War has always been a brutal devastation of life and land. That is what war is and only one earthly species engages in war – humans. Variations on “Truth is the first casualty of war” is attributed to a handful of people, but it appears that Samuel Johnson was the first  as the following quote was found in The Idler of 1748: ‘Among the calamities of war may be jointly numbered the diminution of the love of truth, by the falsehoods which interest dictates and credulity encourages.’ (Guardian) Why lie? Because the people would neither support nor fight in a war for the real purpose – the desires of those with power. All of this is to make note that the people (we, the supposed lessers in the broader scheme of things) know the real costs of war. However, we are lied to because the “leaders”, and those whose interests are served, cannot carry on these atrocities without us because they damn well don’t want to do their own dirty work.