War Is A Soulless Void by Chris Hedges

Repost of War Is Betrayal by Chris Hedges.

by Chris Hedges
Writer, Dandelion Salad
Truthdig
July 13, 2012

Image by daveeza via Flickr

This piece originally appeared in the Boston Review.

We condition the poor and the working class to go to war. We promise them honor, status, glory, and adventure. We promise boys they will become men. We hold these promises up against the dead-end jobs of small-town life, the financial dislocations, credit card debt, bad marriages, lack of health insurance, and dread of unemployment. The military is the call of the Sirens, the enticement that has for generations seduced young Americans working in fast food restaurants or behind the counters of Walmarts to fight and die for war profiteers and elites.

Dr. John Johnson: US Soldiers Killed My Daughter + William Blum: The Destruction of Iraq, interviewed by Cindy Sheehan

by Cindy Sheehan
Writer, Dandelion Salad
Cindy Sheehan’s Soapbox Blog
March 24, 2013

Image by ¡Que comunismo! via Flickr

with William Blum
Writer, Dandelion Salad
williamblum.org/
March 24, 2013

The US Empire’s War ON Iraq has lasted for a decade now. I am sure, I don’t have to convince supporters and fans of Cindy Sheehan’s Soapbox that the US Empire’s Illegal and Immoral War on the people of Iraq was/is wrong.

The War Crime of Iraq was/is just one more notch in the bloody belt of Empire, and we must tell the stories and never give up the fight for peace: no retreat, no surrender.

Kill Anything That Moves by Chris Hedges + Moyers and Company: Nick Turse Describes the Real Vietnam War

by Chris Hedges
Writer, Dandelion Salad
Truthdig
March 12, 2013

Image by Franco Folini via Flickr

Kill Anything That Moves: The Real American War in Vietnam
A book by Nick Turse

Nick Turse’s Kill Anything That Moves: The Real American War in Vietnam is not only one of the most important books ever written about the Vietnam conflict but provides readers with an unflinching account of the nature of modern industrial warfare. It captures, as few books on war do, the utter depravity of industrial violence—what the sociologist James William Gibson calls “technowar.” It exposes the sickness of the hyper-masculine military culture, the intoxicating rush and addiction of violence, and the massive government spin machine that lies daily to a gullible public and uses tactics of intimidation, threats and smear campaigns to silence dissenters.

SOF Troops Still in Wardak as Joint U.S.-Afghan Probe Continues by Gareth Porter and Shah Noori

by Gareth Porter
Writer, Dandelion Salad
crossposted at ISP
Mar. 10 2013

WASHINGTON/KABUL, Mar 10 2013 (IPS) – Two weeks after Afghan President Hamid Karzai demanded the withdrawal of all U.S. Special Operations Forces (SOF) from Wardak province by this date, the issue remains suspended in negotiations between U.S. and Afghan governments.

U.S. Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel planned to discuss the matter with Karzai Sunday, but the meeting was postponed after a security incident in Kabul.

The Crucifixion of Tomas Young by Chris Hedges

Image by jbach via Flickr

by Chris Hedges
Writer, Dandelion Salad
Truthdig
March 11, 2013

KANSAS CITY, Mo.—I flew to Kansas City last week to see Tomas Young. Young was paralyzed in Iraq in 2004. He is now receiving hospice care at his home. I knew him by reputation and the movie documentary “Body of War.” He was one of the first veterans to publicly oppose the war in Iraq. He fought as long and as hard as he could against the war that crippled him, until his physical deterioration caught up with him.

Letter from the President to the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the President Pro Tempore of the Senate Regarding the War Powers Resolution

Dandelion Salad

Propaganda Alert!

Image by SS&SS via Flickr

The White House
Office of the Press Secretary
For Immediate Release
January 13, 2013

Letter from the President to the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the President Pro Tempore of the Senate Regarding the War Powers Resolution

TEXT OF A LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT
TO THE SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
AND THE PRESIDENT PRO TEMPORE OF THE SENATE

January 13, 2013

Dear Mr. Speaker: (Dear Mr. President:)

Gareth Porter: Afghan war, dead weight around Obama’s neck + Raz Mohammad: Drones Kill the People of Afghanistan

with Gareth Porter
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
January 12, 2013

Image by Dandelion Salad via Flickr

PressTVGlobalNews·Jan 12, 2013

A political analyst tells Press TV that US President Barack Obama really does not want to keep American troops in Afghanistan any longer and this war is a dead weight around his neck. The comments came after US President Barack Obama said that Afghanistan must grant US forces legal immunity if Kabul wants American troops to stay in the country beyond 2014.

