Mary Ellen Croteau

GI Joe
found objects, mixed media
8 x 8 x 10 in.

War is a game that big boys play. Just how much of a game war is to the boys in suits and uniforms was made apparent by the deck of cards passed out to U.S. “forces” with photos of Iraqi “targets,” that is, Iraqi leadership.

It circumscribes all of our lives the world over. It is what they mean when they talk of “history.” It is what you have to learn when they teach you “history:”

The Trojan Wars The Peloponnesian Wars The Crusades The Revolutionary War The Civil War The Spanish-American War The Mexican-American War The Battle of the Alamo The Battle of the Little Big Horn The Battle of the Bulge The Great War World War I World War II Hiroshima/Nagasaki The Korean War The Cold War The Vietnam War The Gulf War The Middle East War The War in the Balkans. Not to mention all those wars we call “conflicts” or “interventions:” Grenada Panama Nicaragua Chile Cuba El Salvador Honduras Argentina Burma Indonesia Laos Cambodia Angola Iran Egypt Algeria Somalia & etc etc etc

There is no history of peace. Yet.

© Mary Ellen Croteau