War as a rule good for...

War as a rule is good for the economy and bad for its people. Some see it as culling while others ignore the loss as inevitable, the cost of attaining prosperity. Price is what we pay with loss and tears to insure a growing economy. Global spending on military issues is 1.46 trillion dollars.This corresponds to 2.4 per cent of world gross domestic product (GDP), or $217 for each person in the world . United States accounts for 41.5% of the global total. Indeed, some $2.4 trillion, or 4.4%, of the global economy “is dependent on violence”, according to the Global Peace Index, referring to “industries that create or manage violence” — or the defense industry.
If we would stop buying and producing war goods it would lower our gross national product by $607,263,000 and approximately 24 million American workers their jobs. 'be careful what you ask for -- you might get it'

Six years later, as many as one million Iraqis have been killed under this occupation, and another five million have lost their homes, according to credible estimates. More than 4,000 U.S. troops have been killed, and other hundreds of thousands have come back with physical and mental injuries.

War is the parent of armies; from these proceed debts and taxes … known instruments for bringing the many under the domination of the few.… No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare.

- James Madison, Political Observations, 1795

We believe that the occupation of Iraq has been counter-productive and wrong. It has harmed both the U.S. and Iraqi people, and it has made our world more violent and unsafe.

President Obama stated for the first time his intention to withdraw all U.S. forces from Iraq. The President pledged not only to withdraw combat troops by the summer of 2010, but also to bring the rest of our troops home by the end of 2011.


We have struggled since the beginning of the occupation with the role of U.S. forces in Iraq. Our faith and values tell us that military solutions are always wrong, but we also heard the fears of many Iraqis that a chaotic and unilateral withdrawal of troops might further destabilize Iraq and increase the danger to civilians.
I support President Obama's plan for a responsible and complete withdrawal that starts immediately, and we commend his commitment to honor the December 31, 2011 deadline agreed upon in the U.S.-Iraqi bilateral withdrawal agreement signed last year.

I am not only a pacifist but a militant pacifist. I am willing to fight for peace. Nothing will end war unless the people themselves refuse to go to war.