Punk rocker turned actor/filmmaker Henry Rollins is fed up with America's "love-affair" with war, and he says so in his column featured in LAWeekly.

"America can't seem to go too many years without a war," Rollins writes. "It's a proven revenue generator and gives all those kids something to do." 

The most brazen statement comes by way of Rollins charging that the current issues involving ISIS and Iraq were made possible by the Bush administration's pursuit of Saddam Hussein. He writes:

It's tragic and awful, but not all that surprising. When Saddam Hussein and his two dreadful sons were knocked off, a power vacuum was set up. You can't go into a country, wreck it, kill thousands of its citizens and - on your way out what's left of the door - tell the survivors that they now live in a democracy and wish them luck. The world just doesn't work that way. In fact, little of what the Bush administration said would happen in Iraq actually did.

The psychos in ISIS would have never pulled this off if Saddam Hussein were still in power. That's all behind us now. 

"But it was the right thing to do, right? Of course." Rollins writes, complete with sarcasm. And with trademark coarse language he adds, "The only one who f*cked up was President Obama, by pulling out American soldiers."

Rollins blames America for dissolving Iraq's military leaving them with little to defend themselves against ISIS. So what is America's role? According to Rollins, America is "baying for blood" in its ever-vigilant pursuit of war and more war:

So, what is America supposed to do? The president said he was not going to send in soldiers. Seems that he is sending in almost 300 to defend the American Embassy there. I wonder if this is the start of something - that seemingly irresistible slide down the slippery slope.

Predictably, some politicians and pundits are baying for blood. They miss Baghdad and want to get the party started again. 

The president is getting hammered by well-fed radio and television douchebags nonstop. Recently on Meet the Press, Mitt Romney was able to plant his badly kicked ass in a chair and opine about what's happening in Iraq, that it's 'a result of inaction' on the president's part. Send your sons in, tough guy.

Again, what to do? Some, perhaps like John McCain, might tell you that American forces should have never left. Sure. Let's just stay forever and get picked off by the locals. If McCain wants U.S. soldiers in Iraq so badly, he should help load the body of every dead service member off the plane when they come back.

The best choice, not going to Iraq in the first place, is no longer an option. Returning is throwing everything good after everything bad. At the same time, America destroyed that place for no good reason and ISIS now is ripping it to shreds. 

These people who did nothing, now fleeing for their lives, deserve better. The country that totally f*cked up Iraq is not interested in helping. Never was. It was a transfer of your tax dollars into corporate coffers. 

The collateral damage can be found in cemeteries, in traumatic brain injury wards, and in those affixing artificial limbs to themselves and trying to keep guns out of their mouths. The thing that makes me angry is that none of those war-peddling p*ssies have the guts to admit it.

There is no 'right thing' to do. Whatever is done will cost billions of dollars and won't change much. 

Imagine if America could keep it in its pants for a few generations. Won't happen.

And in Rollins view, America sits at the top of the world's "bloodiest" instigators and purveyors of war:

It is the most identifiable thing America exports. It doesn't matter who you voted for, or how you feel about America's exploits. When you travel abroad, you are equated by many with America's bloodiest global displays. Your scraggly beard, rancid backpack and nonstop smile don't change that. You are from the deadliest country in the world and everyone knows it.

 

Photo Credit: Heidi May