U.S. war machine must be stopped

In 1979, I went to chile on a legal case as a Navy Lieutenant. The U.S. had just overthrown the democratically elected President Allende and put into office the fascist murderer, General Pinochet. Most Chileans hated us for that interference with their elected President.

We Naval officers were given money to show the flag and eat at the best restaurants. We were even given a chauffeur. Our hotel had bullet holes and Allende’s presidential place was all shot up.

By contrast, at the local restaurants, we saw Chinese and Japanese businessmen wining and dining Chilean businessmen to cut deals and do business.

Why does the U.S. threaten, overthrow, bomb and invade countries when the Chinese, instead, respects the culture of other countries and do business with them? Why does the U.S. try to change other countries, threaten them and create hate for us? China has no enemies. Why must we? When will the U.S. respect other cultures?

We need to send all our diplomats to China to learn diplomacy and business instead of using threats, war and invasion. Do we create wars so certain U.S. businesses can sell weapons, jets, bombs and even hot dogs and buns to the troops? President Eisenhower warned us about that.

We have become a war machine with endless war just like George Orwell’s novel 1984.

This story was originally published September 14, 2017 at 8:43 PM with the headline "U.S. war machine must be stopped."