War

"Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed.

This world in arms is not spending money alone.

It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children. The cost of one modern heavy bomber is this: a modern brick school in more than 30 cities. It is two electric power plants, each serving a town of 60,000 population. It is two fine, fully equipped hospitals. It is some fifty miles of concrete pavement.

We pay for a single fighter plane with a half million bushels of wheat. We pay for a single destroyer with new homes that could have housed more than 8,000 people.

This is, I repeat, the best way of life to be found on the road the world has been taking.

This is not a way of life at all, in any true sense. Under the cloud of threatening war, it is humanity hanging from a cross of iron. These plain and cruel truths define the peril and point the hope that come with this spring of 1953.

This is one of those times in the affairs of nations when the gravest choices must be made, if there is to be a turning toward a just and lasting peace. It is a moment that calls upon the governments of the world to speak their intentions with simplicity and with honesty.

It calls upon them to answer the question that stirs the hearts of all sane men: is there no other way the world may live?”

Dwight Eisenhower 1961

I stole this quote and post idea from The Constant Siege. I've told many people about the movie Why We Fight and seeing up on Mr Cubitt's blog gave me a kick to repost it on mine. I think it is one of the best documentary films I have ever seen. You can catch it in clips here on YouTube. Even McCain makes an appearance. I was actually very blown away by him and remember thinking, "Wow, for a Republican he's not that bad." Its funny how the pursuit of power corrupts. You do actually see him turn into a bitch when he gets a phone call from Bush, so I guess that was just a hint of things to come. Please watch it. For the conservatives out there, I promise this isn't a "Michael Moore" type "documentary".
Also, I just found the full film on google video: