Children Hungry for War
Kale Heinri

When your children are hungry you take the free food even if you don't believe the political story that goes with it. The current administration promised them better times because they were on their side and the old administration wasn't, they were for these people the previous administration wasn't.

They are happy their electricity is on and that their children can go to school and they understand that the government has suffered many shocks and set backs what with all the political factions fighting each other and threatening to tear the country asunder in the search of establishing a democracy. But can't they help them feed their children? They understand that in war sometimes we have to do without for the sake of the country at least that's what they're told, but the children? Why must the children carry that burden? Before the Iraq war it was said ten years of sanctions killed almost a million Iraqi children.

Now there aren't any sanctions on these children no reason other than gross negligence that these children go hungry and their mothers do with out. Their fathers many of whom have been ordered by the government to leave their homes and can only suffer from a distance. It's not that their fathers wouldn't do more if they could but now they have no choice. Many chose this life style never realizing that their families would be forced to pay for their poor decision making.

But now they find themselves confined, their children growing up without them while they fight for their lives in a living hell. Their wives and girlfriends are left to pick up the pieces trying to pay the bills and feed the children in a society that cares too little and a government that doesn't care at all. If you could eat slogans and promises they would all be fat and happy, but slogans don't soothe a gnawing stomach and promises won't quiet a hungry child.

But they are such a religious society you would think they would be buried in donations of food for the hungry children. After all they make such a show of it, the media is full of stories about their religious fanaticism. The new administration promised not to forget their religious roots. To the credit of their religious people they are trying to help but there are too many in need and not enough help to go around so they must ration the day old bread and damaged food items they pass out to the war refugees.

In war it is a sad truth that it is the innocents that suffer the most. But ten thousand miles away? Do women and children ten thousand miles away from the war zone really need to suffer? Maybe they should have known better most of them are young, live and learn. Never mind what the government slogans promise they won't help you feed your children while you fight their war, patriotism's is for chumps! The Army slogan an Army of one and the TV commercials lauding the responsibility that is taught my military service is cold comfort with a kind of a sickening irony to the military mothers on the sidewalks of San Diego waiting for hand outs of free food to feed their children. Their ranks grow by one hundred and fifty a month. At Miramar the total is fifteen hundred families at Camp Pendleton in North Carolina the number is two thousand. Multiply these numbers by every base in the country and add 10% that go elsewhere or fall back on their families.

When they joined to be all they could be do you think they expected that meant broke and hungry? We have all heard the stories of military shortages, not enough body armor or armored Hum Vee's or water. But when military families coast to coast have to wait in bread lines there is something fundamentally wrong here! This is yet another self inflicted Katrina! They sit in military bases instead of the Super Dome but there is no difference, just like there is no good answer or excuse, to explain this travesty. We have spent the equivalent amount of dollars on a missile shield to replace the entire interstate highway system and yet our soldier's wives are in bread lines begging for formula and diapers.

When Israelis fought their latest chapter with Hezbola we rushed hundreds of millions of dollars of the latest and greatest laser guided bombs to drop on the rubble of Beirut. But for our military families? Zilch, We have spent at least we admit to have spent $336,487,204,158 on the war in Iraq. If we are fighting a war on terror what about the terror of a mother not having the food to feed her children while she worries about their father in a combat zone ten thousand miles away!

Congress is in turmoil over a member abusing pages about who knew what when but to my mind there are many in the upper echelons of government who are abusing the wives and children of our service men. Halliburton reported a 22% increase in profits from June to September, 611 million dollars. How about a 10% war profits tax? To assist needy military families with men in war zones. 61 million from June to September would go along way towards feeding children whose fault in life is having parents who are patriotic. Halliburton would have to suffer along on earnings of 550 million a quarter. Just imagine if we brought all our troops home it would be Halliburton that got zilch. Sounds like a hell of a bargain to me!