Kelly Rae Kraemer: "I Am Not 'War-Weary,' I'm Angry, Sick, and Hungry for Peace"

Kelly Rae Kraemer, who teaches Peace Studies at College of St. Benedict/St. John's University, writing at Common Dreams:

I am not ‘war-weary’; I’m angry 

… angry at those who used sarin in Syria

… angry at those who think more killing is the answer

… angry at all presidents with blood on their hands

… angry at the talking heads who distinguish worthy from unworthy victims

… angry at politicians who care more about ‘credibility’ than about human life

… angry at those who call for war any time the flag is waved

… and angry at the endless headlines that claim we’re just ‘war-weary’, as though one good head-clearing nap would make Americans see the wisdom of killing to punish killing.

I'm with Professor Kraemer in these sentiments. As Andrew Sullivan writes at his Dish site this weekend, linking to an article by Daniel Larison in The American Conservative, the parallels to that previous dirty little war into which truth-skirting federal leaders marched the American public--the Iraqi war--are everywhere as we're being marched now into Syria:

This truly is becoming a battle between the Washington war-machine and the people it is supposed to protect. And yes, Iraq is relevant. Of course it is relevant. And no, as Daniel argues, this is not a syndrome. It is not a syndrome to look twice before crossing the street, when you have been run over by a truck twice in the last decade. In any case, the parallels are so close as to be almost absurd. 

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.