"If we don't end war, war will end us." - H.G. Wells

I’m the kind of person that loves an argument; however, if that argument gets so out of hand that human lives are at stake, that’s where I draw the line. 

“If we don’t end war, war will end us,” this quote by HG Wells really shows my opinion on war. I think it is devastating and purely awful. Both sides in a war will never be completely safe, both will always lose in some way; whether that be a battle, or the loss of life to one or more of their soldiers. 

It seems to be a common trait that once one looses, one fights even harder to not loose again, thus pushing oneself towards further destruction of oneself and ones enemy. A warring nation that continues in a war it can not win will not only loose men in the line of battle but will also wreck its economy with all the money needed to go towards the war as well as cause havoc within a nation because of the debate over the entire situation. 

Surely the best example is the United States. I am not saying that this war has destroyed us, but it has separated our nation to the point of pure abhorrence to the opposing side, and it has, without doubt, been a cause, if only minimal, of the current economic hardship we Americans face today. 

The only time I see fit for a war to take place is when it is a response to a huge amount of enemy fire. The 9/11 attacks were reason for the US to go into a safety mode of war, however, I do not think that this war should have lasted so long, and I do not think that a large part of this war actually was in hopes of protecting our country, but rather finding something that we wanted; which, in turn, makes us the bad guy. 

As for alternatives to war, that’s a hard question. Though great men like MLK Jr. stressed peaceful protests instead of violence, it doesn’t seem feasible when dealing with two or more individual nations. It seems today that pacts and promises have lost their appeal and look weak; whereas a strong army makes the nation strong. I really guess there is not much of an alternative after a nation decides to start war; however, war itself does not really seem effective. Taking the example of the current War, we have been in it for 10 years and we have taken down the Saudi Dictator as well as found the man behind the 9/11 attacks which were our primary goals, yet we have not pulled out our troops, we have lost hundreds if not thousands of soldiers and our army has killed innocent people. That just proves to me it is not very effective, however, a peace treaty between two nations would still hold tensions and with such a thing, the enemy war criminals could not be as easily punished.