20161211 (cartoon war)

To view Disneyland of War" go to: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=USnNFkFkdEk

"In war the first casualty is truth,”

Aeschylus, Greek, 5th century BCE.

That said, how much truth can be

Reported? If history is any guide,

Damn little—especially if your side

Is losing. In this world of instant

Dissemination some rules seem

Reasonable (if there is anything

Reasonable about war): don’t 

Reveal your position, don’t tell

Sir Rodney how many men he

Has in his army (the mere threat

Of boiling oil will make him 

Talk), or what’s your next move

(as in poker, as in chess). But 

What can you tell the parents

Who have both proudly and 

Regretfully sent their child off

To battle? Can you tell them

How many of the soldiers have

Fallen? Or might that encourage

The enemy? Is it enough to

Say they died or must you say

They died quickly, without

Suffering? Is it best to leave

The matter of friendly fire

Undiscussed? Whatever you

Do, when they find out the 

Truth, will they understand

You only meant to spare them

The agony? Since the first

Iraq War in Kuwait we have 

Not seen many photographs

Of wounded soldiers dying

On the battlefield. We have not

Watched on the nightly news

Any of the slaughter “up close

And personal,”  as we did with

The body-count reports from 

Vietnam. Mike Hanes, a combat

Veteran of the Iraq War and 

Member of  Veterans for Peace

In San Diego, partnered with 

Chris Smiley to produce a film 

About child recruitment through

The regularly recurring air show

On the Marine base at Miramar, 

Evocatively titled, “Disneyland

Of War.” As he narrates his 

Reactions to watching boys and

Girls being introduced to 

Machines guns and anti-tank

Mortars, Humvees and land

Mines, he intersperses his 

Comments with full color

Battle footage of soldiers screaming

“I’m hit,” as medics rush up

To bind the wounds and stop 

The profuse bleeding. But far

More striking is the sequence

Of men rolling a soldier over

Who is not quite dead yet from

His encounter with an improvised

Explosive device (land mine is 

Our term) whose open abdomen

Is dripping organs and whose

Face has been hacksawed off,

Revealing some teeth on a dangling

Jaw. Hanes recalls how like the

Youngsters he was bedazzled by

The weaponry, and confesses

We are committing a gross evil

In familiarizing children with

Death machines. Which are the

Realities of war? The rush of

Jet planes in formation overhead?

The circle of black cloud that rises

Like a casually blown smoke ring

From a cigarette breath? Or the

Raw red flesh of a friend gouged,

Shredded to the bone as he screams

For his mother? Can’t show that to

Children. Now with the media

Refusing to cover the war damage

To our own, we’ll not see that either.

But every once in a while

They’ll show us a wounded 

Syrian or Yemeni child and 

Call it “The true cost of war.”

As adults--Aren’t we mature 

Enough to make a sound moral

Decision about war were we 

To unzip a body bag to behold 

Its contents?

c. J.S.Manista, 2016