Another Memorial Day,
another holiday filled with rhapsodies by politicians and citizens alike about the sacrifices of American military personnel. But if these summer patriots really cared about their neighbors in uniform, they would stop putting servicemen and women at risk for frivolous reasons.
America was born in war. The existence of evil means that war may always be an ugly necessity. But these days most of Washington's conflicts (Korea, Viet Nam, Afg., Iraq) are wars of choice, military interventions for almost any reason other than protecting vital American interests. Indeed, wars initiated by the U.S. are more likely to threaten than protect U.S. liberty and security.
In Afghanistan Americans are dying for no good reason. The U.S. has been at war for a decade, long after achieving its initial aims of disrupting al Qaeda, which managed the September 11 terrorist attacks, and ousting the Taliban government, which hosted al Qaeda.
Iraq was deadlier and less justified than Afghanistan. Every major Bush administration claim about Iraq proved to be false. In blowing up this artificial nation Washington triggered a brutal internal conflict which consumed 200,000 or more Iraqi lives while dramatically increasing Iran's influence in the region. The war will end up costing $2 or $3 trillion as well as 4,500 American lives.
Read the rest, here, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/doug-bandow/memorial-day-tribute-keep_b_868387.html
America was born in war. The existence of evil means that war may always be an ugly necessity. But these days most of Washington's conflicts (Korea, Viet Nam, Afg., Iraq) are wars of choice, military interventions for almost any reason other than protecting vital American interests. Indeed, wars initiated by the U.S. are more likely to threaten than protect U.S. liberty and security.
In Afghanistan Americans are dying for no good reason. The U.S. has been at war for a decade, long after achieving its initial aims of disrupting al Qaeda, which managed the September 11 terrorist attacks, and ousting the Taliban government, which hosted al Qaeda.
Iraq was deadlier and less justified than Afghanistan. Every major Bush administration claim about Iraq proved to be false. In blowing up this artificial nation Washington triggered a brutal internal conflict which consumed 200,000 or more Iraqi lives while dramatically increasing Iran's influence in the region. The war will end up costing $2 or $3 trillion as well as 4,500 American lives.
Read the rest, here, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/doug-bandow/memorial-day-tribute-keep_b_868387.html
Comments
Why can't our friggin' govt. figure that out and bring this thing to a scretchin' halt? Is it pride or stupidity?