an oxymoron. War is terror. You could just as easily call it "terror on terror." Even the names we give to our wars today articulate the ignorance of our ways. Violent resistance to war or terror will inevitably feed into the exact same energy and will only serve to perpetuate it.
In physics, Newton's third law of motion says that "for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction." In ancient Chinese philosophy it is called the law of polarity or yin/yang. In Sanskrit it is the law of karma or cause and effect. Whatever you want to call it, the truth of it is, when you push against a force, it tends to push back.
The war on terror has failed. The war on poverty has failed. The war on drugs has failed. The perpetual "war on this" and "war on that" is nothing but a complete waste of everyone's time, money, and energy. Ignorance to the laws of the universe prolong the peace that humanity so desperately needs now. The incessant war machine that currently plagues our planet underscores the failure of the peace movement that began with the Inter-Parliamentary Union in 1989. Retaliation and revenge for one terrorist attack after another only feeds into the same negative energy. Fighting terror with more terror does not and will not bring lasting peace.
The purpose for the U.S. military going to war in Afghanistan on October 7, 2001 was to remove the safe haven of al-Qaeda, a fringe Islamist group along with its leader Osama bin Laden who took the credit for the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center. As I write this, 1,874 U.S. troops have so far been brutally killed along with tens of thousands of innocent Afghan civilians. Nine years and $300 Billion later, Osama bin Laden remains anonymous and al-Qaeda remains firmly entrenched in its safe haven.
The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan represent the longest wars in U.S. history and to date, we still have no clear definition of purpose for being in either country. Not one single weapon of mass destruction was ever found in Iraq and Osama bin Laden was never captured in Afghanistan. And yet the "war on war" continues...
The purpose for the U.S. invasion of Iraq on March 20, 2003 was to confiscate "weapons of mass destruction." Seven years and $748 Billion later, 4,727 coalition troops have perished along with hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqi civilians. The U.K. and U.S. contended that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction, which we now know was either an intentional deception on their part, or because of false information reported by the intelligence agencies. Either way, the entire purpose of the Iraq war is based on a fallacy.
When the U.S. violated the United Nations Security Council decision, and declared war without the U.N.'s approval, it undermined and refuted everything that the U.N. stood for, and because of this, it was left powerless and ineffectual to carry out its prime directive to ensure peace. The Inter-Parliamentary Union, League of Nations, and the United Nations were all formed with the intention of preventing war and maintaining peace through means of communication, diplomacy, negotiations, and mediation. And yet this is where they have all failed.
The Iraq War was also called the "war on terror," an oxymoron. War is terror. You could just as easily call it "terror on terror." Even the names we give to our wars today articulate the ignorance of our ways. Violent resistance to war or terror will inevitably feed into the exact same energy and will only serve to perpetuate it.
In physics, Newton's third law of motion says that "for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction." In ancient Chinese philosophy it is called the law of polarity or yin/yang. In Sanskrit it is the law of karma or cause and effect. Whatever you want to call it, the truth of it is, when you push against a force, it tends to push back.
The war on terror has failed. The war on poverty has failed. The war on drugs has failed. The perpetual "war on this" and "war on that" is nothing but a complete waste of everyone's time, money, and energy. Ignorance to the laws of the universe prolong the peace that humanity so desperately needs now. The incessant war machine that currently plagues our planet underscores the failure of the peace movement that began with the Inter-Parliamentary Union in 1989. Retaliation and revenge for one terrorist attack after another only feeds into the same negative energy. Fighting terror with more terror does not and will not bring lasting peace.
The purpose for the U.S. military going to war in Afghanistan on October 7, 2001 was to remove the safe haven of al-Qaeda, a fringe Islamist group along with its leader Osama bin Laden who took the credit for the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center. As I write this, 1,874 U.S. troops have so far been brutally killed along with tens of thousands of innocent Afghan civilians. Nine years and $300 Billion later, Osama bin Laden remains anonymous and al-Qaeda remains firmly entrenched in its safe haven.
The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan represent the longest wars in U.S. history and to date, we still have no clear definition of purpose for being in either country. Not one single weapon of mass destruction was ever found in Iraq and Osama bin Laden was never captured in Afghanistan. And yet the "war on war" continues...
About the Author:
Personal Life Coach, Jason Lincoln Jeffers, is the founder of The Art of Transformation, a company devoted to teaching Spiritual Enlightenment to the masses. His Personal Life Coaching program uniquely synthesizes ancient spiritual wisdom with ego transcendence, wellness coaching, life path astrology, pain-body counseling, heart-based manifestation, and relationship coaching.
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