This is one artist’s impression!

This is another’s depiction!

This is the real thing!

Friends, down through the ages humans have depicted the God of War in various ways, some of them quite imaginative and hideous.

Ironically, though humans have been warring for thousands of years, they never like to attribute the orgy of senseless brutality that war is to themselves. No, the God of War was said to be angry. He (generally a male of course) had to be appeased and only an ocean of blood would do.

So the Generals came out and the swords came out (and later the guns) and stabbing, thrusting, and hacking took place until only the victors were left standing.

And if the Generals or Admirals were triumphant they were praised and statues were raised. Winner were grinners while the dead said nothing. Then offerings were made to the God of War and prayers were made by the common people in the hope that the most recent war would be the war to end all wars. Faint hope!

And so it was in WW1, then WW2 which exhausted the world or what was left of it. People talked about peace but not the U.S.! After Russia dropped out of the arms race, the Americans decided to strike while the iron was hot. They started to amass a huge Army. They even spent money they didn’t have to ensure military supremacy. And why? What do you think?

Since then it’s all been downhill. Most Americans worship their Gods of War, gods like the man shown in the bottom photograph. He is General Petraeus and currently he runs the imperial slaughter in Afghanistan. He looks harmless enough, doesn’t he? But his hands are covered in blood, dark blood from the heart!

Of course, he doesn’t do the actual killing. The indoctrinated grunts do that. They’ve been led to believe that they are protecting the homeland and what they do to millions of innocent men, women and kids in foreign lands is noble and patriotic. How can it be noble to burn the skin of kids with napalm and phosphorous? How can it be patriotic to blown women to pieces with missiles? How can it be heroic to use depleted uranium and cause birth defects for generations.  How can it be sane to use cluster bombs and landmines? Such things are sick!

The U.S. is committed to war. The U.S. believes in war. The U.S. makes money from wars. The U.S. believes it should run the world, indeed that it was born to do so. The U.S. believes that any means can be used to achieve its ends (torture, rendition, depleted uranium, napalm, cluster bombs, landmines, putting people in cages, denying prisoners a trial, etc). One day it will use nukes, perhaps soon.

It’s time we treated the Gods of War (Admirals, Generals, Commodores) as the murderers that they are.

It’s also time we treated nations which engage in war, nations like the U.S. and Israel, as pariahs, as rogue States .

Not only the nations but their politicians as well. Sanctions should be placed on them, boycotts, divestment, condemnation, abuse. They should be isolated until they change their ways.

And if they won’t, then we must hope that the citizens of these nations take matters into their own hands and get rid of their Gods of War and their corporate and political supporters permanently.

And if they don’t? The world may have no option but to use force against them. How else will we ever get peace and avoid nuclear annihilation?

America, cleanse thyself. You are unclean!