War was once big news. Now? Not so much.
Which may be a function of the never-ending War on Terror, no end in sight in Afghanistan and an Iraq War that is officially over … except for the fighting.
Last October, Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein busied fact-checkers by claiming the U.S. was “bombing seven countries.” True, declared PolitiFact: Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Pakistan, Somalia, Syria and Yemen.
Yemen is better known after January’s raid that killed Navy SEAL Ryan Owens, wounded three other SEALs, and killed 14 to 25 Yemeni civilians, including children. Last week, during President Trump’s speech to Congress, Owens’s widow, Carryn, received a thunderous ovation.
But, as I argued at Townhall, “Ryan Owens and his widow and her three now fatherless children deserve more than applause.“ How about thoughtful policies and a Congress that holds the executive branch accountable?
Invading Iraq was a mistake. So was President Obama’s swerve over to destabilize Libya.
“We are not about to send American boys 9 or 10 thousand miles away from home to do what Asian boys ought to be doing for themselves,” President Lyndon Johnson once said … right before he sent more American soldiers to Vietnam.
Consider that U.S. Special Forces were deployed to 70 percent of the world’s nations in 2016. And, in recent weeks, President Trump asked for a $54 billion increase in military spending, and we have learned of Pentagon plans to seek a “significant increase in U.S. participation” against ISIS.
We owe it to those in uniform to ask tough questions, including: Is what we’re doing really worth a single American life?
This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.
Further reading:
Reason: Is the Military Really “Depleted” After Years of Record-High Spending?
The Atlantic: Fighting Terrorism With a Credit Card
The National Interest: America Is Never (Ever, Ever) Ending the War on Terror
3 replies on “War on Page A‑10”
Wars are sometimes necessary to defend yourself and country against an aggressor. They, to be moral and justified, most be only in defense and continued only until the aggressor can no longer make war against you, the bankruptcy of their abilities — financial and/or human.
That said, surrogate wars where the finances are from other sources only end with the eradication of the enemy, i.e. genocide of a religious, ethnic, or political group.
Such is neither moral or just. That is the morass we, or allies and or enemies are in. It is time to see and correct or error.
We’ll stop making aggressive war when our Israeli deep state and neocon masters tell us it’s okay.
Amen Paul!