Why Do We Fight?

By Don Lovell
Staff Writer
Published: Friday, October 29, 2010
Updated: Friday, October 29, 2010 21:10
Courtesy Of "The West Georgian"

Why do we fight? Why do we continue to expand our military presence around the globe? Why do we invade sovereign nations like Iraq and Afghanistan? Why do we have forces stationed in areas where there is no threat to America? Follow the money. If profits are to be made from war, rest assured America will be making them.

President Dwight D. Eisenhower knew about war, having served as the Supreme Commander of the Allied forces in Europe during World War II. He warned us as he was leaving office in 1961 of a threat to our way of life. The military industrial complex, as he called it, is the combination of a massive military establishment and the corporations who furnish the tools of war. Eisenhower said that such a combination was new to the American experience, and although required during the Cold War era, left unchecked it would endanger our liberties and the democratic process.

A costly and over-extended military was one reason for the fall of the Roman Empire. It looks as though the same may be happening to us. For fiscal year 2010, we will spend 58 percent of the United States budget on the military. As a comparison, primary and secondary education budgets will receive 4 percent.

According to Chalmers Johnson, we were operating 737 military bases in other countries in 2005. We spend more than three times the amount that China and Russia combined spend on their militaries. Defense spending remains unchecked, and sadly, we no longer care. Almost half of us do not even vote, having turned out less than 57 percent in the 2008 presidential election. Of course we need a strong defense, but this is not about that. This is about money.

We went to war in Iraq based on President Bush's claim that Saddam was somehow involved with 9/11, and the blatant lie that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. Bush, Cheney and Rice tricked us, and the US Congress failed us by approving a declaration of war based on falsified intelligence claims and pressure from the White House. The reason seems obvious now that the move was to control Iraq's oil and allow the individuals who supply the tools of war to profit immensely.

The escalation of operations in Afghanistan is another example of how out of touch we are as a nation. The Taliban rebels are estimated to number no more than 25,000. CIA Director Leon Panetta reports that there are only 50 to 100 Al Qaeda operatives left in the country. Allied troops already outnumber the Taliban 12 to 1. Yet, we need to send more soldiers?

The Afghanistan war is not about the spread of democracy or protection from terrorists. It is, instead, about gaining control of the estimated $1 trillion worth of its natural resources, and of course, for pumping billions of dollars into the coffers of US defense contractors. The Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan tells us that conditions for women and children are actually worse since we invaded Afghanistan more than nine years ago. The rhetoric of spreading democracy is proving to not be true.

Why should we be concerned? We are sacrificing the lives of our loved ones to line the pockets of the profiteers. My heart goes out to the families who lost family and friends in these wars. I recently lost family in Afghanistan, too. These brave citizens volunteered to serve their country and have served it honorably. But something here has gone terribly wrong. We have become that which we denounce.

The US attitude toward human rights and killing is becoming cavalier, just like it did to the Romans. The evidence is clear, as in the recently leaked footage where in 2007 US troops killed 12 civilians and maimed two children in Iraq, all the while laughing and seemingly making a sport out of the entire slaughter. We claim to be above this type of sadistic behavior, but the same lack of reverence for life reared its ugly head at Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib, too.

The propaganda is thick when it comes to why we fight. The makers of war have convinced us that a permanent state of war is the new peace. Regretfully, Eisenhower was right. The war machine is jeopardizing the stability of our republic. The Roman's made the journey, and unless we take back the reins of our government, the United States will follow the same path to ruin.