Sorry Mr. Bush, but killing for peace is like whoring for virginity, and your "War on Terror" is a farce.

Well, like it or lump it, it’s true. Wanna know why? Obviously, or you wouldn’t be here. Unless of course you entered an odd search command and stumbled here looking for George W Bush porn.

Now I’ve burned that evil image forever into your brain, let us continue.

Granted, I’m not all that old – I’m only seventeen. That makes me too young to be a hippy and too young to cry blissful ignorance. I don’t know much, but I do know that killing people, for whatever reason, is wrong. I spent six years at high school (we don’t have middle school in Australia, I’m not a complete moron) being forced to study Modern History, learning about the wars of the early twentieth century. Nobody omitted gory details for us – there was no fluffy pomp or stories of triumph that I could discern. The only thing I picked up on was how sad and pathetic it was that grown men with independent will felt it (or were forced into feeling) that it was their duty to go overseas and die in a stinking muddy field because of the bickering of far-from-worldly old men in parliaments wanting to play My Empire Is Bigger Than Yours.

I think that we’re very lucky in Australia that we get more of the full story of war than most other nations and education systems. The British, for example, saw World War One as a great triumph of will, signified by poets such as Edmund Brooke. Despite the fact that Brooke stubbed his toe on his way to Gallipoli, got blood poisoning and died before he ever saw active duty, his poetry (most notably The Soldier) is played up more than the work of, say, Wilfred Owen.

One thing I was startled to learn is that (no offence intended to any Americans, you’re cool and you dub anime and make good movies…Australian movies suck ass) the average American is taught that WW1 started in 1917, and that WW2 didn’t kick off until the bombing of Pearl Harbour. Sorry, but that’s not true. WW1 began in 1914 and WW2 in 1939, even if America didn’t join in until the later date.

How can we all declare war so easily when we can’t even agree on when the damned things started?

Granted, there hasn’t been a war in a long time, but that doesn’t mean it’s time to start another. I don’t think anyone should look at the triumph and glory of fighting for their country and/or freedom without looking at the converse side – the blood, death, disease and atrocities that go on in war zones. You know exactly what I’m talking about – the horrible things we pin on the Germans and Japanese in WW2 that the Allies indulged in just as fully.

Why doesn’t anyone ever listen to their parents when they’re told as children that violence never solves anything?

And when you think about it, it really doesn’t. All the innocents who die in the name of their country or beliefs are only gnawing away at that country or religion’s numbers until the leaders collectively realise that ‘whoa, if we don’t sort this out pretty damn soon, we’re not going to have anyone to tax and order around’. Then diplomacy kicks in, and the problem is solved. If the problem isn’t solved, it rears its ugly head again until it’s fixed properly and relatively ethically.

Which leads to the current "War on Terror". Pick a frigging target, already! First the delightfully ignorant and overly militaristic George Double-Yah declares war on Osama Bin Laden, before he could actually pin the September 11 attack on his terrorist network, but doesn’t know exactly where he is, and now he’s busy invading Afghanistan and abolishing the Taliban regime, bringing other countries in on it as well, mine included. I’d like to send a message to all political leaders out there who are following Bush into war – sending troops to that disgrace doesn’t say you ‘won’t stand for terrorism,’ it says you’re Bush’s lap dog. Show some goddamn initiative and think for yourselves for a change.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t advocate the actions of the Taliban and Bin Laden, but there are a lot of innocent people suffering over there for the sake of destroying a group of unshaven men with black beach towels on their heads and a hairy, evil-looking individual who’ll probably come out unscathed anyway.

People die in wars. They die horrible, painful deaths away from their loved ones and often without even a decent burial.

This isn't a "War on Terror," why won't people see that it's just a plain fucking war?

No matter how justified others might see it as, I will never, ever stand for war as a means of solving problems. Isn’t that what diplomacy and the United Nations were created for?

But most of all, I don’t want to see another generation irrevocably lose their innocence because a few jackasses in suits/beach towels can’t play nice. If you’ve read this far, you obviously care, and if you don’t, I want you to try something. Next Remembrance Day or ANZAC Day or whatever you have, go to the ceremony and look in the eyes of the people who have experienced war for real. Make sure you memorise that haunted look as they remember their lost friends and allies and family members, then ask yourself: Do I really want to see that look on the faces of the people I’ve grown up with? And: Could I really stand to bury my own children?

Think about that next time you sing the praises of one of mankind’s worst faults.

~Owari~