The Arizona Republic (October 22, 2017) had one idea – The Domestic Violence Loophole Closure Act.
Editors of the column neglected one possibility in examining the nauseating frequency of USA mass shootings. Could carnage occurring in churches, night clubs, theaters (Lafayette, LA) or anywhere people assemble from Boston to Texas and beyond be a reflection of US foreign policy globally?
Chalmers Johnson is a respected former US government servant who wrote the four star volume Blowback. The well documented book reveals how the presence of Washington’s 800 military outposts and thousands of troops in distant countries has incurred the wrath of people who fear our nation. Students of history in many areas of the planet know the USA and Britain have invaded all but twenty two nations throughout history. Which is the most fearsome nation if not the one with the largest nuclear arsenal? Russia and the USA control 90% of 15,000 planet – destroying weapons. Are there any Russian bases in our hemisphere? What other nation has over 100 bases to control governments elsewhere? What other country besides the US spends $2 billion daily on “defense”? Our defense budget in 1945 was $1 billion.
Fifty years ago, Jesuit Richard McSorley said it was a sin to build a nuclear weapon and such weapons are the taproot of violence in our nation. “Until we renounce the intention to use nuclear weapons, every moral issue in our society will pale alongside.”
THE NEW YORK TIMES (November 23, 2017) carried an article about one secret US spy base located in a remote, secure zone of the Australian outback. The sophisticated equipment facilitates our bombing and drone operations to continue ruthlessly in Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan.
In addition Somalia, Yemen and other impoverished countries are known only to those US service personnel working in control centers where young women and men know how to operate computers but know nothing of history, culture and language of nations whose citizens are being killed secretly by our government.
If we continue murdering people abroad under the guise of “fighting terrorism” domestic violence might pop up throughout the USA. A study of such genuine “Blowback” in a book written by a former government servant Chalmers Johnson might help remove some scales from our patriotic eyes.
