My reply to Mr George Will's Aug 12 column on Wanting Peace by Preparing for War:

Imagine, instead, if the Big Three had not made plans to rule the post-WW II world, but instead supported the concept of ALL European and Asian nations being part of such plans.

Imagine Eisenhower's administration NOT ignoring the post-Russia death of Stalin period, during which time Kruschev and company were not interested in a Cold War. The Cold War existed for the precise purpose of helping the military-industrial-political complex take power in America, Constitution be damned. And that is exactly what has happened.

There is a large alphabet of govt. agencies, some we know about, some we doubt, that exist to keep Americans in their place, and keep up the facade that the Pursuit of Happiness is alive and well, that individual freedoms for ALL people should exist. They in fact exist to insure govt and corporate control of all facets of our lives. Ever ask yourself why your life hasn't improved, while at the same time corporate CEOs rake in millions in salaries, stock, and golden parachutes, all the while fixing nothing, changing nothing, hiding their profits off-shore, refusing to invest in USA infrastructure, hiding behind armies of tax and other lawyers?

Mr. Will picked a certain point in his perception of history and pontificated from there. It didn't have to be this way, and it shouldn't be this way. Genocide, poverty, hungry children, racial strife, disasters, crumbling infrastructure, horrible economy, lack of hope, and that's just in what used to be America.

Only Congress can declare war. They last did so on Dec 8, 1941. Since then, we've invaded:
Korea, Vietnam, Cuba, Grenada, Panama, Cambodia, Laos, Iraq, Kuwait, Afghanistan. We went after foreign leaders we didn't like in Latin America and Middle Europe, many of whom we removed from office after having funded them until they were no longer needed by us. Not so much as a peep out of Congress, who funded all of this anyway. We filled up our national and local cemeteries with our youth under mis-guided patriotism.

Mr. Will's commentary is one-sided and absent severe facts. But, this is what newspapers are supposed to do, help citizens think critically about those they put, and keep, in power.