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John Patriquin/Staff PhotographerThe Blue Angels fly over Portland earlier this week on their way to the Brunswick Naval Air Station.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Jack Bussell of Portland is head of Maine Veterans for Peace.

War is, and has been, the most destructive action ever undertaken by humans. Nobody wins in war except those who make the weapons.

As columnist Charlie Reese said in 2004, "If you step back a moment and think about it, you will realize that you are constantly being propagandized to approve of war -- not just the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, but war generically."

What better way to propagandize this most destructive of actions than to stage a spectacular event?

And that, my fellow Americans, is what will be on display at the Brunswick Naval Station this weekend.

A glorification of war spectacular featuring the Blue Angels and their F-18s; static displays of weapons for the whole family to fondle; military recruiters telling your sons and daughters how they can earn money for college, see the world, meet interesting people. It's a "G-rated" show with "X-rated" content, for there is no glory in war.

Yet we keep trying to glorify the inglorious, and it is insidious. There is the Memorial Day parade meant to honor the dead of all wars.

Then comes the Veterans Day parade to honor the veterans of all wars. Yet, as one watches or participates in these events, which should be respectful and somber, they are not. They are, in fact, a glorification of war.

Why else would cheerleaders be involved, or military equipment rolling through the streets, or aircraft from Brunswick Naval Station swooping low over Congress Street, or close order drills of children from grade school?

That is why we, Maine Veterans For Peace, wear black and approach these events in a respectful and somber manner. If you want to honor veterans and those who have died, then end war.

What is not shown, nor spoken nor even whispered about, is the reality of war. They will not talk about the death and destruction visited on those unfortunates caught in the crossfire between combatants; nor will they speak about those returning from the killing fields in mental distress because they were told to kill contrary to what we have been taught about not killing.

Not a word will be spoken about depleted uranium poisoning. There will be no photos shown of the closed caskets being returned to grieving families. Nothing will be said about the lack of proper and available health care within the Veterans Affairs hospital system for those returning veterans who desperately seek it.

Nor will there be any discussion about the difficulties of reintegrating back into civilian life upon return from the war. The words "post-traumatic stress" will never, ever be heard.

Fueled by the need for an unending supply of warm bodies and an insatiable demand for money, these Glorification of War spectaculars are part and parcel of military recruitment and its $20.5 billion budget (requested for the FY 2009 budget, which is up, incidentally, from $10 billion in FY 2008, as The Nation magazine pointed out).

The military-industrial complex demands the money, the Pentagon demands the bodies and the staged spectaculars such as the Blue Angels' appearance over Brunswick is one of the ways this is accomplished.

It is expected that some 250,000 people will visit the Brunswick Naval Air Station over a two-day period this weekend.

We ask this: Instead of bringing your family to this glorification of war spectacular that you join us on Saturday. Seventeen Maine peace, anti-war and social-action organizations will gather in the center of Brunswick on the mall and walk to the Naval Air Station in a peaceful and nonviolent manner to protest this glorification of war spectacular. The walk begins at 9:30 a.m.

Let us all look to a future where war will not be glorified but recognized for what it is, destructive and devastating. It has no place in humanity's future.