David Swanson: "Every US war unnecessary - here's proof"

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My Veterans Today Radio colleague David Swanson, one of America's great voices of peace, asks:

What if Americans Had Known in 2013 that U.S. rejected Syria Deal in 2012?

In the wake of the Guardian's report that the US rejected a peace deal that would have had Syrian President Assad step down in 2011, Swanson writes:

"In the United States it is considered fashionable to maintain a steadfast ignorance of rejected peace offers, and to believe that all the wars launched by the U.S. government are matters of 'last resort.' Our schools still don't teach that Spain wanted the matter of the Maine to go to international arbitration, that Japan wanted peace before Hiroshima, that the Soviet Union proposed peace negotiations before the Korean War, or that the U.S. sabotaged peace proposals for Vietnam from the Vietnamese, the Soviets, and the French. When a Spanish newspaper reported that Saddam Hussein had offered to leave Iraq before the 2003 invasion, U.S. media took little interest. When British media reported that the Taliban was willing to have Osama bin Laden put on trial before the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan, U.S. journalists yawned. Iran's 2003 offer to negotiate ending its nuclear energy program wasn't mentioned much during this year's debate over an agreement with Iran -- which was itself nearly rejected as an impediment to war."

David Swanson is an author, activist, journalist, and radio host. He is director of WorldBeyondWar.org and campaign coordinator for RootsAction.org. Swanson's books include War Is A Lie. He blogs at DavidSwanson.org and WarIsACrime.org. He hosts Talk Nation Radio. He is a 2015 Nobel Peace Prize Nominee.

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2nd hour: I continue an argument with philosophy professor emeritus Jim Fetzer.

This week's False Flag Weekly News reported on Republicans who said Indiana clerk Kim Davis shouldn't be in jail for refusing to issue gay marriage licenses. Jim Fetzer said those Republicans were wrong because Davis had a "duty to perform" (and to obey the law).  I questioned what this "duty" could possibly mean; wondered whether such a "duty to perform" would apply equally to all cases of refusal to carry out orders that one views as unconstitutional or immoral, or only to those cases where Jim Fetzer agrees with the current law; and disagreed with Jim's claim that saying "Gandhi/Rosa Parks/Kim Davis/Joe the marijuana offender etc. etc. shouldn't be in jail" is absurd since we all know that when you break the law, you are likely to go to jail.

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