HORRORS OF WAR

PEACE AT ANY PRICE?

THE DREAM AND THE REALITY

compiled by Dee Finney

America's Wars

Total Participants 41,790,000

Deaths in Service - 1,090,2000

Disasters of War is a series of 85 engravings, produced by Goya after witnessing the brutal Peninsular War between France and Spain. The images are rarely heroic, focusing instead on the nightmarish atrocities which became commonplace.

I was just an observer in this dream. The woman of the house looked outside and saw the men driving the cattle home early. I observed that the men are bringing the cattle in through threes that look like an orchard of some kind.

The woman of the house quickly makes up a bed for the man of the house who is brought in on a stretcher. He is wounded and both hands and forearms are amputated.

He tells her that he doesn't want to live this way, but she assures him that he will be fine and nurses him back to health. He is a tall, strong man, dressed in blue military clothing, like Civil War style.

The house is under attack by some other men and even the woman of the house is wounded and she has a large bandage on her right hand. She pulls out a small photograph of Jesus from the bandage and someone says - "A Father is defenseless without his son."

The house is then successfully defended and they win the battle.

Union Participants 2,213,000 - Union Deaths in Service - 364,000

Confederate Participants* 1,000,000 -  Confederate Deaths in Service* 133,821

FROM: http://www.civilwarhome.com/civilwarmedicine.htm

The Civil War was fought, claimed the Union army surgeon general, "at the end of the medical Middle Ages." Little was known about what caused disease, how to stop it from spreading, or how to cure it. Surgical techniques ranged from the barbaric to the barely competent.

A Civil War soldier's chances of not surviving the war was about one in four. These fallen men were cared for by a woefully underqualified, understaffed, and undersupplied medical corps. Working against incredible odds, however, the medical corps increased in size, improved its techniques, and gained a greater understanding of medicine and disease every year the war was fought.

During the period just before the Civil War, a physician received minimal training. Nearly all the older doctors served as apprentices in lieu of formal education. Even those who had attended one of the few medical schools were poorly trained. In Europe, four-year medical schools were common, laboratory training was widespread, and a greater understanding of disease and infection existed. The average medical student in the United States, on the other hand, trained for two years or less, received practically no clinical experience, and was given virtually no laboratory instruction. Harvard University, for instance, did not own a single stethoscope or microscope until after the war.

When the war began, the Federal army had a total of about 98 medical officers, the Confederacy just 24. By 1865, some 13,000 Union doctors had served in the field and in the hospitals; in the Confederacy, about 4,000 medical officers and an unknown number of volunteers treated war casualties. in both the North and South, these men were assisted by thousands of women who donated their time and energy to help the wounded. It is estimated that more than 4,000 women served as nurses in Union hospitals; Confederate women contributed much to the effort as well.

Although Civil War doctors were commonly referred to as "butchers" by their patients and the press, they managed to treat more than 10 million cases of injury and illness in just 48 months and most did it with as much compassion and competency as possible. Poet Walt Whitman, who served as a volunteer in Union army hospitals, had great respect for the hardworking physicians, claiming that "All but a few are excellent men...

Approximately 620,000 men-360,000 Northerners and 260,000 Southerners-died in the four-year conflict, a figure that tops the total fatalities of all other wars in which America has fought. Of these numbers, approximately 110,000 Union and 94,000 Confederate men died of wounds received in battle. Every effort was made to treat wounded men within 48 hours; most primary care was administered at field hospitals located far behind the front lines. Those who survived were then transported by unreliable and overcrowded ambulances-two-wheeled carts or four-wheeled wagons-to army hospitals located in nearby cities and towns.

The most common Civil War small arms ammunition was the dreadful minnie ball, which tore an enormous wound on impact: it was so heavy that an abdominal or head wound was almost always fatal, and a hit to an extremity usually shattered any bone encountered. In addition, bullets carried dirt and germs into the wound that often caused infection.

Of the approximately 175,000 wounds to the extremities received among Federal troops, about 30,000 led to amputation; roughly the same proportion occurred in the Confederacy. One witness described a common surgeon's tent this way: "Tables about breast high had been erected upon which the screaming victims were having legs and arms cut off. The surgeons and their assistants, stripped to the waist and bespattered with blood, stood around, some holding the poor fellows while others, armed with long, bloody knives and saws, cut and sawed away with frightful rapidity, throwing the mangled limbs on a pile nearby as soon as removed."

Contrary to popular myth, most amputees did not experience the surgery without anesthetic. Ample doses of chloroform were administered beforehand; the screams heard were usually from soldiers just informed that they would lose a limb or who were witness to the plight of other soldiers under the knife.

Those who survived their wounds and surgeries still had another hurdle, however: the high risk of infection. While most surgeons were aware of a relationship between cleanliness and low infection rates, they did not know how to sterilize their equipment. Due to a frequent shortage of water, surgeons often went days without washing their hands or instruments, thereby passing germs from one patient to another as he treated them. The resulting vicious infections, commonly known as "surgical fevers," are believed to have been caused largely by Staphylococcus aureus and Streptococcus pyogenes, bacterial cells which generate pus, destroy tissue, and release deadly toxins into the bloodstream. Gangrene, the rotting away of flesh caused by the obstruction of blood flow, was also common after surgery. Despite these fearful odds, nearly 75 percent of the amputees survived.

At the time of the Civil War, before the X-ray was discovered and the germ theory had taken hold, most physicians had never seen a gunshot wound and didn't know how to treat one. Amputation was the most common treatment for serious leg or arm injury, and more soldiers died of disease than from enemy bullets. The National Museum of Health and Medicine was established in response."

-- The Civil War Trust's Official Guide to the Civil War Discovery Trail, 1998

Gross is the operative word at this unappreciated museum, where visitors wade through amputated limbs, diseased organs, kidney stones, live leeches, and much more. Your first impulse is to recoil in horror, but eventually you're filled with joy, thanking your lucky stars medicine has come so far. An exhibit on Abe Lincoln's autopsy is found here, too, and the moving array includes fragments of his skull, hair, and blood, as well as the bullet that killed him. Nearby are pieces of John Kiles Booth's spinal cord. Located on the Walter Reed Army Medical Center campus, the place is off the beaten path, but is a must see. The best access is via the main gate at 6900 Georgia Ave. Just tell the guards where you're going, and they'll direct you."

-- American Way, November 1, 1998

The museum's gallery space retains a fascinating array of early medical specimens, odd human case studies, and all sorts of scientific models and instruments. Among the more historic artifacts are the bullet that killed Abraham Lincoln, Paul Revere's dental tools, and Incan skulls that indicate early attempts at head surgery. The unfortunate effects of elephantiasis on a young victim are evident in one fully preserved limb. A complete skeleton of a 467-year-old Spanish-American War veteran shows how his joints were gradually frozen by expanding bone, rendering him unable to move. A series of models summarizes the development of transportation for the wounded, from stiff, horse-drawn ambulances to mobile hospital railcars. Several other skeletons and anatomical displays augment an iron lung used by polio patients, surgical tools, and the world's most comprehensive microscope collection. The museum's private holdings are a center of research and include thousands of photographs, X-ray equipment, skeletal specimens, and preserved organs. The vast collections aid studies in pathology, forensic anthropology, and other sciences."

-- American History, October 1998

"The museum, in fact, was open to the public when it occupied Ford's Theater after the assassination of Abraham Lincoln at the same time the Pension Office occupied the same space. So oftentimes pensioners who came back to collect information or provide information in the Pension Office would also stop by the museum and sometimes even look at objects that had once been part of themselves on display."

-- The Anatomical Record, October 1998

"The original Civil War medical museum was founded in 1862 to research and improve battlefield medicine. Today it houses a seven-foot skeleton, the bullet that killed Abraham Lincoln, an iron lung, live leeches, a pregnancy smock, Paul Revere's dental tools, thousands of other artifacts, documents, photographs - and real anatomy - to illustrate exhibits on the human body, military medicine, medical history and today's health issues."

-- Baltimore Sun, September 1998

From: http:://www.geocities.com/Pentagon/Camp/ 7624/RevolutionaryWar.htm

By 1775, tension between the colonies and the mother country had reached the breaking point. General Gage, who was in charge of the British troops in Boston, learned that the colonists had hidden a large collection of weapons in nearby Concord. Gage sent a detachment of soldiers to seize the rebel leaders and destroy the stores of ammunition. Sons of Liberty Paul Revere and William Dawes rode to warn of the impending British attack by way of the Charles River; the most direct route. Just as the sun was rising on April 19, 1775, British soldiers reached Lexington. A straggling line of colonists was already waiting on the green--armed with muskets. Eight Minutemen were killed and several others wounded in the first skirmish on Lexington Green which signaled the beginning of the American Revolution.

By the time the Second Continental Congress convened on May 10, 1775, war had already broken out in Massachusetts. Battles had been fought between Massachusetts soldiers and British military forces in the towns of Lexington and Concord. Yet war had not been declared. Even so, citizen soldiers in each of the thirteen American colonies were ready to fight.

Two days after the Congress appointed George Washington as army commander, colonists and British troops fought the first major battle of the American Revolution. It was called the Battle of Bunker Hill.

The Continental armed forces strength is very underestimated. In 1775 the population of the 13 colonies was 2.5 million. An estimated 1/3 of the people were against the Revolution. Even so some 290,000 enlistments were made to join and fight against the British. Even that number is misleading because many signed more than once. It is believed that some 200,000 people fought against the British, the majority as militias.

The 100 cannons were captured from the British Fort Ticconderoga and were the only guns in the early the beginning of the war.

Some 1,000 cannons were captured from the British, and some 16,000 prisoners were taken. But they also suffered great losses, some 11,000 men died. The captured were often given the choice of being executed or joining the Royal Navy who was short on men.

Great Britain  lost 10,000 men to death and 6,000 wounded  and lost 2,479 ships

The Continental Army lost 25,435 men and  6,188 wounded and lost 1,323 ships

The peace treaty ending the American Revolution was signed in Paris in 1783. The independence of the United States was recognized. Western and northern borders were set. Thirteen colonies were free. Now, they had to become one nation.

Some call it the Second War of Independence, for when it ended and the US had fought Great Britain to a stalemate, Americas independence was assured. The battle of Antietam has been called the bloodiest event in American history. Nearly six thousand soldiers were killed, more than seventeen thousand wounded, and another three thousand captured or missing. More than twice as many people died during the single day of the battle than in the entirety of the War of 1812, the Mexican War, and the Spanish-American War combined. As a major Union victory, Antietam was of considerable strategic importance. It also led directly to the issuing of the Emancipation Proclamation, which changed the nature of the war by making slavery the central issue. Antietam is also significant for being the first occasion on which the American public was to view its war dead.

In photographs, you see hushed, reverend groups standing around these weird copies of carnage, bending down to look in the pale faces of the dead, chained by the strange spell that dwells in dead men's eyes. It seems somewhat singular that the same sun that looked down on the face of the slain, blistering them, blotting out from the bodies all semblances to humanity, and hastening corruption, should have thus caught their features upon canvas and given them perpetuity for ever.

Many, having seen it and dreamed of its horrors, would lock it up in some secret drawer, that it might not thrill or revolt those whose soul sickens at such sights. It was so nearly like visiting the battlefield to look over these views, that all the emotions excited by the actual sight of the stained and sordid scene, strewed with rags and wrecks, came back to us, and we buried them in the recesses of our cabinet as we would have buried the mutilated remains of the dead they too vividly represented.

The History of Scalping by Indians and Europeans

More often than not, scalping was practiced as a response in kind. The Eurpoeans had taught them, first hand, the horror of viewing the mutilated remains of their families and friends after an attack by white settlers. By inflicting the same mutilation on their enemies they had hoped to stem the onslaught of these white settlers that were invading their land. To some Indians,if the attacks could not stop the whites, at least it would send the message that they were prepared to be as unscrupulous as the Europeans. The Iroquois in particular, used scalping to this purpose.

In the 11th century, the Earl of Wessex scalped his enemies. When the English and the Dutch came to the new world they brought the custom with them. This activity was brought not so much as an official method of warfare, but as a bounty to ease the anger of the frontiersmen.

The western border of the colonies was being populated with settlers that were comprised of a dubious lot. They were outlaws and runaways. With them they brought disease and alcohol. The frontier was a breeding ground for conflict with the Indian population. Initially the frontiersmen turned on the Indians in an attempt to move them off the land. When the Indians retaliated, the settlers turned to the government for help. The settlers demanded retribution for the Indian reprisals. The Dutch, and soon after the English, government created the scalp bounty as a means to pacify the settlers. Simply, they paid a fee for each scalp that was delivered to the locally appointed magistrate.

Although the army was accomplishing the task of displacing the Indians, the bounty encouraged settlers to mount attacks on the Indians whenever they could. In 1703, Massachusetts paid 12 pounds for an Indian scalp. By 1723 the price had soared to 100 pounds. To the frontiersmen, it did not matter if the scalp came from an Indian or a white man. All that mattered was the bonus. The practice eventually became widespread. The French used the bounty on scalps to eradicate a peaceful tribe in Newfoundland. During the French and Indian Wars, the English offered their troops a bounty of 200 pounds for the scalp of the chief of the Delaware tribe, Shinngass. This was 25 times the price that they offered their Indian allies for the scalp of a French soldier. This practice of paying a bounty for Indian scalps continued into the 19th century before the public put an end to the practice.

