Upcoming fast!

I start my fast tomorrow. For someone who is as food oriented as I am, fasting is a big challenge. But, when I think about the massacres and the torture and all of the human rights violations that occur in this world, either directly or indirectly because of military aid and training provided by my government, my sacrifice seems very small indeed.
Although I have been part of a movement that has focused on one military training school for foreign troops in the United States, the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (formerly known as the School of the Americas), I am well aware that the United States runs many of these schools. They train troops from around the world. Troops are trained in the United States and in the home countries of those troops. The U.S. government tends to provide military aid and training to the dictator or thug who is serving U.S. interests best at any particular time. The example that is usually cited is the aid provided to the Taliban when the former Soviet Union was bogged down in its war with Afghanistan. When the dictator or thug stops serving U.S. interests... well... gosh, it's hard to untrain those bad guys...
So... I'm fasting to send a message to the government... stop repeating the same mistakes over and over again... stop training foreign troops to do things that U.S. troops would get court martialed for doing (although, sometimes, they do it, and only the lower level troops get punished).
Gotta get some chocolate while I still can... I'll write again tomorrow!!!!