The U.S. is continually waging war
and people should ask:
for whose benefit?
As near as I can tell, our nation has received near-zero benefit from combat operations in Afghanistan, one of the most corrupt nations on earth where most of the billions of dollars “invested” have been squandered or stolen by the kleptocrats the U.S. has supported. Every hour taxpayers in the United States are paying $32,077,626 for the total cost of wars since 2001.
The U.S. has been at war for almost 17 years in Afghanistan and 15 years in Iraq. (If the word “war” is too upsetting, then substitute “continuing combat operations”.)
Since the burdens and costs of these combat operations are borne solely by the volunteers of the U.S. Armed Forces, the American populace pays little to no attention to the wars unless a household has a family member in uniform who is in a war zone.
Permanent combat operations are now a barely audible background noise to Americans, something we’ve habituated to: the human costs are invisible to the vast majority of residents, and the financial costs are buried in the ever-expanding mountain of national debt. What’s another borrowed trillion dollars on top of the $21 trillion pile?
The US has been at peace for only 16 of its 242 years as a nation. Counting wars, military attacks and military occupations, there have actually only been five years of peace in US history — 1976 to 1980. The US is “the most warlike nation in the history of the world,” a result of the US forcing other countries to “adopt our American principles.”
“Since 1979, do you know how many times China has been at war with anybody?” “None, and we have stayed at war.” Since 1979, however, China has been at peace with its neighbors and the world.
US war spending is more than you can imagine. According to a November 2018 study by Brown University’s Watson Institute of International and Public Affairs, the US has spent $5.9 trillion waging war in Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, Pakistan and other nations since 2001.
“China has not wasted a single penny on war, and that’s why they’re ahead of us. In almost every way.” If you took $3 trillion and put it in American infrastructure you’d probably have $2 trillion leftover. “We’d have high-speed railroads. We’d have bridges that aren’t collapsing, we’d have roads that are maintained properly. Our education system would be as good as that of South Korea or Hong Kong.”
While there is a prevalent belief in the United States that the country almost always wages war for noble purposes and in defense of freedom, global public opinion and facts paint a very different picture. Most countries surveyed in a 2013 WIN/Gallup poll identified the United States as the greatest threat to world peace, and a 2017 Pew Research poll found that a record number of people in 30 surveyed nations viewed US power and influence as a “major threat.”
The US has invaded or bombed dozens of countries and supported nearly every single right wing dictatorship in the world since the end of World War II. It has overthrown or attempted to overthrow dozens of foreign governments since 1949 and has actively sought to crush nearly every single people’s liberation movement over that same period. It has also meddled in scores of elections, in countries that are allies and adversaries alike.
As a young Marine officer, I believed without question that my government was infallible and most assuredly on the side of the Angels. Now I know how wrong I was, and I’m angry at myself for not questioning its policies or the continued restrictions on the liberties of its citizens.
War is just a racket. A racket is best described, I believe, as something that is not what it seems to the majority of people. Only a small inside group knows what it is about. It is conducted for the benefit of the very few at the expense of the masses.
I believe in adequate defense at the coastline and nothing else. If a nation comes over here to fight, then we’ll fight. The trouble with America is that when the dollar only earns 6 percent over here, then it gets restless and goes overseas to get 100 percent. Then the flag follows the dollar and the soldiers follow the flag.
I wouldn’t go to war to protect some lousy investment of the bankers. There are only two things we should fight for. One is the defense of our homes and the other is the Bill of Rights. War for any other reason is simply a racket. There isn’t a trick in the racketeering bag that the military gang is blind to. It has its “finger men” to point out enemies, its “muscle men” to destroy enemies, its “brain men” to plan war preparations, and a “Big Boss” Super-Nationalistic-Capitalism.
No matter which party controls the White House or Congress, the War Party runs things. Warmongering neocons in the GOP and warmongering neolibs in the Democrat Party control Washington, D.C. Oh, they might fuss and feud with each other over domestic and social issues (abortion, homosexuality, welfare, immigration, tort reform, etc.), but they are joined at the hip on the one issue that matters most to them: the Warfare State. Yes, these domestic issues are very important—except to the War Party. Members of the War Party can be pro-life or “pro-choice”; pro-gun control or pro-Second Amendment; pro-homosexual “marriage” or pro-traditional marriage; pro-illegal immigration for or pro-legal immigration; pro-welfare expansion or anti-welfare expansion; pro-laws protecting defendants or pro-laws empowering prosecutors; but everyone in the War Party is united in their support of perpetual war.
With very few exceptions, conducting war on the world is sacrosanct to both Republicans and Democrats. Nothing, and I mean nothing, unites and inspires the neocons and neolibs like perpetual war. And nothing puts more money in the coffers of neocons and neolibs like perpetual war.
