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The missile launch officers failed to grasp
the ratio of death and destruction to the simple act
of following orders and turning a key.
And they were caught cheating.
All they were after was a good grade, to help
them climb the slippery walls of promotion,
so that one day they could be the ones to give the orders.
It isn’t as if they were the only ones who ever cheated.
It was something of a tradition among the launch officers,
something akin to “Don’t ask, don’t tell,” or turn the other way.
Cheating may have been wrong, but it wasn’t a moral outrage.
While suspended for cheating, they would not be able to launch
their nuclear-armed missiles, capable of ending civilization,
as they were ready to do any moment, day or night,
when they were on duty and received an order to launch.
What is a moral outrage is that we train and expect these young officers
to send their nuclear-armed missiles flying when commanded to do so,
to initiate oblivion with the turn of a key.
David Krieger
March 2014
Holding Trump accountable for his illegal war on Iran
The devastating American and Israeli attacks have killed hundreds of Iranians, and the death toll continues to rise.
As independent media, what we do next matters a lot. It’s up to us to report the truth, demand accountability, and reckon with the consequences of U.S. militarism at this cataclysmic historical moment.
Trump may be an authoritarian, but he is not entirely invulnerable, nor are the elected officials who have given him pass after pass. We cannot let him believe for a second longer that he can get away with something this wildly illegal or recklessly dangerous without accountability.
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