In A Way, Is the United States Becoming Like the Country It Rebelled Against?

In a time of peace, when a country has a large diverse military paired with it is a drive to use it in various non-defense reasons, from threatening other countries to bow to your intent and to directly interfere in the affairs of other countries. This is particularly true for superpowers such as the United States.

I am not opposed to a nation having a solid military system to protect itself from undue aggression. As evidenced in times of disasters the military with its command and rapid response infrastructure to rapidly move and deploy aid as well as provide a framework of civil order.

What concerns me is when a peacetime military is unduly large. As evidenced by Somalia, Panama, Lebanon, Granada and the current Iraq war, politicians have a way of using the military in unjustified ways. We have too many who have not served in the military (or worse who during the Vietnam era used connections to have deferments or homeland service) being too quick to spill the blood of our youth.

I am also concerned with its size not only is a major expense in the national budget but it dominates the budget, and that education, roads, care of seniors, etc suffer significantly in order to pour more money into arms. I am concerned when it is so large that the defense industry is a major factor in the political process.

Since Gorbachev brought a unilateral conclusion to the Cold War, the United States military budget as a percent of the national budget and GDP has continued to grow. And if a large number on Capitol Hill have their way, even more of the national GDP will go into defense.

Draconian cuts are being proposed by Congressmen Paul Ryan and his colleagues across the board except for the military. This is an atrocity. The military needs to be cut even more so than civilian expenses. The current justifications for a strong military, for all other expenses to be slashed to the bone to keep the military strong while the industrial military complex that Eisenhower warned us about (and we have conveniently forgotten) become wealthy is not new. The current arguments and dynamics at play in the United States are the same rationale, arrogance and dynamics that existed in England in the mid 1700s against which this country rebelled. It is unfortunate that in so many ways that as a nation the United States is coming full circle and doing what its founding fathers rebelled against.

Iraq War Costs Coming Due

Two or three years ago I blogged Iraq War and why the US should withdraw. While the invasion of Afghanistan was justified Iraq was not. To put forward their argument to the UN the Bush/Chaney administration sent Colin Powell, the person in the administration with the greatest credibility. Within weeks of the invasion it became clear that the Bush/Chaney administration intentionally misled America. To cover their folly and distract the nation from the crumbling rationale, in dramatic fashion Bush announced “mission accomplished”. Powell’s credibility and character were mere tools to be spent by people who lacked Powell’s depth of character and principles.

Over the subsequent months and years new rationale was put forward post invasion as pre-invasion rationale. Bush led a great nation into a war that is problematic on several levels. Besides being unjustified, the strategy and follow-up plans were highly questionable, and the war was not paid.

For any country to prosecute a war successfully, the entire nation must be involved in the sacrifice. War making must be a national activity, not only a military activity, that requires the nation to sacrifice not only its blood, but also its treasures. It is a folly not to demand the latter from the outset. It is the latter that helps hold the civil armchair political generals in check. What happened? Rather than paying for the war by demanding the sacrifice of the general public through increased taxes and the closing corporate loopholes, Bush/Chaney amplified the folly by cutting taxes and allowing American daily life to be lived as if there was no costs and thereby leaving the nation with a growing time bomb debt.

Costs do come due, costs that Bush/Chaney pushed the problem off to the next administration. Further compounding the problem their deregulatory actions enhanced the depth of the crisis by contributing to the housing bubble and the mortgage meltdown. Still further, contrary to his pontificating of being a “Uniter” and his campaign trail claims to work in a bi-partisans consensus building manner, the imperial Bush/Chaney administration worked in a highly dogmatic partisan manner which created today’s political environment that makes it problematic for the White House and Congress to achieve any bipartisan solution not only on the budget but most matters.

As more and more is revealed about the Bush/Chaney administration the more disgusted with their administration…and for acquiescing to his imperialism and imperial presidency, the Republican Congress, and the Republicans party. Some scholars are speculating that the Bush/Chaney administration may well go down as one of the worse two or three administrations in the last century, and be amongst the worst seven in American history. I am coming the conclusion that the administration not only bumbled its opportunities for greatness, to build a better nation and world, it also sowed the seeds for the problems that would will take the United States, and to a degree the world, a generation or two to overcome.

America Attacked From Within

I learned of this story today. Jamie Leigh Jones, an employee of Halliburton was required to sign an arbitration agreement regarding issues that arise within the context of her employment with Halliburton. What Halliburton knew, and Ms Jones did not know, was that she was signing away her civil rights as a condition of employment. Thinking that such arbitration pertained to minor disagreements and differences between employees and between employer and employee, I have looked favorably upon such agreements.

