Is our military effective? Does it protect our interests or help folks who are getting beaten down? Interesting? Hmmmm?
Since the Korean War, the US Gov has practiced what scholars refer to as American Exceptionalism. In layman’s terms, if someone’s getting their ass kicked, the US is the world’s benevolent policeman to protect the “downtrodden”. I’m not going to discuss the morality of such or whether we act in the right circumstances (or not). I will, however, take a look at whether we actually help or hurt “ass kickees”. Or, as I like to put it, if you’re in trouble and the US comes knocking, should you hide under the bed?
I discuss below three large campaigns whose outcomes each impacted over 1 million people.
Vietnam: In the early 60s, N Vietnam invaded S Vietnam. Bad! Our military planners were certain the Commies unchecked would overrun the entirety of SE Asia. The US spent eight years and sent over three million Americans to fight! 50,000 Americans were killed. That’s minor compared to the loss of Vietnamese life. It’s estimated that between 2 and 3 million enemy troops and civilians were killed. All the while, the US Gov explained that we were winning the war when they knew the opposite was true (The Pentagon Papers). In the end, we left, N Vietnam took over. The "Commies" didn’t expand as we feared. Today N Vietnam is a thriving nation and one of our major trading partners.
Suppose we stayed out of the conflict? N Vietnam would have rapidly won the war, and the war casualties likely would have been 5-10% of the total (or less). Ergo, over 2 million lives could have been spared.
Afghanistan: The US was involved in this desolate nation for twenty years, spending…drum roll please, over $ 2 trillion. Over 240,000 combatants and civilians are estimated to have been killed. The US just exited, allowing our adversary, the Taliban, to take over. Ie. We lost!
Had we stayed out? Yep, we could have saved many lives, lots of money and ended up with the same result.
Syria: The nation was run by a bad guy (Assad), and we figured why not egg on and support a group of rebels that sought to overthrow the government. After initially supporting these dudes, we changed our minds(pulled support), and the conflict degenerated into a free for all. After about six years of fighting and between 500,000-600,000 war dead, Assad put down the rebellion and remained in power. BTW about half of Syria’s population, over 5 million folks, had to flee the country, washing over the shores of Europe, creating an immigration crisis.
Had we stayed out of the conflict, the uprising would have been quickly put down and you can guess the rest.
Go ahead and think: Name a significant military campaign the US has won since Korea? I'm waiting. Take your time. Grenada doesn't count. A rather stunning record of, how shall I graciously put this, non-accomplishment? I suspect you never thought about this? Yes?
Recap: The US isn’t great at helping the "victims" of the world. Nor is our government great and giving us a non-fictional account of their actions. I suppose the only real winners are the defense industry and senior retired military personnel who go to work for these guys as consultants after they leave active duty. Ironically, President Eisenhower warned of this problem back in the 1950s when he coined the term “the military-industrial complex”.
BTW, almost 20% of every dollar you pay in federal taxes goes to defense. Almost a trillion dollars per year. That's more than the next nine nations combined. Do you trust the recipients of those funds to charge fairly and put our nation’s strategic interests before their own economic interests? Yes? You’re either very trusting or very gullible.
Ukraine: We are in the early innings of this conflict. How would you guess this will end? Believe our Govs narrative? It’s the same narrative you’ve heard since the 1960s. Getting a little skeptical yet?
What I’m suggesting: We need a strong Defense Dept. and that’s going to be costly. We need a strong protective umbrella. Makes total sense. It would be ideal if we stopped spending money foolishly (we are) and ceased to get involved in situations where we increased suffering/got nothing in return. Rocket science, I know.
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