Sandusky

In 1782, by early March Shawnee war parties from Sandusky captured John Carpenter and murdered two other families. Carpenter subsequently escaped. It was assumed, due to the early timing, that the Indians were either Moravians or that the attacking warriors had wintered in the Moravian towns on the Muskingum River. Since the Moravians were at fault in some manner, it was decided that the safety of the frontier settlements necessitated the destruction of the Indian settlements in that area.

Col. Williamson gathered between eighty and ninety men and upon reaching the Moravian settlements found them gathering corn. After placing them all in two large huts, he had a vote to decide whether they should be taken as prisoners to Fort Pitt or put to death. All the Indians regardless of age or sex were then massacred. This action was so bad that a list of the men involved has never been recorded.

The Indian war had been going on for many years. Each spring and fall, and sometimes in the summer, Indians raided the settlements along the frontier.

On May 25, 1782, 480 men mustered at the old Mingo towns on the western side of the Ohio River. With their families away from harm on the Scioto River, the Shawnee Indians returned to the Sandusky plains to wait in ambush. The army started marching early in the morning and continued until about two o'clock. As the advance guard passed through the high grass that covered the plain, they encountered a large number of Indians and were driven back to the main force. The firing was heavy until dark, when it ceased. Both sides built large fires along the line of battle and then retired back to prevent a surprise night attack.

The following day the settler's army occupied the battlefield. Indians were seen in large groups moving in various directions around the plains, but an attack did not come until evening.

As morning came on the third day of battle, the officers held a council and resolved that retreat was the only means of saving their army. Burying the dead, burning fires over the graves to prevent discovery and arranging means to carry off the wounded made preparations for the retreat. They planned to leave after dark.

The Indians number seemed to increase as each hour passed. As sunset began, so did a full force Indian attack from all directions excepting that of Sandusky. The line of march was formed with the retreat going north toward Sandusky. After about one mile, the line took a left turn and circled back to the trail they had taken to reach the plains. Some of the men broke off in small groups to try to make it home on their own.

After about a half mile Col. Crawford, finding his son John, son-in-law Major Harrison, and his nephews Major Rose and William Crawford missing, left the head of the command dropping back to the rear in search. Loosing the main force he joined company with a small party and traveled north throughout the night. The next day while under attack Col. Crawford and Dr. Knight were taken captive to a nearby Indian encampment, then on to an old Wyandot town. Most of the captives were then tomahawked and scalped by squaws and boys.

Col. Crawford was taken to a large fire, stripped and ordered to set down. He was then severely beaten and afterwards tied to a large post that was in the center of the fire. The rope allowed Crawford to walk around the fire two or three times. The Indians then discharged a large number of loads of powder on his skin, placed burning ends of poles against his body and allowed the squaws to throw coals and hot ashes at him.

After suffering for about three hours, Crawford became faint and fell face down. An Indian scalped him, then an old squaw poured burning coals on the open scalp wound. He rose and walked around the post for a short time, then died. His body was tossed into the fire. The Shawnees' executed Col. Crawford's son and son-in-law.

The Battle of Little Big Horn - 1876

Outraged over the incessant attacks executed by whites, in late 1875, the Sioux and Cheyenne Indians insolently left their reservations in the Black Hills and congregated in Montana with the great warrior Sitting Bull. It was then that they first began to devise a strategy to protect their sacred lands. Two separate triumphs over the US Cavalry earlier that year helped to encourage the Indians to confidently enter into battle in the summer of 1876.

In an attempt to drive the massive Indian forces back to the reservations, the U.S. Army sent out three lines to attack in a synchronized manner, one of which included Lt. Colonel George Custer and the Seventh Cavalry.

Custer was determined to attack before the main Indian party could be alerted, so ignoring orders to wait, he went forward with the assault. Unfortunately, Custer had no idea of the sheer numbers he was up against, not to mention the level of hostility. Custer was worried that the clan would get away through the upper valley of the Little Bighorn River. Thus he naively split his forces in three, and dispatched troops under Captain Frederick Benteen to thwart any efforts of escape on the part of the Indians.

Custer and his troops were not sufficiently prepared to cross the kind of terrain laid between them and their destination of attack. He discovered too late that he would have to negotiate a formidable labyrinth of bluffs and ravines before he could carry out his plan.

Reno's squadron of 175 soldiers attacked from the North. The Indians crossed the river below Reno and swarmed up the bluff on all sides and the soldiers soon found themselves to be in way over their heads. Consequently, Reno’s assault, had it not been for the sheer horror of it, played out like a scene from an old black and white comedy movie. Reno and his men fought furiously and unsuccessfully for approximately ten minutes, and ultimately withdrew into the woods, utterly defeated.

As the Indians continued to close in, Custer ordered his men to shoot their horses and build a wall with their corpses, however this strategy did little to protect against the attack. In less than an hour, Custer and his men were slain in what has been called the worst American military disaster in history. After another day's fighting, Reno and Benteen's now united troops managed to flee when the Indians ended the fight in an effort to circumvent the subsequent attacks that were rumored to occur.

As the Indians continued to close in, Custer ordered his men to shoot their horses and build a wall with their corpses, however this strategy did little to protect against the attack. In less than an hour, Custer and his men were slain in what has been called the worst American military disaster in history. After another day's fighting, Reno and Benteen's now united troops managed to flee when the Indians ended the fight in an effort to circumvent the subsequent attacks that were rumored to occur.

In the wake of the battle, the Indians returned to the scene of the crime to ravage the remains of the uniformed soldiers. They did this believing that the soul of a mutilated body would be forced to walk the earth for all eternity and could not ascend to heaven. The Indians wanted to punish the soldiers for eternity for the atrocities they had committed upon them.

Inexplicably, the returning warriors stripped Custer's body and cleaned it, but did not scalp or mutilate it. He had been dressed in buckskins instead of the standard blue uniform, and some believe that the Indians thought he was not a soldier, and that their reluctance to dishonor an innocent party caused them to leave him alone.

Wounded Knee

On December 29th, 1890, a band of Lakota people led by   Spotted Elk ( Chief Bigfoot) was encircled by the Seventh   Calvary, at the place called Cankpe Opi Wakpala, the creek called Wounded Knee.

In the early morning hours the men were assembled in a semi-circle formation in front of the tipis and disarmed. The soldiers went among the women and children and took knives, sewing awls, and tent pegs. Some of the soldiers   lifted the dresses of the women and said bad things. A holy man fearing for the lives of his people stood up and beseeched the creator and asked for protection for the lives of the people. A shot rang out and the soldiers fired en masse into the sitting Lakota men, killing most of them instantly. The horror was only beginning. The women and children ran as the soldiers chased them down and killed them one by one. The slaughter was to continue for over three hours. Some of the dead were found over three miles from the campsite.

A Thousand Lies - The Native American

The dispute over Texas joining the Union resulted in US conquest of California and the balance of the Southwest. In August, 1843, not long after the Mexican victory at Mier, plans were made in Mexico City for an invasion of Texas. The invasion was canceled, however, when Santa Anna was pressured by foreign governments into exploring the possibilities of peace with the new republic. A peace treaty was proposed in early 1844 whereby the two countries agreed to retain the territory they presently occupied.

One problem complicating relations between the republics of Texas and Mexico was the desire in Texas for annexation to the United States. This desire was not shared by many Americans, including the New England intellectual Ralph Waldo Emerson, who bitterly opposed any move toward annexation

By 1844, the annexation of the Lone Star Republic had become a major political issue in the presidential campaign. The Democrat, James K. Polk of Tennessee, running on an expansionist platform calling for annexation, was swept into power. The lame-duck president, John Tyler, seeing the election as a clear mandate for annexation, maneuvered through Congress a joint resolution calling for Texas to become part of the Union.

In February, 1846, Anson Jones, the last president of the Republic of Texas, lowered the Lone Star flag in Austin and raised the Stars and Stripes. Mexico, which had previously agreed to recognize Texas if the infant republic remained independent, then broke diplomatic relations with the United States. Both the United States and Mexico rushed headlong into the bloody caldron of war.

On March 8, 1846, the United States Army marched south from Corpus Christi to the Rio Grande. Water was scarce, and the march was regulated by the distance between water holes. At that time, not a single village existed between the Nueces and the Rio Grande.

Gen. Zachary Taylor ordered one of his officers to cross the Rio Grande to Matamoros to inform the Mexican commander of the reasons for the American presence on the river. In response, the Mexican commander, referring to the army as intruders, demanded that the American flag be removed from the soil of Mexico. Mexican soldiers and civilians, clearly visible across the river, were seen preparing earthen works and pulling cannon into position. Taylor ordered his men to prepare for battle. War clouds were gathering. Almost every morning, new Mexican breastworks were visible across the river on the outskirts of Matamoros. Taylor, too, decided to fortify. Fort Texas, an earthen compound, was built across from the Mexican city.

On ApriI 24, 1846, two companies of dragoons under Captain Seth B. Thornton were surprised at La Rosita, upriver from Fort Texas. The Americans were surrounded and defeated by 500 cavalry commanded by General Anastasio Torrejón. Sixty-three men were either killed, wounded, or captured. Taylor wrote Polk that "hostilities may now be considered as commenced."

On the Rio Grande, rumors, later found to be false, reached Taylor that the American supply base at Point Isabel was under attack. Without hesitation, Taylor ordered his staff to make preparations for a march to relieve the vital port. Leaving Major Jacob Brown in command of Fort Texas with 500 men of the 7th Infantry, Taylor turned east for the coast with 2,300 men. Marching eighteen hours the first day, Taylor was able to complete the twenty-six-mile march to the coast by noon the following day. To their surprise, no Mexican force was in sight, and the men went into camp that evening without incident.

Early the next morning, as the sun began to break over the gulf, a distant rumbling could be heard far to the southwest, in the direction of Fort Texas. The thunder from the river could mean only one thing Fort Texas was under attack from Casamata, the military outpost in Matamoros.

As Major Brown continued to hold the fort, Taylor, with a baggage train of 250 wagons, began a counter march for the river. General Arista, who had crossed the river with a force of over 6,000 three times that of Taylor's army moved to meet the Americans. One day after leaving the coast, Taylor encountered the Mexican Army near a water hole on the prairie called Palo Alto.

Only sunset brought an end to the bloodletting. As darkness crept across the battlefield, the Mexican Army, among the groans of the wounded and the silence of the dead, withdrew into the chaparral. Arista's casualties in the battle included 320 killed and 400 wounded, while Taylor had lost nine men killed and forty-seven wounded. Although victorious, the General realized his army was too fatigued to pursue Arista.

The Battle of Resaca de la Palma proved to be even more decisive than Palo Alto. The loss of life was also more frightening. Arista's losses were said to be several hundred, while Taylor counted thirty-three killed and eighty-nine wounded. "The enemy's loss was very great," Taylor wrote. "Nearly two hundred of his dead were buried by us on the day succeeding the battle. Our victory has been decisive. A small force has overcome immense odds against the best troops that Mexico can furnish. Eight pieces of artillery, several colors and standards, a great number of prisoners, including fourteen officers and a large amount of baggage and public property have fallen into our hands.

On May 18, 1846, Taylor entered Matamoros without opposition. The American occupation of Texas had now become an invasion of Mexico. A war was underway that would redraw the political map of North America.

In late 1846 and early 1847, Taylor engaged the Mexican Army in bloody battles at Monterrey and Buena Vista. The Mexicans did not easily yield Monterrey. They lost a decisive battle to the Americans at Buena Vista, south of Saltillo. On the southern front, General Winfield Scott disembarked at Veracruz and captured Mexico City in October, 1847.

In late February, 1848, the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo was signed, ending the war between the two nations.

See: http://www.rice.edu/armadillo/Past/Book/Part2/1846-48.html for more and drawings

An Opportunity for Expansion Cuba, only ninety miles off the coast of the United States, presented American espansionists with an opportune chance to end their country's isolation and assert its power in world affairs. Spanish control over the island had weakened considerably since the late 1860s, when Cuban rebels first began to agitate for their independence. In the 1870s a prolonged uprising took place against the Spanish; and in 1895, a revolution began. In 1868, the Ten Years’ War began as a nationalist uprising against Spanish imperialism. Gradually, Spanish forces on the island were built up and a blockade imposed.

Soon after the explosion of the Maine, President McKinley asked for a cessation of hostilities between Spain and Cuba. Congress adopted a resolution declaring Cuba free, giving the President the right to use whatever means necessary to compel Spain to withdraw their military forces from Cuba. On April 20 the United States sent an ultimatum to Spain, who responded with a declaration of war on April 24.

Remembering the Maine - U.S.S. Maine (BB-2)

President McKinley dispatched the vessel from Key West on January 25th. The U.S.S. Maine was a battleship, 319 feet long and displacing 6,682 tons; the the largest ship ever to enter the harbor at Havana. The nine-year-old vessel was among the most impressive of the U.S. Naval fleet.

