I’m reading through a book of essays by Wendell Berry, which I’m finding quite provocative and humorous. In his essay called "Peaceableness Toward Enemies" he comments on the first Gulf War: the factors that led to it and its consequences. It’s an alarming essay on how, in his words, war has become obsolete as a tool to bring any net good to the world. He ends the essay these words:
"The most alarming sign of the state of our society now is that our leaders have the courage to sacrifice the lives of young people in war but have not the courage to tell us that we must be less greedy and less wasteful."
– Wendell Berry, 1991.