The Peerless Quartet: I Didn’t Raise My Son To Be A Soldier (1915)

The Peerless Quartet (known as the Columbia Quartet prior to 1908). From left to right; John H. Meyer, Henry Burr, Frank Croxton, Albert Campbell. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Dandelion Salad

Oct 28, 2012 by StoptheWarCoalition

Released in 1915, I Didn’t Raise My Son to be a Soldier, sung here by the Peerless Quartet, was the first commercially successful anti-war record and featured prominently in the American anti-war movement opposing US entry in the first world war. The warmongering ex-president Theodore Roosevelt objected to the song’s message of peace and its early feminism: “Foolish people who applaud a song entitled ‘I Didn’t Raise My Boy To Be A Soldier’ are just the people who would also in their hearts applaud a song entitled ‘I Didn’t Raise my Girl To Be A Mother.”

Chris Hedges: War Exposes The Lies Of Patriotism

Image by Steve Rhodes via Flickr

Transcript: The Maimed by Chris Hedges

by Chris Hedges
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
October 10, 2012

Oct 8, 2012 by catwatters4

55 Water Street NYC at the Veterans Memorial. The Vets for Peace had a gathering to send a message to end these unjust wars. Just as Chris Hedges began his very inspiring and moving speech, fireworks started and continued throughout his talk adding poignantly to his message.

Ch 11: Exit Free (A collective in the USA that helps women leave the military by discharge or desertion) by William T. Hathaway

by William T. Hathaway
Guest Writer
Dandelion Salad
October 6, 2012

Image by Joelstuff V4 via Flickr

Exit Free
From the book
RADICAL PEACE: People Refusing War
By William T. Hathaway
Published by Trine Day

The following report was contributed by Naomi Golner, one of the founders of Exit Free, a collective in the USA that helps women leave the military by discharge or desertion.

I’ve become a criminal for peace. How I got there is a complicated story, beginning when the community college where I teach reduced most of its humanities faculty to adjunct status.

The Maimed by Chris Hedges

Video: Chris Hedges: War Exposes The Lies Of Patriotism

by Chris Hedges
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
Truthdig
October 8, 2012

Image by World Can’t Wait via Flickr

Chris Hedges gave this talk Sunday night in New York City at a protest denouncing the 11th anniversary of the war in Afghanistan. The event, at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, was led by Veterans for Peace.

Many of us who are here carry within us death. The smell of decayed and bloated corpses. The cries of the wounded. The shrieks of children. The sound of gunfire. The deafening blasts. The fear. The stench of cordite. The humiliation that comes when you surrender to terror and beg for life. The loss of comrades and friends. And then the aftermath. The long alienation. The numbness. The nightmares. The lack of sleep. The inability to connect to all living things, even to those we love the most. The regret. The repugnant lies mouthed around us about honor and heroism and glory. The absurdity. The waste. The futility.

The “Surge” is Over. The War is Not by Dennis Kucinich

Dandelion Salad

by Dennis Kucinich
WASHINGTON, D.C. (September 21, 2012)

Image by World Can’t Wait via Flickr

Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) today released the following statement following the announcement that the “surge” in Afghanistan has ended. In 2009, 33,000 additional troops were deployed to Afghanistan. Today, troop deployment levels have returned to the pre-“surge” levels. Sixty-eight thousand brave men and women continue to put their lives on the line.

Ch. 10: Comrades in Arms — Rape in the U.S. Military by William T. Hathaway

by William T. Hathaway
Guest Writer
Dandelion Salad
August 12, 2012

Comrades in Arms
From the book
RADICAL PEACE: People Refusing War
By William T. Hathaway
Published by Trine Day

I received this letter from an ex-soldier.

Hi Mr. Hathaway,

I got your letter (forwarded) asking for information for your book. To answer your first question, Yes, I’m enjoying living in Holland. I’m becoming the little Dutch girl — the little Black Dutch girl, but that doesn’t bother people here. They’re very tolerant and internationally minded.

Tom Waits: Hell Broke Luce

Image by joka2000 via Flickr

Dandelion Salad

Aug 6, 2012 by antirecords

Directed By Matt Mahurin

“Hell Broke Luce” from the album Bad As Me, Anti Records 2011

http://www.tomwaits.com

Don’t Enlist, But Don’t Just Take My Word For It by Lo

by Lo
Dandelion Salad
July 12, 2012

Image by Kate Tomlinson via Flickr

This is the most important blog post on Dandelion Salad. Please pass this on to anyone you know who may be considering enlisting as a soldier (mercenary). Stop them from selling their souls.

First is a list of the best videos with a description of the video followed by the link. Next is a short list of article links, then the archive of posts for “Before You Enlist” and a website for more information.