Most of Captain Charles D. Sigsbee's 24 Naval officers were graduates of the Academy at Annapolis. At least 20% of the 290 sailors they commanded were foreign born men who sought now to serve their adopted country.

A 40-man Marine guard brought the ship's total strength to 355 American servicemen. The men were commanded by First Lieutenant Albertus W. Catlin who had graduated from the US Naval Academy with the class of 1890. Nearly a fourth of the Marines were foreign-born, American immigrants.

Upon arrival in Havana on Tuesday, January 25th, the U.S.S. Maine anchored at Bouy #4, a space reserved for war ships. Despite this, the potential for the unrest in Cuba to turn violent, and the Maine's impressive array of military power, the mission was a peaceful one. Captain Sigsbee informed his crew that there would be no shore liberty while in Cuba, but for the most part the men were content to spend a brief time riding peacefully at anchor under the tropical sun of the Caribbean.

The Spanish welcomed, though somewhat nervously, the arrival of the Maine, and sent a case of sherry to the   officer's mess along with an invitation to a bull fight at the "plaza de toros". Captain Sigsbee and a few of his officers dutifully accepted the invite, attending in civilian attire. On his visit ashore the commander of the Maine was at one point handed an anti-American propaganda pamphlet by someone in the crowd. Scrawled across it was the message, "Watch out for your ship."

Beyond the scrawled message at plaza de toros however, there was little more to indicate that the crew of the Maine was facing any undue danger. None-the-less, as a matter of prudence, Sigsbee ordered Lieutenant Catlin to keep his Marines at a careful state of alert.

By Tuesday, February 15th , 1998 the Maine had been at anchor for three weeks without incident. Though Lieutenant Catlin dutifully kept his Marines at a high state of alert, the crew of the Maine's biggest problem became boredom.

That evening, Captain Sigsbee began was writing a letter to his family when "Taps" signaled the end of the day. It was a dark, moonless night as the Maine sat idly on the smooth waters of the Caribbean harbor, anchored at peace between the the Spanish cruiser Alfonso XII and the American passenger ship City of Washington.

A moment later the explosion came. It was a bursting, rending, and crashing roar of immense volume, largely metallic in character. It was followed by heavy, ominous metallic sounds. There was a trembling and lurching motion of the vessel, a list to port. great masses of twisted and bent iron plates and beams were thrown up in confusion amidships. The bow had disappeared; the foremast and smoke stacks had fallen; and to add to the horror and danger, the mass of wreckage amidships was on fire. The electric lights went out. Then there was intense blackness and smoke.

The Maine was blown up and sinking. The darkness of the harbor was now awash with flame, the passageways inside the ship plunged into total darkness, save for flames here and there amid a heavy pall of smoke. The battleship was rapidly sinking. The entire forward section of the Maine had broken almost entirely in half. Nearly three-quarters of the battleship’s crew died as a result of the explosion. All told, 264 sailors and 2 officers were killed aboard the Maine. Following the explosion, a United States Navy Board of Inquiry determined the tragedy was caused by an external mine, which detonated of one of the ship’s powder magazines.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As the news of the Maine’s explosion spread, many Americans felt compelled to take action. A generation of young men was coming of age whose fathers and grandfathers had fought in the Civil War, and these men sought to prove their courage, to attain glory, and to honorably serve their country in their own war. The Spanish-American War provided this opportunity at a time when war was seen as nothing less than glorious. However, as war grew imminent, the United States Army was plagued with a number of shortages resulting from post-Civil War military downsizing. The organization, leadership, training, and equipment stockpiles of the Army were all geared towards sustaining a limited force of troops. To take advantage of the incredible number of young men wanting to serve in the impending war, a compromise was reached by supplementing voids in the Regular Army’s ranks with a volunteer force. On April 22, 1898, the President made his first call for 125,000 volunteer troops, which was restricted to the National Guard of each state. In accordance with the President’s request, Governor Tanner summoned Illinois’ men to come to arms.  6,608  men volunteered.

For over a generation Americans had watched in horror as the Spanish imperialists had brutally suppressed Cuban independence efforts, killing thousands of Cuban civilians. Long fuming with indignation, American now demanded a war to liberate Cuba and avenge the Maine.

The master publicist John Burke traveled to Cuba in 1897 and, despite the watchful eye of Spanish agents, had managed to recruit 14 Cuban rebels for Cody's Wild West show. The men had all been wounded in battle, one having lost a leg and another an arm. They were commanded by Lt. Col. Ernesto Delgado who had himself twice been wounded. "Colonel Cody has performed a distinct national service in bringing these Cuban heroes to the United States," noted the World. "They give us an opportunity to see the kind of men who make up the insurgent army." The people of New York were clearly impressed with what they saw.

On April 19, 1898, a joint resolution calling for armed intervention passed Congress, and on April 23 Spain declared war on the United States. On April 25 the U.S. declared war, and on that same day Burke declared that Gen. Nelson A. Miles, commanding general of the U.S. Army, had asked Cody to join him as a scout. "Buffalo Bill will come back again," Burke declared, "but he will leave a record behind him that neither Cuba nor America will be apt to forget, while Spain will remember him with a groan." The next day the New York Herald featured Cody alongside other notable men - Theodore Roosevelt, Joseph Wheeler, Fitzhugh Lee, Charles King - who would hold commands in the expanded volunteer army. Roosevelt, the assistant secretary of the Navy, was to become a lieutenant colonel in a unique regiment of western "cowboy cavalry." Cody would "serve on the staff of Major General Miles as chief of scouts" with the rank of colonel.

See: Buffalo Bill Cody

The U.S. braced for war in the Caribbean. Despite the gradual buildup of hostilities, the U.S. armed forces were ill-equipped and untrained for war, especially one involving highly coordinated land-sea operations. It was enormously fortuitous for the U.S. that the Spanish forces were even less prepared. The Spanish fleet, after successfully crossing the Atlantic, managed to trap itself in Santiago Bay, and was destroyed by the U.S. navy a few days before U.S. ground troops captured Santiago and they tried to flee the blockaded harbor. On July 17 the Spanish army surrendered. For the following two weeks 3,000 U.S. troops moved on to Puerto Rico, encountering little resistance.  

Back in the Philippines, 11,000 ground troops were sent in, and an uneasy alliance between insurgent Filipino and U.S. forces led to Spanish surrender August 14. Although the Filipinos initially appreciated the U.S. role in helping evict their Spanish rulers, tensions mounted as it became clear that our interest there had less to do with protecting democracy than it did with territorial expansion. Even before the peace treaty was signed, U.S. troops fired on a group of Filipinos and started the Philippine-American War, a vicious and ugly chapter in U.S. history that lasted until 1914. Openly racist views of the Filipinos underscored public debate and policy. The actual death toll will never be known, but estimates of the number of civilians that perished from famine, disease, and other war-related causes range from 200,000 to 600,000. In March 1906 an estimated 600 Muslim Filipinos - men, women, and children - were massacred over a four-day period under troops commanded by General Leonard Wood, who later became the Philippine governor general.

In rooms where priests had prayed, bayonets clashed with Bowie Knives and swords. Musket and cannon fire tore into the Texan defenders.   By dawn, all the Texan combatants lay dead. Their sacrifice, on March 6, 1836, would immortalize them as legends, and turn the Alamo grounds into Sacred Ground. It was a 13-day siege that ended in a bloody battle on March 6, 1836, which left nearly 2,000 men dead or wounded.

Many months after the battle, the charred remains of the Alamo defenders were laid to rest not far from the Alamo itself. Presiding at the ceremony was Brother Juan Sequin. The words he spoke at the interment speak to us even today:

"The spirit of liberty appears to be looking down from it's elevated throne saying: Behold your Brothers: Crockett, Bowie, Travis. They preferred to die a thousand times rather than submit themselves to the tyrants yoke. Their sacrifices are worthy of inclusion in the pages of history. What a brilliant example for others to follow."

Ghostly manifestations and paranormal sightings have continued to occur within the battlefield area and on the Alamo grounds over the past 160 years. The destruction of the Long Barracks was once prevented when Mexican soldiers were confronted by ghostly forms holding swords of fire! Alamo employees repeatedly hear a woman sobbing in the basement. Alamo rangers watch in horror as a defender is repeatedly shot and stabbed by Mexican soldiers---then vanishes. A child is seen peering down from the gift shop window at unsuspecting visitors. Faces mysteriously appear above the Chapel window-

FROM: http://www.aftermathww1.com/index.asp

A war can never be said to be completely over until there is nobody left who took part in it. That time must be coming soon: the Great War took place in the last century, and almost all of those who experienced its horrors first hand in are now dead.

One in five of those who fought died during the war itself. The rest have gradually followed their comrades, until now there can't be more than a tiny number of very old men who experienced the horrors of the trenches.

One of the most common forms of wording on those war memorials which are found in almost every British churchyard, village green, or town square is 'Lest We Forget'. Back in the 1920s those who had survived the war, and those whose sons, and husbands and brothers and fathers had not come home, vowed that the sacrifice of so many would be recorded in stone.

There is a terrible poignancy in some of those weathering monuments; especially in small villages which must have been devastated by the loss of the handful of young, and not so young men whose names are inscribed there.

We know now, with the hindsight of almost eighty years, that the Great War was never likely to be forgotten. The ordered rows of headstones in the hundreds of war cemeteries in France and Belgium and elsewhere are a constant reminder of the terrible carnage between 1914 and 1918. And three generations later the pilgrimages go on.

For the soldiers who came back from the trenches, there was the thanks of a grateful country, a suit of civilian clothes, a pair of medals, and a small cash payment. A private was given the equivalent of a few weeks wages, an officer got rather more, and Sir Douglas Haig was given an earldom and £100,000, and eventually was the subject of the last equestrian statue in London.

Many of those returning did of course get a little extra cash in the form of a disability pension. Unfortunately that also carried with it the inconvenience of being disabled. For most the money did not last long, and for most too it seemed that the gratitude of the country ran out fairly quickly.

The men who hadn't shared the sacrifices of the trenches were, by and large, a lot better off than those who had. They were settled in jobs, and had suffered no particular upheavals in their lives and habits. And it was a well-known fact that those who had done best of all out of the tragedy of the last five years had been those who had proved their patriotism by making massive profits out of war industries.

The aftermath years were a time of paradox, where the men who returned from the horrors of the trenches wanted to forget, and where those who had stayed behind, and had lost husbands and brothers, and sons and fathers were equally determined never to forget. It was a world where questioning whether the war had been right was attacked as a slur on the memory of the dead.

It was a time where remembrance of the dead became a way of life, and where it was somehow assumed that all the best, and the finest young men of a generation had died. The other side of that assumption was that those who had survived were somehow less than those who had died.

It was also, and tragically, a time when a world which had so emphatically declared that the horror of the last five years had clearly been "a war to end all wars", was now heading inexorably towards another even more widespread conflict.

A GERMAN WAR DESERTER'S EXPERIENCE

A NURSE EXPERIENCES THE HORRORS OF THE WAR FIRSTHAND

FROM: http://www.utahhistorytogo.org/hmbrave.html

Brave Nurse Recounted War Horrors

Will Bagley

Date: 05/27/2001

Fresh from the Western front, Ella Wicklund arrived in Salt Lake City in May 1916. She was returning from a year's service with the British Expeditionary Force in Etaples, France, where she had treated the wounded only thirty-five miles from the trenches. World War I changed the lives of everyone. Even before the United States declared war in 1917, the Great War touched this brave young nurse from Marysvale, Utah.

While doing post-graduate work in Chicago, she had joined an American volunteer hospital unit bound for France. She sailed for London in June 1915, and by the Fourth of July she was at the front. From then until the next March 13, Wicklund worked day and night at a British hospital with seventy-five American nurses and thirty-two American doctors to save the lives of young men from England, Canada, Australia, Scotland and Ireland.

Every bed was nearly always filled. "When we first reached the hospital a large number of our cases were of soldiers suffering from gas poisoning," Wicklund told The Salt Lake Tribune. "These patients suffered more terribly than any of the others whom we cared for. At first a great many of them died after suffering in terrible agony."

The nurse recalled the interminable stream of wounded. About half the patients were surgical cases with bullet and shrapnel wounds. Medical cases included such diseases as trench foot and gas poisoning. On a bad night, 400 wounded soldiers who had fallen in Flanders fields arrived at the hospital. "Some of them were literally torn to pieces by shrapnel."

As Wicklund treated its casualties, modern warfare was being invented in the trenches and skies of France. The war introduced the widespread use of poison gas, tanks, airplanes, submarines and bombs. To deal with the resulting carnage, modern medicine was being invented on the battlefield.

The wounded were first treated in an emergency field hospital before they went to a clearing station that did basic triage. Since only two percent of the patients at the American hospital died, it appears the English sent the most serious cases to their own surgeons. "I was particularly struck with the bravery and assurance of the British soldiers," the young nurse said. "They bore their suffering without a murmur, and those who died, died bravely."

