From the vault (June 26, 2014, revised):
It’s no secret that I’ve been opposed to every military adventure in which the United States has been engaged in, from Vietnam to Afghanistan – and now to Iran. If I had been politically aware in 1950, I would have been opposed to the adventure in Korea; but, I was just a 10-year-old kid then who didn’t know anything about political matters.
Times change, and so did I.
Though I am a veteran, I will have to risk the ire of my fellow vets (and a lot of non-vets) when I say that not every military adventure the U.S. has embarked upon has been a “good/necessary” war. In fact, I can count on one finger the number of times the U.S. has fought a good/necessary war – the War for Independence, to be exact. I will further say that those who believe the propaganda put out by government concerning the why of these adventures should take off their blinders and/or rose-colored glasses and open their eyes. Does this make The Chas less of a red, white, and blue “patriotic” American?
What The Chas is, dear reader, is an historian, and he has studied plenty of history to the point of differentiating between truth and propaganda. Expressions like “defense of freedom” or “national security” ring hollow in his ears, because they are bandied about by hypocrites who attempt to influence the public into supporting one “bad/choice” war after another and wasting our tax dollars in the process.
Generally speaking, wars are fought to (1) seize more territory or natural resources (read: Empire-building), (2) free oneself from a colonial power (read: Revolution), (3) protect economic and/or political interests (read: Entangling mutual-defense alliances), (4) exact revenge for a grievance, real or manufactured, (5) effect regime change (read: Colonialism), and/or (6) influence the outcome of someone else’s civil conflict (read: Empire-building and/or colonialism). The only “freedom” involved is the freedom to dominate those peoples one does not like and coddle those one does like. As George Orwell pointed out in 1984, alliances can shift at the drop of a political speech; the propaganda churned out by government remains essentially the same, but only the names are changed. Orwell also imagined that perpetual war was a useful tool for keeping the “proles,” i.e. the general public, occupied with “patriotic” activities so that they do not pay attention to the dictatorship under which they labor.
The worst sin we can commit, in my humble opinion, is to involve ourselves in someone else’s civil conflict (No. 6 in the list above). Doing so will result in one of three possible outcomes. First, whichever side you choose to take may cause the other side to hate you forever and commit acts of terrorism against you. Second, whichever side you choose may cause other outside powers to enter the fray in order to “balance” things out, resulting in a world war. And third, whichever side you take will cost you dearly in terms of treasure and blood and result in disorder at home.
We should have learned our lesson in Vietnam. We did not, and subsequent history has shown us the price we paid. The chicken-hawks so desperately wanted a war we could “win” that they pumped out the mountains of “patriotic“ propaganda in order to get the U.S. involved. In the end, however, Vietnam turned out to be a quagmire. The only “winners” were the military-industrial complex and the banks.
Two months plus from now, we will celebrate America’s 250th birthday. I’ll observe it as well, but not in the same fashion as everybody else. We’ll see the parades and the fireworks, and we’ll hear the pretty speeches from hypocritical politicians praising our veterans for making our freedoms possible. Scarcely will any mention be made about the Declaration of Independence or the Constitution and the impact they made on our history and world history. Scarcely will anyone rationally explain how fighting someone else’s war will make us free.
Am I being hyper-cynical, dear reader? You bet! But I have the historical record – and George Santayana’s oft-quoted observation – to guide me, and I worry about America’s future.
Just a thought.
P.S.: In his latest rant, Bela (B.S.) Suhayda persecuted us “weasels.” Unfortunately, he neglected to name the biggest weasel of all time, i.e. the man who would be king, Donald John Trump. You’re welcome, Bela, baby. The Chas is always happy to assist a fellow writer. Kiss, kiss.