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Innocent civilians: becoming an endangered species in America's resource wars

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Michael Payne
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The age of the global resource wars has arrived with the U.S. in the leading role; wars are being conducted in foreign lands to advance an agenda designed to guarantee a supply of natural resources which the U.S. and our NATO partners desperately need into the future. But, as these wars are being waged, we need to ask this question: will we as a nation, a government, and a people continue to pursue this agenda when we know full well that it will result in hundreds and thousands of innocent civilians losing their right to exist?

Our president, the Congress, our religious leaders, and each and every American must search their consciences, think very deeply about the critical humanitarian issues that are at stake, and then decide if we can, in good conscience, accept and condone the grievous actions that are taking place. This is a moral issue that must be addressed; we can't just look the other way; this issue is not going away.

Just think about what our military has done in Iraq and is now doing in Afghanistan. We have watched the invasion and occupation of two sovereign nations; Iraq experienced the intense pain of shock and awe, the city of Fallujah was largely destroyed, many thousands of Iraqis lost their lives, and millions were displaced and had to flee to Syria, Lebanon and other nations. Estimates indicate that about 2.8 million Iraqis have been displaced and still remain somewhere in Iraq, while about 2 million sought asylum in surrounding nations and are not likely to return.

There are no comparative estimates for Afghanistan that I've seen, but we know the same kind of civilian tragedies are happening and will increase in frequency as this war expands. Afghanistan is yet another sovereign nation where the vast majority of citizens did nothing whatsoever to harm anyone, but, through no fault of their own, now find themselves in the middle of a shooting war that they cannot escape.

Millions of Americans are suffering during our continuing economic crisis and just trying to survive, and, while that is extremely painful, just think about what the innocent civilians in Iraq and Afghanistan have had to face. Between those two nations there have been more than 5 million civilians that have had their lives totally disrupted, and many have died. Iraq has had its infrastructure torn apart, and all this took place because of the Bush/Cheney administration and their completely fabricated hoax involving weapons of mass destruction.

But, regrettably, we now see the Obama administration following the same misguided agenda. The Afghan War is now Mr. Obama's war; he now owns it and is totally responsible for what happens. I wonder if he ever thinks about the needless deaths of innocent people - the fact that their right to life is being taken away for no substantive reasons. Likely not, because since he took office, the use of deadly drones that "inadvertently" snuff out civilian lives has greatly increased in both Afghanistan and Pakistan.

The suffering experienced by innocent civilians in Iraq and now in Afghanistan is a direct result of the global resource war that is in its beginning stages. This competition to control world natural gas and petroleum resources is largely confined to the U.S., NATO countries, and China, but other nations will become much more active in the quest for resources as their needs grow. For those who would scoff at this premise, I would suggest that they spend time reading the many accounts by respected writers around the world who have been monitoring this trend and are trying to warn of its consequences. But don't look for anything on this subject in the mainstream American media, because you simply will not find it.

Here is a most important comparison of strategies in this competition for resources: China has the world's fastest growing economy, and the U.S. has the most powerful military. The U.S. is involved in two wars that are draining this nation dry; China is not involved in any war. The U.S. has over seven hundred military installations in the world. China has none. The U.S. strategy for obtaining resources involves invasions and occupations. China is actively engaged all over the world negotiating contracts to secure resources.

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