The lives of thousands of these soldiers were wasted by generals who ordered wave after wave of courageous young men and boys to their deaths in No Man's Land. Somehow, these incompetent officers never realized that Napoleon's tactics were useless in the face of massed machine guns. The nurses were kept so busy that they were oblivious to the danger surrounding them. "One cannot exaggerate the horrors of this terrible war," Wicklund said. "Indeed, one cannot find words to give even remotely a conception of it to one who has not been near the trenches."

Veterans tell of war horrors

Some war survivors preferred to stay at home on Armistice day

Some of the UK's oldest war veterans say they have spent years trying to forget the horrors of the battlefields.

Below are a just few of their comments, but more of their incredible memories are contained in the video interviews recorded by BBC News 24.

One veteran went to France as a teenager in a spirit of adventure but life in the trenches soon changed that.   He said: "I've seen men crouch in terror shouting 'mother'. We were only kids and we were terrified.   "If no-one was shot for desertion, there would have been many more desertions."

Another who was wounded five times dreaded going back to the front.   "It is not how the pictures look - with beautiful trenches and duck boards to walk on," he said. "We were in mud and we were constantly in the rain."

A soldier, who lied about his age and was just 15 when he joined up, remembers the fear of being fired on   by German missiles.   "When we started off on the job, I prayed to God and said if I was hit, I hoped the first bullet would finish me off," he said.

'D' DAY - NORMANDY - OMAHA BEACH

JUNE-6: At 05:30, on the morning of June 6, the largest invasion force in history, 4,000 ships carrying 100,000 men, prepared to land on the beaches of Normandy, France. The CBC's Matthew Halton reports that the invasion of Europe is underway: "The weather didn't look too good, but then the word came to go, and the greatest armadas ever seen steamed out toward France.

It was the moment for the assault troops to go ashore, following the sappers who were clearing gaps through the mines." Thousands of American, British, and Canadian soldiers hit the beaches and began the deadliest run of their lives. According to the war correspondent's version, Canadian soldiers sneered at the German resistance.

The plan was that DD tanks would come ashore before the infantry and after the ship artillery barrage to give the infantry covering fire. On most beaches, the rough sea made that impossible, and several DD tanks sank like stones, while others were brought directly to shore in landing craft, instead of arriving before the infantry and providing covering fire.

The pre-invasion bombing and naval bombardment had only had limited effect on the German fortifications. Some Canadian assault units ran into heavy German defensive fire immediately, but some were luckier. The 7th Brigade, on Mike beach, C Company of the Canadian Scottish, found that its objective had already been destroyed by the navy's heavy guns. They then moved inland with few casualties.

Just to their left, the Royal Winnipeg Rifles, two assault companies, came under heavy fire before they landed. B company attacked four German string points with any covering fire and suffered heavy casualties. Only 25 men and one officer managed to get off the beach unharmed. The Regina Rifles on the leftmost sector off the beach had been assigned to clear a strong point in the village of Couselles-sur-Mer. They had a hard time of it. The bombardment had not cracked the huge casement....[the] fortress had reinforced concrete walls four feet thick and housed an 88-millimeter gun as well as machine-guns. In addition there were concrete trenches outside the fort liberally sprinkled with small arms posts. ....but eventually they executed a left flanking attack and with the support of tanks succeeded in breaking through the defenses

The Queen's Own A Company, on 8th Brigade's Nan beach, took heavy casualties from German mortars and machine gun fire when they landed in front of a new German position that was not on the map....the approach to this gun was strewn with the bodies of Ontario's Queen's own rifles. Half the regiment lay wounded or dead.

At Omaha, one in nineteen men landed on D-Day became casualties (nearly 40,000 went ashore; there were 2,200 casualties. At Juno, one in eighteen were killed or wounded (21,400 landed; 1,200 casualties). The figures are misleading ... most men landed in the late morning or afternoon at both beaches, but a majority of the casualties were taken in the first hour. In the assault teams at both beaches the chances of being killed or wounded were close to one in two.

See: D Day Landing

THE HORRORS OF WAR - WWII

FROM: http://www.objector.org/advice/conscientious_objector-75.html

The Horrors of War

Like most modern wars, World War II was a total war, as described in Chapter 7. It aimed not only at the enemy's armies, but at the people of the enemy's country. So it's not surprising that millions of civilians were killed.

Hitler's armies and his later policies were certainly more cruel than those of the Allies. Hitler ordered the Holocaust. Toward the end of the war, he gave orders for all of Germany to be leveled rather than surrender. And he destroyed himself by his own suicide, and millions of soldiers and civilians by suicidal strategies like his attack on the Soviet Union. At the same time, German soldiers, following policies laid down by Hitler and Himmler, became known for their abusive treatment of prisoners and civilians.

Yet many of the policies of the Allies caused terrible damage--more, according to many historians, than was needed to win the war. The so-called "area bombing" campaign--which today would be called "saturation bombing" or "carpet bombing"--is an example. In 1940, the British set out to destroy German military targets--oil refineries, munitions plants, etc.--by bombing raids. They soon found that, if they flew by day, their bombers would be shot down. And if they flew by night, their bombers didn't have the equipment to bomb accurately. Rather than give up the bombing raids, Bomber Command changed its targets to German cities. This was supposed to break German morale and win the war.

In fact, "area bombing" probably did no such thing, any more than German bombing of British cities broke English morale.

Did the bombers win the war?...The answer...is no. The German armies were fatally defeated by the Russians in July 1943 and at that point the bomber onslaught had barely begun and had caused no decisive damage.

What the bombing did do was kill hundreds of thousands of civilians and destroy hundreds of German cities--many, like Dresden, of cultural but not military importance. The bombing campaign was controversial even during the war. Its critics ranged from pacifists to military thinkers like Liddell Hart. This doesn't, of course, prove that the Nazis were really "good" and the Allies really "bad"--or even that, morally, there was nothing to choose between them. But it shows that, in modern war, nobody's hands are clean. Often both sides choose tactics which are morally questionable and may even--as carpet bombing of cities does--violate international law. That is the nature of modern war.

Both Communist and UN forces fought the Korean War largely with surplus World War II weapons, presumably to help keep it from escalating into WW III. Although newer series of infantry weapons, radios, and vehicles had either been developed or were in production on both sides, they were all largely withheld, along with nuclear weapons. From the infantry point of view, the KW was an anachronism.

No milestone military developments arose from the war. The US took innovative measures in logistical techniques, cold weather clothing, and battlefield medical assistance MASH (Mobile Army Surgical Hospital) units, but the only significantly new developments were the use of helicopters for reconnaissance, transport, and evacuation on a large scale, and the employment of jet aircraft in combat. The most modern jet, the F-86 Sabre, was deployed only when Communist forces first introduced their MiG-15.

A sometimes unappreciated fact is that, at the start of the KW, the US actually had no new conventional weapons, due to a complete cessation of procurement for ground warfare following WWII. The Communist bloc, fighting through its secondary powers, followed the same course in employing old or obsolescent weaponry, however many Communist arms were of more recent manufacture, or in better condition, than those  in American and ROK hands in 1950. At the start of the KW, the ROKs found themselves facing 170 of perhaps the best tanks developed in WWII, with only satchel charges (20 pounds of TNT, virtually useless against modern armor), the 2.36in. rocket launcher, no medium artillery, and ... no tanks themselves at all.

See: Weapons of the Korean War

The Bridge at No Gun Ri

The Korean War was barely a month old in July 1950 when U.S. soldiers encountered hundreds of South Korean civilians traveling by foot near No Gun Ri, a hamlet 100 miles southeast of Seoul. Advised by their commanders to be on the lookout for North Korean soldiers infiltrating the fleeing South Korean peasants, the U.S. Air Force strafed the civilians in a surprise air attack, driving those who weren't killed to cover under a nearby railroad bridge.

There, the refugees--many of them women, children, and elderly men--only encountered more horror, as U.S. soldiers from the First Cavalry Division directed machine-gun fire into the tunnel for three long days and nights. By some accounts, 300 civilians died under the bridge at No Gun Ri, and 100 perished in the initial air attack.

The massacre at No Gun Ri has been called one of only two cases of large-scale killing of noncombatants by U.S. ground troops in the 20th century; the other was Vietnam's My Lai, in which more than 500 Vietnamese civilians were killed.

Details of the My Lai massacre emerged by 1969, within a year of that incident. But the dark secrets of No Gun Ri came to light only last September--nearly 50 years after the killings. In an Associated Press article coauthored by UCSC alumna Martha Mendoza, a dozen U.S. Army veterans corroborated the story of the refugees who survived No Gun Ri.

More on No Gun Ri

Brainwashing

In the days following the Korean War, a new insidious and dramatic weapon was unveiled to the horror of the American public: brainwashing.   "The men who went into battle in Korea against tanks and minds of the communist forces had not been given a hint regarding Red brain warfare," wrote journalist Edward Hunter, who is believed to have coined the term "brainwashing" after a Chinese informant called the process "hsi nao," or "cleansing the mind."

At the end of the Korean War, when 21 captured American soldiers opted to stay with the enemy and hundreds more prisoners of war came home accusing each other of collaborating with their captors, public officials turned to brainwashing as the explanation.

"They are variants of well-known social psychological principles of compliance, conformity, persuasion, dissonance, reactance, framing, emotional manipulation and others that are used on all of us daily to entice us: to buy, to try, to donate, to vote, to join, to change, to believe, to love, to hate the enemy,

Cult expert Steven Hassan, who was himself a cult member, is convinced that the Korean War POWs and Lindh were victims.   "I believe that with proper counseling, Lindh would be horrified at what brainwashing has made him do," he said.   Congressional hearings following the Korean War prompted President Eisenhower to adopt a new Code of Conduct for American soldiers in 1955.

It says: "If I am captured, I will continue to resist by all means available. I will make every effort to escape and aid others to escape. I will accept neither parole nor special favors from the enemy . . . I will never forget that I am an American, responsible for my actions, and dedicated to the principles which made my country free."

Former Ohio Sen. John Glenn was a Marine aviator flying with the Air Force during the Korean War. Glenn told the crowd that "coming in the time shadow of World War IIís huge global scope, Korea was small, but it was deadly." More than 37,000 Americans died in Korea between 1950 and 1953.

When the North Korean army poured over the 38th parallel, the communist leadership did not think the United States would go to war for South Korea. "After all, Americans didn't want another war; the blood still hadn't dried from World War II," Clinton said

Secretary Cohen reminded the veterans that Americans still stand guard in South Korea. "Some 37,000 Americans -- almost the same number who died in the war -- are still standing for freedom in Korea," he said. "Soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines serve alongside the South Korean counterparts astride what has been called the worldís most dangerous border."

Half a century ago, the United States entered the Korean War with a military made up of many parts, a mix of war- scarred sergeants toughened by the hard lessons of Guadalcanal, Okinawa and Normandy, and a new generation of soldiers who had only seen war on the silver screen," he said. "It was a segregated force of white, black and Hispanic, and a  newly created Air Force. After three long, bloody years, we ended the battle with a military that was one of the most coherent fighting forces the world has ever known -- integrated, experienced, ready to face the Cold War."

See:Commemorating the Korean War

See Disabled American Veterans

IT ISN'T OVER YET?

Witness reveals horror of North Korean gulag

Simon Tisdall
Friday July 19, 2002
The Guardian

Tens of thousands of political prisoners face starvation, torture and summary execution in prison camps in North Korea, according to the testimony of a prisoner to a US Senate inquiry.  

In a detailed, frequently harrowing first-hand description of conditions inside Kaechon camp and other detention centres run by North Korea's communist regime, Soon Ok Lee has told the inquiry of apparent biological and chemical weapons experiments on prisoners.

She said she had witnessed numerous other atrocities, including the murder of newborn babies by guards and doctors.   "While I was there, three women delivered babies on the cement floor without blankets," Ms Soon told a Senate judiciary sub-committee chaired by the Democrat Edward Kennedy. "It was horrible to watch the prison doctor kicking the pregnant women with his boots. When a baby was born, the doctor shouted, 'Kill it quickly. How can a criminal expect to have a baby? Kill it.'

"The women covered their faces with their hands and wept. Even though the deliveries were forced by injection, the babies were still alive when born. The prisoner-nurses, with trembling hands, squeezed the babies' necks to kill them," Ms Soon said.

Ms Soon, who was first arrested in 1984, said she was tortured in pre-trial interrogation before being sentenced to a 13-year jail term for crimes against the state.

She said she had managed to survive in the camp only because, with a background as an accountant, she had been given work keeping the camp's records. She was released in an amnesty in 1992 and escaped to South Korea in 1995.

Despite the time that has elapsed since the events she describes took place, international human rights organisations and independent Korean groups say executions, torture and other serious abuses continue in the camps.

One group, the non-governmental Citizens' Alliance for North Korean Human Rights, has published testimony from other camp survivors. In one such account, Yong Kim described the horrors of "No 14 political prison", where he was held until he escaped in 1998 and made his way to South Korea the following year.

The total number of prisoners held in the North Korean gulag is not known but one current estimate puts it at about 200,000, held in 12 or more centres. A source on the Democrat-controlled judiciary committee said the location of many camps had been identified and there were plans to publish satellite photographs of them.

Amnesty International's latest annual report says that North  Korea continues to refuse access to independent observers, that executions for political offences are continuing, and that freedom of religion is severely restricted.

