I keep talking with people, and I keep receiving emails: Everyone seems so full of dread as we prepare to bomb yet another country about which we know hardly anything. Everyone is saying, “Please, please, not another war.” “Please, no more bombing.”

Yes, there was a chemical attack in Syria. Yes, it’s horrible, but will bombing make it right? No. Will the perpetrators of this horror be the ones who will suffer? No. Do we know who did it? No.

Do our leaders remember the lead-up to the Iraq war, when all the powers that be were sure that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction? It seems not to be so. Will bombing Syria make us any safer? No. Will it inspire more terrorists to attack us? Yes.

Meanwhile, the post office had to cut back hours, schools are being shuttered, teachers are losing their jobs, roads are falling apart, and global warming is unaddressed.

There is no one to inspect the meat and vegetables for contamination. Cities are going bankrupt. We are told that we can’t afford basic services. We are told that we need to balance the budget. Austerity is the word we hear over and over.

How can we afford another war, another misguided entanglement in the affairs of other countries? How is it that we can afford the bombs and the drones, but not the schools?

Abby Shahn

Solon


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