No longer do I support such agreements. Such agreements must be explicitly outlawed if such agreements protect a firm and its employees from being held accountable. Once again we have exposed the ugly underbelly of the corporate environment in America. Halliburton remains unapologetic for its shameful conduct and not working swiftly and diligently to bring the perpetrators to justice. While threats to America do come from without the country, Halliburton has shown that an equal threat to America can and does flow from its corporate boardroom.

While no American should be asked to sign away their civil rights as a condition of employment, such an expectation is far more common in the United States than its citizens realize.

The Crucible of War - A Worthwhile Read

I recently finished The Crucible of War: The Seven Years War by Fred Anderson. This history textbook is not a quick read, but moving through it at a steady pace is well worth the effort. Anderson draws out the social and political dynamics of the age that triggered the first global war as England and France fought it out for world dominance.

The book fleshes out what transpired in the pre-revolutionary war period in the colonies, the stirring of unresolved issues, the self-centered actions of a host of people who were seeking more money for themselves and the stumbling of cultural misunderstandings that sowed the seeds for the American Revolution. The book helps the reader to understand that the colonists did seek to revolt but progressively did so because they could not resolve how they viewed themselves and their social standing within British Empire. Anderson nicely shows that the colonists sought to be left alone but the moment they ran into trouble, quickly sought the help of the Crown but were reluctant to pay that help.

One little tidbit I found of interest is that young George Washington and a force of men he lead against the French and Indians in Ohio triggered the war the consumed the two empires and the ultimate defeat of France.

The book not only is of interest in helping the reader to understand the nature and characters that make up modern America but it also shows how America has not learned from its own national experience. Throughout the book I could not help see similarities between the dynamics at play in Afghanistan and Iraq. All too often one is seeing in contemporary American policy and national attitudes the viewpoints of the Crown and the British nobility of the 18th Century. Further all too often the viewpoints and attitudes Americans are seeing in the Afghani and Iraqi leadership and populous today are similar to the attitudes, language and actions held by the colonists in the ten to fifteen years before the American Revolution. In other words, America today is acting in a very similar fashion that Britain did in the 1750-1776.

What Is So New?

Nation troops lack discipline, slow to meet enrollment goals and when they enroll, quick to desert.

Local authorities slow or unwilling to recruit troops necessary for their defense.

Ethnic cleansing campaigns conducted by locals with local officials looking the other way and in some cases hindering the foreign troops from interceding.

Other local authorities declining to raise men for the military noting that there is no need given overtures of peace being made by some on the other side.

Foreign officers complaining about lack of discipline amongst local troops, and that they run to quickly from a fight.

With mounting debt the foreign nation expends a significant portion of their wealth on military expenditures and in keeping their military in the field.

Foreign troops sacrificing themselves but wondering why local governments and troops are not doing the same to protect their own people.

The hot war was simpler than the victorious aftermath. The ongoing fighting and political folly has become a greater quagmire than the hot war.

Locals claim they want help, but then do not what to help themselves.

Foreign leadership seeking ways to have the other country pay its own bills.

Local government wanting to take control but the other nation questions the commitment and viability of self-rule.

Rampant factionalism with no unified vision or sense of nationhood uniting various provincial governments into one central body.

The foreign country pouring large sums into building public works and infrastructure, but while local authorities argue over the needs or whether they should contribute to the paying of the same.

Large cultural divide between the country and the foreign country.

Homeland politicians crying out that it is long overdue to bring troops home and to end putting money into an endless pit with little home of return.

Local authorities wondering how much say they really have in running their own country.

People questioning whether the other country is really governable and worth the fuse, particularly when the citizens of the other country do not appreciate what they have been doing for their benefit.

For several years we have heard the above over and over again, so why recount the familiar and the recent. History is repeating itself. As today the Americans are speak of Iraq and Afghanistan the British were speaking of the Americans between 1755 and 1770. As Americans then came to detest the British crown and Parliament so too are the Iraqis and Afghans today. By the way, other similarities would make the list is much longer.

It is ironic that America has forgotten its own history and in many ways has been doing to Iraq and Afghanistan what they complained about the British doing.

Pausing on Memorial Day

On this Memorial Day, these images from the Vietnam Memorial speak for themselves.

To reflect upon the current war in Iraq and Afghanistan go to http://www.mapthefallen.org/
On the top right this site has a map using Google Earth the can be downloaded and shows where each of the 5,679 who have died in battle since the beginning of the war in 2002. You can zoom in on the fallen soldier's home town, click on their name and learn when and how they were killed.