"Several thousand Christians were being held in labour camps where they reportedly faced torture, starvation and death," Amnesty said.

The UN human rights committee and the EU expressed serious concerns about human rights to Pyongyang last year.

Senator Sam Brownback, who sits on the judiciary sub-committee, said: "North Korea is today's 'killing field' where millions of people considered politically hostile or agitators - or just being innocent children - starve to death while those in power enjoy luxurious lifestyles."

Ms Soon told Congress that prison inmates were frequently tortured with electricity and water and were used as targets when guards practised martial arts skills.

There were also frequent public executions at Kaechon of "anti-party elements" and "reactionaries". It was not unusual for prisoners to be driven to suicide.

She said secret executions were also carried out using a small compression chamber. Prisoners were forced inside and then the temperature was adjusted to produce lethal extremes of heat  or cold. Such executions happened "at midnight, without trial, and [they] bury the corpses in a nearby valley".

Ms Soon said that the estimated 6,000 prisoners in the jail when she was first incarcerated had nearly all died by the time of her release five years later.

"About 1,000 prisoners died each year and a fresh supply was obtained each year in order to meet the quotas."

North Korea is a closed society and there are no direct means of verifying Ms Soon's testimony. But a judiciary committee source in Washington said her account gave an accurate picture.

"It's all true. I don't think she was exaggerating at all," the source said. "What she said is confirmed by several other independent groups."

There is considerable concern in South Korea after a naval skirmish on June 29 that left more than a dozen people dead. South Korea's official policy is one of reunification with the North, and it regards all North Koreans as Korean citizens.

A spokesman for Human Rights Watch said the continuance of serious human rights abuses in North Korea was "not in doubt" and was a contributory factor, along with persistent famine conditions, to the growing North Korean refugee problem now affecting north-east China.

Dozens of asylum-seekers have tried to force their way into foreign embassies in China while unknown numbers have been forcibly repatriated to North Korea, where they face imprisonment or death.

Last year Amnesty International drew attention to the "humanitarian crisis" on the North Korean-Chinese border and called for the UN refugee agency to be allowed access to the area. But so far China has not complied. Current estimates put the number of displaced North Koreans in China at between 100,000 and 300,000. Meanwhile, the number of defections to South Korea is soaring, with last year's total twice that for 2000.

The findings of the Senate hearings, held on June 21, may have a significant influence on Washington's current attempt to decide whether to revive the policy of engagement with the regime which was pursued by Bill Clinton, or to further isolate a country President George Bush has called a "rogue state" and part of the "axis of evil". Staff on the Senate committee said the hearings had "helped put the spotlight" on North Korea's human rights problems.

"They have forced the administration to look more closely at the question of the refugees," one source said.

The growing crisis over North Korea is also likely to have an impact on US and European relations with China, North Korea's main ally. In a speech in Beijing this week, the British foreign secretary, Jack Straw, drew attention to concerns about North Korea's ballistic missile programme, but he made no specific mention of North Korea's abuse of its own people.

In 1967, the final day of what became at that point the bloodiest single battle of the war, the battle for two hills numbered 881 and 861, about 550 Marines were killed or wounded in the week that it took them to capture both hills.

U.S. soldiers burned an entire village because many GIs had been killed by heavy fire from that village.

A reporter says, During the fall of Saigon, "I ran down the street to gauge the reaction of these South Vietnamese soldiers and police officers coming into the center of the city to stack their weapons and surrender," he said. "I walked up to a police colonel to get his reaction. He looked crazed. As I approached him, I had my notebook in hand and he was fingering his holstered pistol. I thought 'This guy's gonna kill me.' "I started to ease away from him. Instead, he pulled out his weapon, put it to his own head and fell mortally wounded at my feet." I saw little children being slaughtered," he said. "I saw a lot of American veterans whose lives were messed up in Vietnam through no fault of their own. We never really told the veterans, 'Thank you for a job well done.' They were there under the worst of circumstances and still served their country well."

See: http://www.newseum.org/warstories/exhibitinfo/newsstory.asp?DocumentID=14418

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder emerged in the aftermath of the Vietnam War when veterans were having difficulties overcoming the brutal events they had participated in and, unlike previous wars, returned home not to the glory of marching bands and public cheers, but to criticism and official cover-up of the Vietnam horrors.

In all wars, soldiers have suffered emotional and spiritual trauma, quite aside from physical injuries. Uncontrollable fear often rendered soldiers unfit to fight. This has been known variously as nostalgia (Civil War), shell shock (WWI), battle fatigue (WWII), brainwashing (Korean War), post-traumatic stress disorder (Vietnam War) and Gulf-War syndrome (Gulf War).

Most of the soldiers suffered the effects of participating in "atrocities, seeing grotesquely mutilated bodies, or going on particularly dangerous missions." Those who suffered the mental effects of this were experiencing battle fatigue, or in other words, exhaustion. But as Kutchins and Kirk state, "…military psychiatrists, far from identifying battle fatigue as early warning, were involved in the exact opposite strategy; namely, minimizing the seriousness of the complaints and pushing soldiers back into combat as quickly as possible

With all the horrible pain and gore the soldiers had to see and endure, they could never be the people they once were. Supporters and protesters back in the U.S. were causing chaos. The Doves and the Hawks, the Doves against the war and the Hawks supporting the war, divided a country.

The Vietnam War took its toll on the American soldiers. When they returned home, they were different people. They didn’t look the same, they didn’t act the same, they weren’t the same. Some could not hold on to their sanity in light of what they had seen and been through. In order to take the soldiers minds off the horrors all around them the U.S. command brought in boatloads of toys for the men to play with, everything from go-carts to violins. There was surfing, sailing, and miniature golfing. Almost everyone got a chance to spend a day or two at the beach pretending that he wasn’t in Vietnam. Large bases had Olympic size swimming pools and air-conditioned libraries, softball fields, and basketball courts. Even the toughest of bases had a net and a volleyball.

American victories in ground battles in South Vietnam also failed to sharply reduce the number of enemy troops there. The U.S. Army and Marines usually won whenever they fought the enemy. But North Vietnam replaced its loses with new troops. Its forces often avoided defeat by retreating into Laos and Cambodia

North Vietnam and the Viet Cong turned a new page of the war on January 30, 1968, when they attacked major cities of South Vietnam. The fighting was especially savage in Saigon, the capitol of South Vietnam, and in Hue. This campaign began at the start of Tet , the Vietnamese New Year celebration. It came to be known as the Tet Offensive.

As a military strategy, the plan was flawed. The United States and South Vietnam quickly recovered their early losses, and the enemy suffered an enormous amount of casualties. But the Tet attacks shocked the American people. The United States had about 500,000 troops in South Vietnam, and U.S. leaders had reported strong winnings just a short time before. Many Americans wondered whether blocking Communist growth was worth the loss in lives and money. The government should have just defeated the Communists altogether.

The Tet offensive forced basic changes in Johnson’s policies. The President cut back the bombing of North Vietnam and rejected Westmoreland’s request for 206,000 additional troops. Johnson also called for peace negotiations and declared that he would not seek reelection in 1968. Peace talks began in Paris in May.

Opposition to the war in the United States grew quickly during Nixion’s 1 World Book Encyclopedia pp. 391,392 presidency. Some opposition developed as a result of television coverage of the war, which brought scenes of war horrors in millions of homes.

In March 1971, the conviction of Lieutenant William L. Calley, Jr., for war crimes raised some of the main moral issues of the conflict. Calley’s Army unit had massacred at least 100 and maybe as many and 200 civilians in 1968 in the hamlet of My Lai in South Vietnam. Calley was found guilty of murder and was sentenced to jail for 10 years. Some war critics used the trial to call attention to the large numbers of killed by U.S. bombing and ground operations in South Vietnam. Other pointed to the vast stretches of countryside that had been destroyed by bombing and by spraying of chemicals. U.S. forces used such weedkillers as Agent Orange to reveal Communist hiding places in the jungle and to destroy enemy food crops.

In March 1972, North Vietnam began a full scale invasion of South Vietnam. Nixon retaliated by restarting the bombing on North Vietnam. He also had explosives planted in the Haiphong harbor, North Vietnam’s major port for importing military supplies. These things helped stop the invasion which was almost to Saigon by August 1972.

The enemy’s plan obviously worked. They got their main concern, the U.S., to withdraw and they knew that they probably would not return. Thousands of South Vietnamese civilians fled with the soldiers during the invasion by the North. Most died from either gun wounds or starvation. This all should have been avoided at the beginning. The United States should have fought to win. In war there should never be any half-way commitments.

See: http://www.fastpapers911.com/essays/f/2.html

Kim's Story - The Road from Vietnam

If there was one photograph that captured the horrific nature of the Vietnam war, one photograph that tore at our collective conscience, it was the picture of a nine year old girl, running naked down a road, screaming in agony from the jellied gasoline coating her body and burning through skin and muscle down the bone. Her village in the Central Highlands of Vietnam was napalmed that day in 1972, and the little girl took a direct hit. It would take many years, and 17 operations to save her life. And when she finally felt well enough to put it behind her, that very photograph would make her a victim, all over again.

A U.S. Soldier recalls Vietnam

I was a few miles outside of my cabin where I was stationed, trying to relax, when all of a sudden a huge mortar shell landed near me and shrapnel went flying all around me. I tried to duck but it was too late. Much of it landed all around me and in my head. I went to the medical station covered in blood. When I got there, I was unsure of what to expect. I asked the doctor if my injury was Purple Heart material (Purple Heart is a medal awarded to a soldier for an injury received in war.). However, he easily removed the shrapnel from my head and replied, "Your head is not going to earn you one but your leg sure as hell will." As I looked down at my leg, it was all destroyed. I hadn't even noticed. Later I received a Purple Heart for my leg. I still have shrapnel in my leg and it's difficult for me to walk, but I thank God everyday for allowing me to live through it.

LURP DOG - by B. D. TRAIL

The Lurps* had shot them at about dawn-- VC tax-collectors and a propaganda team For there were piaster notes and banners everywhere.

The noonday sun had cooked the dead, Their bodies were swollen, their smell that familiar Choking, throat-catching nausea.

The Lurps, still high on dexadrine, Played to the audience of visitors By posing near the bodies--big game hunters.

With CAR-15s and face paint, tiger-striped Fatigues and airborne earrings, the vacant-eyed Killers strutted about the bodies.

There was a dog there too, a Doberman. The handler proudly pointed out the scar Where its vocal cords had been cut--a silent hunter of men.

The dog lapped at a pool of jellied brains. A mass of black flies crawled over Skull fragments and bloody grass.

As the chopper lifted off, The blades blew money, posters, and fragments Of men across the killing zone.

Things rot, men are mortal. But imagery lasts forever.

from: http://members.aol.com/LDRSAACAndy/edu/nam.html

Argentina:  In a court of law, Caraballo revealed that out of the nearly 3000 political prisoners who had passed through El Campito, a large number had been tortured and either beaten to death or shot in the back of the neck. He also told the court about detainees who were thrown into the sea after being injected with sedatives, and said that "in some cases, the victims' bellies were cut open so that they would sink faster and be eaten by sharks".

IRAQ - 1995 THE AFTERMATH OF THE GULF WAR AND EMBARGO

FROM: http://www.washington-report.org/backissues/0795/9507010.htm

Al-Amariyeh is the bomb shelter in a middle-class section of the capital where more than 1,200 people were incinerated early one morning during the war. The gaping crater in the shelter's ceiling--dubbed the "Bush Hole"--today looks much as it must have four-and-a-half years ago. Cables and wires dangle from the jagged orifice, diffusing the daylight that illuminates an eerie scene. The blackened walls of the shelter are lined with framed photographs of people who died there--some entire families, but mostly women and children, since males over age 16 were required to be at the front. Crowding the pictures is a profusion of flowers and family mementos.

One corner of the shelter is a dark patchwork of human skin, small hands and feet appliqued to the ceiling by the heat of the second missile that dove through "the Bush Hole" seconds after the first one cleared the way, bringing temperatures in the shelter to 4,000 degrees centigrade.

On a nearby wall, it looks as if someone has sketched a smudgy charcoal picture of a woman in a long robe, her facial features slightly smeared, and next to her, a similar life-sized image of a mother nursing her infant. Upon closer inspection it's clear that the medium is not charcoal, but flesh, the artist a U.S. missile that vaporized human beings into a timeless testimony of the atrocities of war. Not a "clean war," a dirty, brutal war.

By Nora Boustany

Washington Post Foreign Service

Monday, January 21, 1991

RUWEISHED, Jordan, Jan. 20, 1991—Refugees arriving at this Jordanian border post today spoke of civilian casualties, of the terror of bombs landing near and -- in some cases -- hitting residential areas of Baghdad and Mosul, and of cars loaded with coffins at the southern port city of Basra.

Fleeing overland from Iraq and Kuwait, the Palestinian and Lebanese refugees described a creeping fear of death among Iraqis along with horror and dismay as aerial attacks by U.S.-led allied forces continued for the fourth straight day.

In the Iraqi capital, the refugees said, residents are cut off from the rest of the country and from one another, not knowing what is happening in other areas of town.

