….pondering this as another anniversary of a horrific terrorist attack approaches this month…..the Westgate Mall in Kenya, September 21, 2013..where 67-71 people were brutally murdered……

….I now ask the question contemplated by most Americans….”is the USA at war?…..the political heads of state keep saying…NO….so why does this very important question still seem to invade the american psyche?  Could the reason why their “NO” response is unacceptable to most americans and to some in the military be that it doesn’t agree with the natural perception of war?

I mean, to most people, war fulfills the test of the “senses” as it applies to its definition – war, a state of armed conflict between different nations or states or different groups within a nation or state, its synonyms: conflict, warfare, combat, fighting, (military) action, bloodshed, struggle… [Merriam-Webster].  The senses are fulfilled with observation – through natural vision and captured imagery–sight,  auditory stimuli–hearing, cognitive mental processes–thinking/learning/understanding, and through experience–by encountering, touch, and being faced with the dark evil presence of war….So,

….after many of us have watched the most current live speeches from the President, Vice President, Secretary of State, Secretary of Defense, The Joint Chiefs of Staff – regarding their statements on ISIS/IS/ISIL, Al Qaeda, Syrian Rebels, Syrian Assad Government, Iran, Ukraine, Russia, Saudi Arabia, the heinous beheadings……and after we’ve re-visited the archived remarks made by Former Director of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano (remember she resigned in the fall of 2013) in which she stated the ISIS threat was already well known and discussed within the U.S. counter-terrorism, Intelligence, Defense and Homeland Security apparatuses during her tenure, with briefings on this subject matter in closed door sessions with both the executive branch and the appropriate designated members of the legislative branch,…we say to ourselves….

….huh…really?…..and ummm…..just because there are smaller pockets of american troops strategically placed in and around these regions, while fighter jets and armed drones have been given the order to bomb particular ‘strike zones’ within Syria, just because troops are on the ground ‘under the guise of training’ rebel forces, while blatant lines in the sand are being drawn against Russia, and just because this doesn’t fit the usual Modus Operandi of both WWI and WW2….somehow gives the executive branch and some in congress, and some at the DOD the credibility to “claim it’s not war”?…..how deceptively bizarre is that?..so, again…

….yes, again….I ask……is the USA at war?….you betcha—WW3…..most would agree—it’s the new “face of war”, invoking new strategies….but the same old enemies–without the defined uniform, nor respect of “rules of engagement”–nor the “rule of law” of any nation, not even the laws of the global order’s United Nations–whose soldiers hail from a wide spectrum of world sectors and socioeconomic backgrounds…cleverly camouflaged “by” war amongst its potential target(s).…

….so technically if a particular nation’s troops and overt or covert special ops forces are ordered to forgo wearing the usual camouflaged uniform and ‘military issued combat boots “for” war during engagement….this allows for military operations to be viewed and accepted as “not engaging in warfare” because of the technicality that “boots must be on the ground” and in larger groups for it to be classified as an actual war?…….say whaaaat?!…..seriously?…..is this what they and the media are doing?…..seriously?…..Hmmmm, looking back through history, should we re-consider if the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor was actually an act of war against the USA?……After all, they ONLY used fighter pilots and jets…..it was ONLY airstrikes right?…or at least predominantly right?….did they have Japanese combat boots on the ground?……Hmmm, somehow the USA considered it an act of war…..should we wonder why?

….Thus, it is war, isn’t it.

….pondering this……as I pray along with you in YAH and Our Redeemer for all who are suffering warfare and plagues here and around the world, while asking HIM to comfort and strengthen us in HIS TRUTH and LOVE that HE would grant us HIS GRACE to endure to the end of ages, to be saved,

by Tonya Woodbury-Sloan.

The Complex Layers Series