Can Natural Tragedies Transform Americas Huge War Machine Into Something Good

NOV 12, 2013 – As I was reading the news that the US Department of Defense will send the aircraft carrier USS George Washington and its group to aid in the relief effort in the aftermath of the horrible tragedy in the Philippines, it makes me hope that one day that this is what we use all the trillions of dollars America spends on defense: In an effort to help people in relief efforts after storms and other natural tragedies; instead of death, war, and Empire building. Surely more and more freakish and extreme storms will happen as a result of our dumb energy policies and global climate change, so we may see the US defense forces being used for humanitarian relief efforts more and more as the years go by, and could have a transformational process. Instead of our defense forces protecting the .01% and their banks, it transforms into a humanitarian force for good around the globe. These days one can see numerous veterans after getting out of service doing some great things. For instance, veterans use their skills honed in the service to protect endangered animals from poachers on an Animal Planet show called, "Rhino Wars".  Another group of veterans devote their life to even more community service through the non-profit disaster response organization called Team Rubicon and are also playing a big part in bringing food, water, medicine and other relief to the people of the Philippines suffering from this tragedy. The system is so dire, one American general said we need to mobilize now, because next week will be too late. Please help out by going to the Red Cross website and donating if you can.  (photo credit: US Navy/Public Domain)