"People wait for the sirens, but they only come on after the first raid," said Nidal Khalil, a mechanic, who said he and his family had been living without lights or water since last week. "After the first strike early Thursday, and with second and third air attacks on Baghdad, the bombing seemed less selective," Khalil remarked. "At first, the Iraqis felt confident."

"When the planes come, people run left and right and look for basements and shelters," said Yaaqoub Chahine, a teacher, who described himself as a "stateless" Palestinian who lived in Kuwait and now is looking for a new home. "People have started hating these air raids. They live in constant horror, fearing death in their shelters. Their faces are pale, their bodies tremble from the unknown. This is the reality," Chahine said grimly.

While some refugees expressed enthusiasm and support for Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's confrontation with the U.S.-led alliance, their zeal seemed tempered and they were visibly shaken by their hazardous trip.

A young Jordanian mother, rocking a 2-year-old baby in her arms as she stood in the cold desert wind at Ruweishid, said her children were "hysterical."

Hiyam Naji Rashid said she decided to leave with her children after her neighborhood was struck repeatedly on the first morning of the allied air strikes. "We were at home in {the Baghdad district of} Doura. There was an air raid every two hours. The planes came three times. There were no casualties in our quarter, but people are terrified," Hiyam said.

"No one was expecting this to happen. We have never seen anything like it. Not in eight years of war with Iran," she said as she tried to console her son, Rami, who was crying uncontrollably.

Umm Mohammed, 54, was among the most shaken of today's arrivals. Straining to maintain composure, the Palestinian mother of seven said she was on the verge of collapse.

"My children screamed all night. They all piled up on top of me. My eldest son Mohammed was taken with {Iraq's} Popular Army to Kuwait. We know what is happening there. He may never come back. . . . I guess he went voluntarily with them," she said slowly.

"With the war against Iran, we knew what to expect, now with the Americans, it is different. People are just abandoning their homes. We have still not recovered from the war with Iran," she said.

Umm Mohammed said most Iraqis she knew would have preferred a diplomatic solution to the gulf crisis. "We want them to stop this war now. We also want {Iraq} to stop this shelling against Israel, because they have children, too. But {the Israelis} must get out of our land. Let them stop from all sides. All mothers think like this," she said.

"To hell with all the oil, but please protect our young men," she added, as tears started rolling down her cheeks.

Chahine, the Palestinian teacher, said Saddam's strike against Israel had made him happy at first. "I first thought that this is a great lesson. This is how I felt about Kuwaitis when Iraq invaded. But then {the Iraqis} stayed and things got very bad."

Chahine said he left behind a pregnant daughter who was about to deliver, and he feared she would go into labor during an air raid. She had a book on natural childbirth, he added, which she presumably would use if she could not make it to a hospital.

Fares Yahya Rashid, 28, said the suburbs of Baghdad have been shelled. "People are trying to preserve themselves. Only a few gasoline stations are open and people are living on hoarded food, no electricity or water," he said.

Rashid said the presidential palace and a building in central Baghdad housing much of the city's telecommunications hardware "have suffered minor damage." Other reports, however, suggested the presidential palace has been more extensively damaged.

The residential neighborhoods of Jadriyyah and Qadissiyya, and the Doura central bus station, were also hit, according to a group of refugees who reached here from Baghdad today. Rasid said that some of the bombing has hit the residential area of Hayy Al Mansour, and university student Mahmoud Lati said a church was almost flattened in the northern city of Mosul.

"On the first morning after the raid, a bus full of people at Doura was hit, when the planes came in the daytime," one man said. Half a dozen others interviewed separately confirmed the report.

"Now there are no taxis, no transport, and each of us knows only what happens in his area," said Youssef Boutros Baqaa, 22. "Last night, some kind of rocket fell near our home in Jadriyyah. The bombing is not precise."

Taxi driver Abdul Wahab Massoud held up a large round fragment of green metal imprinted with English lettering from what he said was a downed American plane.

Massoud accompanied Nimr Madi, a Palestinian who had driven from Kuwait to Baghdad and then to the Jordanian border. Madi said he saw three cars full of bodies and coffins at a gas station in Basra.

"There are many civilian casualties in Basra and Kuwait. I saw many coffins in Basra, some of them small," Madi said, adding that an oil refinery in Basra had been hit. e described nighttime raids over Kuwait as "very intensive" and said heavy anti-aircraft fire there "turns the sky into a kind of hell."

"When the planes come to hit a target they also hit homes around them," Madi said.

© Copyright 1991 The Washington Post

August 26, 1999

From Correspondent Patricia Kelly

PRIZREN, Kosovo (CNN) -- On the surface, Kosovar Albanians seem to be doing their best to return to a normal life. The streets of Kosovo's cities are teeming with activity, shops have reopened for business and many are working on rebuilding their destroyed homes.

But the queues of patients in hospital corridors tell a different story, revealing the deep wounds of last spring's campaign of murder, torture and forced evacuation of ethnic Albanians at the hands of Serb forces.

Most of the patients in Prizren's hospital are suffering from post-traumatic stress from the war.

"They have anxiety, fear, flashbacks of all the events they experienced, nightmares, isolation from their environment," said psychiatric neurologist Dr. Zylfie Hundozi.

There aren't enough experts to cope with the huge numbers of people who need counseling. So volunteers from other countries are offering crash courses in psychotherapy to general practice doctors, nurses and even social workers.

"We are training professionals and the concept of community mental health and psychological counseling may be new to them, but interacting with people is not," said Carol Etherington, a mental health nurse for Doctors without Borders.

Mental health care professionals say there isn't a man, woman or child in Kosovo who hasn't been touched by the war in one way or another. The counselors' primary task is to teach the population that it's normal to suffer from stress. But first, the counselors must recognize they may be victims of post-traumatic stress themselves.

"The first task is to heal ourselves," said general practitioner Dr. Sulejman Krasniqi. "We were so terrified. For example, I was during the whole bombing time in Prizren and I passed so many terrible moments."

A community-wide information campaign is planned to persuade people to seek help. Experts hope that getting people to talk about the past and release their stress will give them new hope for the future.

per CNN news

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Monday, 6 December, 1999

Horrors of Kosovo revealed

Mass graves containing the bodies  of Kosovo Albanians have been discovered

A grim catalogue of mutilation, murder and rape in Kosovo is unveiled in a major human rights report published by the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe.

Testimony gathered by OSCE monitors from more than 3,000 witnesses and refugees builds a detailed picture of recent events in Kosovo.   It says massive human rights abuses were carried out by Serbian forces on Kosovo Albanians.

This was followed by revenge attacks against remaining Serbs after Belgrade withdrew its troops from the province.

"The evidence of recent violations indicates that the cycle of violence has not yet been broken," the head of the OSCE mission in Kosovo, Ambassador Daan Everts, wrote in the introduction.

The report outlines a series of human rights abuses committed between 1998 and June this year when the territory was still under Serbian control.

This, the report says, was the result of a deliberate planned strategy by the government of Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic.

The OSCE says Serb attacks increased after Nato began its bombing campaign, and summary and arbitrary killing spread throughout Kosovo.

Among the worst incidents, it says, were reports of the deliberate killing of children, and of elderly and disabled people being shot or burned alive.

There are accounts of children decapitated in front of their parents and refugees suffocating to death in crowded trains.

Revenge attacks

Human rights monitors have also been watching the climate of intolerance and revenge that has been sweeping the province since the arrival of Nato peacekeepers in June.

They detail human rights violations such as executions, abductions and intimidation, directed mainly against Serbs and other minorities.

One of the worst examples occurred in the US-controlled sector of Gnjilane, which had been largely untouched by the war, the report says.

But between June and October, almost 280 properties owned by Serbs and other minorities were either burned or destroyed.

Furthermore, the Roma, or Gypsy, population has left en masse, monitors say, and daily human rights reports in June, July and August were dominated by accounts of killings, house burnings, missing persons and abductions.

But the report draws a distinction between the abuses in the past and the violations that are continuing.

'Policy of apartheid'

Bernard Kouchner, the UN's special envoy to Kosovo, says in the report's introduction that there had been a systematic policy of apartheid against Kosovo Albanians for at least a decade, but this was no longer the case.

The monitors say that many of those involved in attacks on Serbs appear to have been members of the Kosovo Liberation Army or its successor organisation, the Kosovo Protection Corps.

The KLA waged a 15-month guerrilla campaign against Serb rule.

"It is clear that the (KLA) stepped in to fill a law and order void, but this 'policing' role is unrestrained by law and without legitimacy," the report said.

BBC News Online

By Dzulkifli Abdul Razak

To commemorate the 53rd anniversary of the Hiroshima bombing today, the National Poison Centre will launch a homepage on its devastation and human suffering. Dzulkifli Abdul Razak writes.

On July 23 Malaysia became the 150th nation to sign the Comprenhensive (Nuclear) Test Ban Treaty (CTBT). However, despite the increasing number of countries making a commitment to the treaty, the world seems to be no more safer than yesterday.

Just last May, for example, India and Pakistan were involved in a tit-for-tat display of nuclear capabilities. About a dozen nuclear devices were reported to have been exploded in less than three weeks in the Indian subcontinent. This, soon after the world had barely recovered from the shock decision ot resume a series of nuclear tests conducted near the Mururoa Atoll in the South Pacific in 1995 and 1996.

In May the year before, China too exploded its own nuclear bomb. Nuclear armament is fast becoming a threat in the Asia Pacific Region. All in all more than 2,000 nuclear tests were recorded between 1945 and 1998 worldwide.

Ironically, the United State of America exploded more than 1000 devices (between 1945 and 1992 alone), followed by Russia Soviet Union with more than 700 (between 1949 and 1990) and France 210 (between 1960 and 1996). The others are made up of the United Kingdom apart from China and most recently Pakistan.

Although everyone knew of the disastrous effects of bomb, many more countries are developing nuclear capabilities. In fact the atom bombs that were exploded on Hiroshima and Nagasaki on August 1945 are said to pale in comparison with many of the newer nuclear devices. By any account they have been without precedent since the last two millennia.

Numerous documentations and eyewitness accounts were recorded on the Atomic tragedy of 1945.

One eyewitness is Malaysian Atomic Bomb survivor, Haji Abdul Razak Abdul Hamid, whose experiences were recorded in many media reports, magazines, books and video documentaries.

To commemorate the 53rd year of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombing, the National Poison Centre based at Universiti Sains Malaysia has created a special homepage on the event to serve as remainder to all Malaysians about the horors of war - particularly nuclear war.

Titled Hiroshima Dalam Ingatan (Hiroshima in My Mind), it focuses on Abdul Razak's first-hand experience on the tragedy. It touches the ordinary people in the street with vivid descriptions of what the devastation meant years ago and how relevant it is still today.

The articles are both in English and Bahasa Malaysia and there are more than 25 articles of various lengths extracted from the various media (including the NST), some dating back more than 10 years ago. All the articles trace Abdul Razak's experiences since the age of 18 (when he first enrolled at Japan Education Institute in Durian Daun, Malacca in 1942) until he became head of the "Look East" programme at the Mara Institute of Technology more than 50 years later. He retired recently.

Incorporated in another section of the homepage is a gallery of about 30 original photographs that were kept by Abdul Razak. These include photographs of two other Malaysians, Nik Yusof and Syed Omar who were killed in the bombing. There are also photographs of the late Tan Sri Eusoffe Abdoolcader - a contemporary of Haji Abdul Razak while in Japan.

The homepage will also provide general information on the broader issues about the bombing of Hiroshima. There are also selected links to similar recommended websites worldwide. These links provide very comprehensive information about the subject matter from various perspectives. Some incorporate very graphic visuals, including a rare footage from CNN.

The compilation and creation of the homepage are done so that a permanent record of the Atomic mass killing particularly in Hiroshima is made and can be readily accessible to Malaysians.

It is hoped that the "Hiroshima In My Mind" Homepage will serve as a continuous reminder to all of us that war is barbaric and uncivilised and also serve as a Malaysian contribution towards heightening global awareness on nuclear disarmament.

The homepage will officially open at precisely 8.15am tomorrow to coincide with the 53rd Anniversary of the Atomic Bombing of Hiroshima. It could be reached via the National Poison Centre Homepage - http://prn.usm.my directly via http://prn.usm.my/my.html

New Straits Times
Thursday, August 6, 1998

FROM: http://www.guardian.co.uk/Print/0,3858,4367855,00.html

MoD failed to prepare servicemen for horrors of war, court told

Richard Norton-Taylor
Tuesday March 5, 2002
The Guardian

The Ministry of Defence was accused in the high court yesterday of a systematic failure to prepare service personnel for the horrors of war and provide adequate care for them afterwards.

More than 250 survivors of recent conflicts suffering from post traumatic stress disorder are suing the ministry in an unprecedented group action. Though the case will concentrate on the experience of 15 individuals - veterans of the Falklands conflict, Northern Ireland, Bosnia and the Gulf war - nearly 2,000 potential claimants have registered an interest in the lawsuit.

At the start of the case, which is expected to last for at least five months, Stephen Irwin QC told Mr Justic Owen: "War is a uniquely horrible human activity... and it causes injury to mind."

He emphasised the claimants were not suing the MoD for exposure to war. "War is what soldiers should expect and it is what they sign up for - it is what they join the army for."

Mr Irwin added: "It is also what their masters should expect and they should provide for this exposure to the horrors of war. In a sentence we say they did not. They didn't do it systematically, and so far as they had a system, it did not work properly to protect and care for soldiers, sailors and airmen in the forces."

Mr Irwin suggested that the MoD's "systemic failure" to deal with the problem was partly due to a "macho" culture within the forces towards psychiatric problems. Some commanders felt it was a "blot on their escutcheon" to have mentally injured men under their command.

A "huge body of knowledge" about the psychological and psychiatric consequences of exposure to war was available.

The symptoms, said Mr Irwin, included social dislocation, alcoholism, and depression. Veterans had suffered prolonged personality disorders following exposure to stress.

Key features of post traumatic stress disorder were flashbacks and anxiety levels reaching pathologcial levels, he told the court.

He mentioned the servicemen who had survived the bombing of the ship Sir Galahad during the Falklands war. He referred to the helplessness of those who could not retaliate, what he described as "a most difficult situation to handle".

Mr Irwin asked: "Why are service people different?" He said the the MoD had a "uniquely high degree of control over their lives, both as to their daily lives and to their health care". Service personnel were often very young and "often inexperienced in life".

He continued: "In battle they face unimaginable stress, stress to a level which one cannot understand without a conscious effort or without experience. They are facing an occupation which carries psychological and psychiatric risks at the most extreme end of the spectrum."

It was reckoned that 25% of those sleeping rough were ex-service personnel.

Figures showed that 264 Falklands veterans had committed suicide, compared with the 255 who died in the war.

Mr Irwin referred to the trauma suffered by:

· A 19-year-old man from the north of England who as he walked in a Bosnian village, breathing in smoke and fearful of crossfire, saw a pregnant woman tied to a post with her belly ripped open and a dead dog stuffed into the cavity.

· A young west country man who saw eight of his colleagues blown up by a bomb.

· A lad on a ship in the Falklands war who saw his best mate burned to death.

Mr Irwin said the claimants had offered to resolve the case by mediation rather than pursue a lawsuit which could cost more than £12m.

The MoD is disputing claims that it failed to diagnose and adequately treat post traumatic stress disorder.

FROM: http://www.boondocksnet.com/china/china_uu100_048.html

Horrors of War -- Dead Chinese floating in the Beiho, showing riddled Buildings along the French Bund, Tianjin

Many talk of the horrors of war who know little of their actualities, and for that reason such a scene as this, though it is repulsive, is also educative; for, to know truly, you must see, and even this repellent scene is but a slight hint of war's horrors. For ten days before I came here, dead bodies, in incredible numbers, had been floating down the river, and, several times a day coolies were sent to this place with poles to set free the accumulation of bodies and allow them to float down stream. At this moment, you see, there are only four or five in view, but at other times there are large numbers, especially in the morning, after a night's accumulation. At times I have seen heads and headless trunks in this flotsam of war. Many of these dead have been killed by the relief troop who first entered Tianjin; others, by the second advance of reenforcements, and many, previously, by the Boxers and were probably Christian converts. Doubtless a considerable number also are suicides, for the Chinese have a penchant for suicide at such times.

FROM:  http://gbgm-umc.org/africa/sierra-leone/umns030700lgspsc.stm

FREETOWN, Sierra Leone (UMNS) -- In its eight-year civil war, Sierra Leone has seen some of the worst violations of human rights in the world.

While it is impossible to give accurate figures for the number of casualties, the Human Rights Watch reported last June that "perhaps 50,000 people have died and up to [half] the population of 4.5 million is displaced."

During their January 1999 occupation of Freetown, Sierra Leone's capital, the Revolutionary United Front killed thousands of people, massacring scores of civilians who were hiding in houses, churches and mosques. Entire neighborhoods were burned down, and an estimated 51,000 people  were left homeless.

A six-member team of American United Methodists witnessed some of the devastation during a February visit to Sierra Leone. While attending the 120th Sierra Leone Annual Conference session Feb. 22-27, the group visited United Methodist churches and schools in Freetown, and heard accounts from people who had survived the horrors of war.

Many schools were destroyed in the war, so churches are being used for classrooms. Students go to school in two shifts, morning and afternoon, to accommodate the growing number of young people whose families have fled the rural areas.

At a displacement camp organized by the government, the Americans met a woman who said rebels had burned her out of her home five times. An elderly man described how his wife and two sons were killed before his eyes. Other people told of how they were given only two to three days' worth of bulgur (wheat) as their food ration for a month.

The U.S. group heard stories of how three or four families were forced to live in cramped quarters, with no electricity or plumbing. They also learned about United Methodist pastors who were homeless, and of some who had been reduced to begging to provide for their families.

Part of the Freetown tour included a stop at a camp for amputees and others wounded or mutilated by rebel soldiers. There, the Americans met an 8-month-old girl whose arm was severed by rebels when she was 2 weeks old.

The U.S. group met Muctur Jalloh, a student in his 20s, who serves as chairman of the amputee camp. Many people who have been mutilated choose not to come to the camps, Jalloh said. Most of the people at his camp were from areas outside Freetown. Some were teachers, students, parents and children.

The rebels would taunt spiritual people while torturing them, saying, "Where is Jesus? Where is your God?" Jalloh said.

Jalloh's right hand and right ear were cut off. He said the rebels severed his right hand instead of his left because they knew he was a student, and the loss of his right hand would be a greater handicap.

Later, he had the opportunity to meet the man who had mutilated him. The man didn't remember Jalloh at first, but when he did, the former rebel offered the student money.

"I don't want your money," Jalloh replied. "I have forgiven you and have peace in my heart; you don't."

Many people have forgiven the rebels, but their lives still need to go on, Jalloh said. They still need assistance.

"How," he asked, "can a man take care of his family when he has no hands?"

From: http://www.unicef.org/children-in-war/

Wars and civil conflicts are taking a massive toll on children

In the armed conflicts of recent years, children have been not only unintended victims but deliberate targets of violence. The number of children who have been directly affected is enormous. Millions of them have been killed, disabled, orphaned, sexually exploited and abused, abducted and recruited as soldiers, uprooted from their homes, separated from their families, and faced with heightened risk of disease and malnutrition.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

United Nations

UNICEF

FROM: http://meltingpot.fortunecity.com/lebanon/254/grant.htm

Land-mines are a contemporary scourge. They do not discriminate between combatants and non-combatants. They kill and maim children as well as adults, turn farmland into waste battleground and rip through the heart of civilized society. Land-mines are unjustifiable weapons that increase the danger to children in armed conflict. They must be banned.

Tens of millions of anti-personnel mines are destroying the lives of children in Africa, Asia, Europe and Latin America. Every day these hidden horrors kill or horribly mutilate children, predominantly in rural developing communities.

The use of these deadly devices where they pose a threat to children clearly violates the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, including, of course, the provisions under which States are obliged to protect children in armed conflict. It goes against the commitment made by more than 150 countries at the 1990 World Summit for Children to ensure the safety of children and their families in time of war, including the observance of periods of tranquillity and the establishment of relief corridors.

Once laid, an anti-personnel mine can remain active for as long as 50 years. Land-mines placed today may still be killing and maiming children in the middle of the next century.

Land-mines are particularly catastrophic for children whose small bodies cannot withstand the horrific injuries they inflict. Competing demands for scarce medical services mean that children injured by mines seldom receive the treatment and care they deserve.

The blight of land-mines often goes beyond localized destruction. The widespread practice of mining fertile agricultural land has led to malnutrition and even famine and starvation. Mines laid along roads and tracks have prevented the safe repatriation of refugees and impeded the delivery of aid. Where the environment itself is desecrated, there is no chance for sustainable development.

Most countries cannot afford to demine all civilian areas. An anti-personnel mine can be bought for as little as US$3 but can cost as much as US$1,000 to remove. Efforts to clear minefields often cannot keep up with the speed at which new mines can be laid.

I believe that it is unconscionable that the humanitarian objectives to anti-personnel land-mines should be disputed. That is why, when addressing the Human Rights Commission in Geneva in March, I said: "Given the cruel and inhumane intention of these weapons and their growing cost in human and economic terms--and the increasing toll they are taking among children--I would like to add my voice to that of the International Committee of the Red Cross and urge the international community to go one critical step further and adopt a total ban on the production, use, stockpiling, sale and export of anti-personnel land-mines." The world's children are depending on us to rid the globe of these cruel and inhumane weapons.  
James P. Grant Executive Director, UNICEF

Land-mines are shattering the lives of children and their communities in more than 60 countries. There are an estimated 100 million of these deadly devices, one for every 20 children. It is estimated that land-mines have killed or injured more than one million persons since 1975, the vast majority of them civilians, including an appalling number of children. The prospects for an early end to the carnage are remote. Meanwhile, another 100 million mines are believed to lie in stockpiles ready for use.

But land-mines do not just kill and maim innocent civilians. The mining of agricultural land leads to increased malnutrition and, in some cases, starvation and famine. The mining of roads prevents or endangers the repatriation of refugees and impedes the circulation of goods and labour, even after the conflict has ended. It can rightly be said that land-mines constitute an attack on society itself.

Children are particularly at risk because of their innate inquisitiveness and love of play. Mines come in a bewildering array of shapes and colours, all enticing to a child. The sheer number of land-mines scattered indiscriminately sometimes leads children to regard them as harmless everyday objects. In northern Iraq, for instance, Kurdish children use land-mines to construct go-carts. Overcoming this sense of familiarity is essential if death and injury are to be avoided.

Decades after they are laid, land-mines are capable of killing and maiming. An anti-personnel mine deployed today could still be active in the middle of the next century. One study conducted in the 1980s found that there were casualties every year in Poland--80 per cent of them children--from mines laid during World War II. It is this feature, the ability to remain active for 40 years or more, that makes the anti-personnel land-mine a uniquely deadly weapon.

Even when land-mines are deployed originally against combatants within the limit of humanitarian law, unless they are subsequently removed or destroyed, their effects will be indiscriminate. The fighting may be over, but land-mines continue to kill and maim. Cambodians, who have suffered the full horrors of land-mines, call these weapons "eternal sentinels".

Those who are injured by land-mines suffer long-term physical and psychological damage. But many land-mine victims (perhaps 50 per cent or more) are killed outright or die in agony before medical treatment can be given. Children are particularly vulnerable because they are closer to the centre of the blast. Further, their ability to survive the substantial blood loss due to mine injury is minimal.

Those who make it to hospital have to undergo a series of operations, including, in many instances, amputation of one or more limbs. Some are permanently blinded. Maimed for life, only a small percentage receive adequate rehabilitation. UNICEF estimates, for example, that only 10 to 20 per cent of disabled children in El Salvador receive rehabilitation therapy. The rest are forced to fend for themselves as best they can. Amputees must often beg or steal to survive

FROM: http://www.gmfc.org/en/protectchildren/learnmore_html

No child ever started a war. Yet every time a war breaks out, children as the most vulnerable members of society suffer the worst. They are forced to live in fear, to give up their education. Some lose their lives. Some lose beloved family members. All lose their innocence.

The international community has long recognized that children have no place in wars, yet children are still victimized. Many children are even forced to fight in these wars. Today, over 300,000 children (under the age of 18) – some as young as seven - are involved in hostilities in over 30 countries. Girls and boys alike are abducted from schools, refugee camps or their homes and trained to kill. Girls are subjected to sexual abuse and rape, often systematically.

There are a number of reasons for this. As conflicts sometimes rage for years, the recruitment of adults becomes more difficult and military leaders turn to children. Moreover, children are impressionable and can be easily intimidated; they can be manipulated into becoming ruthless, unquestioning instruments of war.

How can we prevent this? First of all, we must remember before going to war how high the price paid by children will be. We must also make sure that those who abuse children -- who abuse them in the multitude of ways we see in today’s wars, who use them to fight, who take their childhood away -- are punished. When we think of war crimes, we must think first of crimes against children. When we call for the prosecution of war criminals, we must begin with those whose victims were children.

And, when the war is over, when it is time for healing, the children must not be forgotten. Many of them will have internalized the horrors of the battlefield. Some may have been forced to kill members of their own communities, or even family members. Those who have not fought will have witnessed the horrors of war on a daily basis and will be deeply scarred. The rehabilitation and reintegration of children must be central to any peace-building process.

THE COMING WAR

REVELATION

It is imperative to know the meaning of some of the “code words” frequently used:

Four (4) signifies the world.

Six (6) signifies imperfection.

Seven (7) is the totality of perfection or fullness and completeness.

Twelve (12) represents the twelve tribes of Israel or the 12 apostles.

One-thousand (1000) signifies immensity.

The color white symbolizes power and can also represent victory, joy and resurrection.

The color red symbolizes a bloody war.

The color black symbolizes famine.

A rider on a pale green horse is a symbol of Death itself.

“Babylon” is the satanic Roman Government, now used to describe the U.S. government.

Rev. 16: 10 And the fifth angel poured out his vial upon the seat of the beast; and his kingdom was full of darkness; and they gnawed their tongues for pain, 11 And blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and repented not of their deeds. 12 And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared. 13 And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet. 14 For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty. 15 Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame. 16 And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon. 17 And the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air; and there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, It is done. 18 And there were voices, and thunders, and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake, and so great. 19 And the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell: and great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath. 20 And every island fled away, and the mountains were not found. 21 And there fell upon men a great hail out of heaven, every stone about the weight of a talent: and men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail; for the plague thereof was exceeding great.

In Revelation 19 we find:   "And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. . . .and on his head were many crowns. . . . And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.

"And I saw the beast [from the sea], and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse, and against his army. And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone." (Rev. 19:11-16, 19, 20)

The horns turn and destroy the woman

" And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire. For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil his will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled. (Rev. 17:16, 17)

"How much she hath glorified herself . . . for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow. Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her." (Rev. 18:7, 8).

Isaiah 14:1 For the Lord will have mercy on Jacob, and will yet choose Israel, and set them in their own land: and the strangers shall be joined with them, and they shall cleave to the house of Jacob. 2 And the people shall take them, and bring them to their place: and the house of Israel shall possess them in the land of the Lord for servants and handmaids: and they shall take them captives, whose captives they were; and they shall rule over their oppressors. 3 And it shall come to pass in the day that the Lord shall give thee rest from thy sorrow, and from thy fear, and from the hard bondage wherein thou wast made to serve, 4 That thou shalt take up this proverb against the king of Babylon, and say, How hath the oppressor ceased! the golden city ceased! 5 The Lord hath broken the staff of the wicked, and the scepter of the rulers. 6 He who smote the people in wrath with a continual stroke, he that ruled the nations in anger, is persecuted, and none hindereth. 7 The whole Earth is at rest, and is quiet: they break forth into singing. 8 Yea, the fir trees rejoice at thee, and the cedars of Lebanon, saying, Since thou art laid down, no teller is come up against us. 9 Hell from beneath is moved for thee to meet thee at thy coming: it stirreth up the dead for thee, even all the chief ones of the Earth; it hath raised up from their thrones all the kings of the nations. 10 All they shall speak and say unto thee, Art thou also become weak as we? art thou become like unto us? 11 Thy pomp is brought down to the grave, and the noise of thy viols: the worm is spread under thee, and the worms cover thee. 12 How art thou fallen from Heaven, 0 Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! 13 For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into Heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: 14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the Most High. 15 Yet thou shalt be brought down to Hell, to the sides of the pit.

Daniel 2: 26 The king answered and said to Daniel, whose name was Belteshazzar, Art thou able to make known unto me the dream which I have seen, and the interpretation thereof? 27 Daniel answered in the presence of the king, and said, The secret which the king hath demanded cannot the wise men. the astrologers, the magicians, the soothsayers, shew unto the king; 28 But there is a God in Heaven that revealeth secrets, and maketh known to the king Nebuchadnezzar what shall be in the latter days. Thy dream, and the visions of thy head upon thy bed, are these-, 29 As for thee, 0 king, thy thoughts came into thy mind upon thy bed, what should come to pass hereafter: and he that revealeth secrets maketh known to thee what shall come to pass. 30 But as for me, this secret is not revealed to me for any wisdom that I have more than any living, but for their sakes that shall make known the interpretation to the king, and that thou mightest know the thoughts of thy heart- 31 Thou, 0 king, sawest, and behold a great image. This great image, whose brightness was excellent, stood before thee; and the form thereof was terrible. 32 This image's head was of fine GOLD, his breast and his arms of SILVER, his belly and his thighs of BRASS, 33 His legs of IRON, his feet part of IRON and part of CLAY. 34 Thou sawest till that a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet that were of IRON and CLAY, and brake them to pieces. 35 Then was the IRON, the CLAY, the BRASS, the SILVER, and the GOLD, broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshingfloors; and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them: and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole Earth. 36 This is the dream; and we will tell the interpretation thereof before the king. 37 Thou, 0 king, art a king of kings: for the God of Heaven hath given thee a kingdom, power, and strength, and glory. 38 And wheresoever the children of men dwell, the beasts of the field and the fowls of the Heaven hath he given into thine hand, and hath made thee ruler over them all. Thou art this head of GOLD. 39 And after thee shall arise another kingdom inferior to thee, and another third kingdom of BRASS, which shall bear rule over all the Earth, 40 And the fourth kingdom shall be strong as IRON: forasmuch as IRON breaketh in pieces and subdueth all things: and as IRON that breaketh all these, shall it break in pieces and bruise. 41 And whereas thou sawest the feet and toes, part of potters' CLAY, and part of IRON, the kingdom shall be divided; but there shall be in it of the strength of the IRON, forasmuch as thou sawest the IRON mixed with miry CLAY. 42 And as the toes of the feet were part of IRON, and part of CLAY, so the kingdom shall be partly strong, and partly broken. 43 And whereas thou sawest IRON mixed with miry CLAY, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men: but they shall not cleave one to another, even as IRON is not mixed with CLAY. 44 And in the days of these kings shall the God of Heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever. 45 Forasmuch as thou sawest that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it brake in pieces the IRON, the BRASS, the CLAY, the SILVER, and the GOLD; the great God hath made known to the king what shall come to pass hereafter: and the dream is certain, and the interpretation thereof sure.

The kingdoms represented are

The times of the Gentiles started with Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, the head of GOLD, and will climax when the Great Rock hits the image in the feet. Speaking of the feet, Daniel 2 states in the days of THESE KINGS -- WHICH KINGS? -- THE ONES REPRESENTED BY THE TEN TOES OF THE IMAGE -- SHALL THE GOD OF HEAVEN SET UP A KINGDOM, WHICH SHALL NEVER BE DESTROYED.

Other references to the same period of time and the same 10 kings are:

Revelation 13:1 KJV And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and TEN HORNS and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy. 2 And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.

TEN HORNS WITH TEN CROWNS

Daniel states:

Daniel 7:7 KJV After this I saw in the night visions, and behold a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly; and it had great iron teeth: it devoured and brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with the feet of it: and it was diverse from all the beasts that were before it; and it had TEN HORNS.

Daniel 7:19 KJV Then I would know the truth of the fourth beast, which was diverse from all the others, exceeding dreadful, whose teeth were of iron, and his nails of brass; which devoured, brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with his feet; 20 And of THE TEN HORNS that were in his head, and of the other which came up, and before whom three fell; even of that horn that had eyes, and a mouth that spake very great things, whose look was more stout than his fellows. 21 I beheld, and the same horn made war with the saints, and prevailed against them; 22 Until the Ancient of Days came, and judgment was given to the saints of the Most High; and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom. 23 Thus he said, The fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon Earth, which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole Earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces. 24 And the TEN HORNS OUT OF THIS KINGDOM ARE TEN KINGS WHICH SHALL ARISE: and another shall rise after them; and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings.

THE ROCK hitting the image in the feet is the Battle of Armageddon in Revelation 19 where Jesus returns and defeats the 10 kingdom, NEW WORLD ORDER, CALLED BABYLON IN REVELATION--MAN'S FINAL ORGANIZED REBELLION UNDER SATAN AGAINST GOD.

Revelation 13 and 17 tell about a beast having seven heads and ten horns. If you read Daniel 7, where the same beast is pictured, we are told that the ten horns represent ten kingdoms.

The Books of Revelation and Daniel picture this final effort, and Revelation describes Babylon as having three parts:

POLITICAL BABYLON - The 10 Kingdom NEW WORLD ORDER OF THE ANTICHRIST.

RELIGIOUS BABYLON - The world-wide religious system of THE FALSE PROPHET - THE GREAT WHORE OF REVELATION 17.

COMMERCIAL BABYLON - THE NECESSITY OF BOWING TO THE ANTICHRIST IN ORDER TO BUY OR SELL - THIS WILL BE ADMINISTERED BY THE RELIGIOUS SYSTEM - The second beast of Revelation 13 is the False Prophet.

After the announcement, "BABYLON IS FALLEN!" in Revelation 14:8:

RELIGIOUS BABYLON is destroyed in Chapter 17

COMMERCIAL BABYLON is destroyed in Chapter 18

POLITICAL BABYLON is destroyed in Chapter 19 at Armageddon

ARMEGEDDON - REV. 9:16 - THE WARRIORS COMETH

THE DIRE MESSAGES OF JESUS AND HIS MOTHER MARY

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Bob Dylan's

With God On Our Side

Oh my name it is nothin'
My age it means less
The country I come from
Is called the Midwest
I's taught and brought up there
The laws to abide
And that land that I live in
Has God on its side.

Oh the history books tell it
They tell it so well
The cavalries charged
The Indians fell
The cavalries charged
The Indians died
Oh the country was young
With God on its side.

Oh the Spanish-American
War had its day
And the Civil War too
Was soon laid away
And the names of the heroes
I's made to memorize
With guns in their hands
And God on their side.

Oh the First World War, boys
It closed out its fate
The reason for fighting
I never got straight
But I learned to accept it
Accept it with pride
For you don't count the dead
When God's on your side.

When the Second World War
Came to an end
We forgave the Germans
And we were friends
Though they murdered six million
In the ovens they fried
The Germans now too
Have God on their side.

I've learned to hate Russians
All through my whole life
If another war starts
It's them we must fight
To hate them and fear them
To run and to hide
And accept it all bravely
With God on my side.

But now we got weapons
Of the chemical dust
If fire them we're forced to
Then fire them we must
One push of the button
And a shot the world wide
And you never ask questions
When God's on your side.

In a many dark hour
I've been thinkin' about this
That Jesus Christ
Was betrayed by a kiss
But I can't think for you
You'll have to decide
Whether Judas Iscariot
Had God on his side.

So now as I'm leavin'
I'm weary as Hell
The confusion I'm feelin'
Ain't no tongue can tell
The words fill my head
And fall to the floor
If God's on our side
He'll stop the next war.

Copyright © 1963; renewed 1991 Special Rider Music

Bob Dylan's

Masters of War

Come you masters of war
You that build all the guns
You that build the death planes
You that build the big bombs
You that hide behind walls
You that hide behind desks
I just want you to know
I can see through your masks

You that never done nothin'
But build to destroy
You play with my world
Like it's your little toy
You put a gun in my hand
And you hide from my eyes
And you turn and run farther
When the fast bullets fly
Like Judas of old
You lie and deceive
A world war can be won
You want me to believe
But I see through your eyes
And I see through your brain
Like I see through the water
That runs down my drain

You fasten the triggers
For the others to fire
Then you set back and watch
When the death count gets higher
You hide in your mansion
As young people's blood
Flows out of their bodies
And is buried in the mud

You've thrown the worst fear
That can ever be hurled
Fear to bring children
Into the world
For threatening my baby
Unborn and unnamed
You ain't worth the blood
That runs in your veins

How much do I know
To talk out of turn
You might say that I'm young
You might say I'm unlearned
But there's one thing I know
Though I'm younger than you
Even Jesus would never
Forgive what you do

Let me ask you one question
Is your money that good
Will it buy you forgiveness
Do you think that it could
I think you will find
When your death takes its toll
All the money you made
Will never buy back your soul

And I hope that you die
And your death'll come soon
I will follow your casket
In the pale afternoon
And I'll watch while you're lowered
Down to your deathbed
And I'll stand o'er your grave
'Til I'm sure that you're dead

Copyright © 1963; renewed 1991 Special Rider Music

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CIVIL WAR MIDI PAGE

OTHER WAR PAGES ON THIS SITE

U.S. DETENTION SITES

THE WAR WE WATCHED ON TV

THE FEDERALIST PAPERS - WAR OF 1812

PATTERN FOR FREEDOM

NOAM CHOMSKY - AMERICAN DISSIDENT

DR. JOHN COLEMAN - A PROPHET IN OUR OWN TIME

PAKISTAN PREPARING FOR WAR

WORLD PEACE 2000

ANOTHER PEARL HARBOR IN OUR FUTURE?

REDLINE/BLUELINE

NEW WORLD ORDER

ON THE BEACH - ITS JUST A MOVIE- RIGHT???

KOSOVO AT A GLANCE

THIS IS THE WAY IT WAS, IS AND WILL BE

THOMAS JEFFERSON

THE UNITED NATIONS

NUCLEAR ARMS TALKS AND A PROPHECY

ARMEGEDDON - REV. 9:16 - THE WARRIORS COMETH

DREAMS AND PROPHECY OF IRAQ AND SADDAM HUSSEIN

THE COMING WARS VS THE PAST WARS

PEACE! NOBODY WANTS ANY - WHO CAN DECLARE WAR?

THE BLITZ - IS THIS A PROPHECY - I HOPE NOT!!!

BIOLOGICAL WARFARE

ASSASSINASIONS AND BRIBERY -
              DOES THIS HAPPEN IN AMERICA?

KENT STATE - A PROTEST

TERRORISM - THE PIPE BOMBER - MILITIAS THEN AND NOW

A BLOODY WAR OF JOEL FOR WARREN

HORRORS OF WAR

DREAMS OF WAR

DREAMS OF THE GREAT EARTHCHANGES - MAIN INDEX