Well, when the entire Repub party and its followers don't think that anything untoward in the least occurred when we went to (preventative) war over "Saddam's WMDs!", which didn't actually exist, and that no elected (Repub) executive should be held accountable for that failure, then we're quite a ways from the standard of "necessity", I say.
It's our citizens' collective delight in exercising military power and "showing strength" which is the fundamental basis for our "war after war after war". Cultural bellicosity, national hubris and corrupt leadership---those are the causes of our wars.
How many kids have you advised not to join the military this week? Consider THAT your patriotic duty.
Posted by euzoius at May 26, 2008 01:30 PMall empires eventually fall
Posted by gay veterans at May 26, 2008 02:12 PMWhile the violence of World War I and the Treaty of Versailles caused it's share of ambivalence in the United States, I think what probably did the trick was the war coming home, as it were, in terms of the Spanish Flu and its effect on the civilian population. I think we were ready to run away from everything that smacked of the Wilson years after that plague befell us.
Posted by palamedes at May 26, 2008 04:18 PMThe post refers to the ease with which we resort to violence and war in particular. Normatively, war and violence are widely accepted as political tools. Gandhi tried to move the goal posts and the reconciliation in South Africa showed the way too, both had little impact on the rest.
You call it ignorance while I see it as blood lust and tendency to violence. The difference is minor. The European learned to stay away from it after killing 150 million people in the 20th century (I belive WWI cost about 20 million dead), let's hope it wont that expensive for others.
Posted by koshembos at May 26, 2008 04:41 PMNo one, apparently, had told him that the United States has no national World War I memorial.
Don't tell anyone in Kansas City that their National World War I Museum isn't a National World War I Museum. I highly recommend it if you're in the area.
Posted by phidipides at May 26, 2008 05:02 PMThanks, phid, it looks great---I had no idea it existed!
Looks like a must see, someday.
Posted by euzoius at May 26, 2008 05:08 PMphid,
there's a difference between a museum and a memorial.
Posted by Turkana at May 26, 2008 05:41 PMTurkana,
Even I was surprised by how low you could go.
You must be so proud.
Posted by Markle at May 26, 2008 05:54 PM...there's a difference between a museum and a memorial.
I'm sure that insulting me is much better than popping the link and learning that it's the National WWI Memorial and museum. Act of Congress, dontcha know. You should see it. The elevated walk over the field of poppies is quite disturbing, and the elevator ride to the top of the memorial tower is a must do. There is also a national memorial in D.C. and several other places, but "the" WWI National Memorial is in K.C.
Posted by phidipides at May 26, 2008 06:09 PMYeah, and the appalling ineptness and incompetence of the leadership and officer corps of the French And English along with rigid inflexible strategy was the forerunner of the mess we see in Iraq. Only thing is that there were so many more fuckups during WW1 so the levels of casualties were on a much more massive scale
Posted by grandpajohn at May 26, 2008 06:11 PMWars are fought for profit, resources, territory and power. Young men and women lured by platitudes of honour and patriotism join the armed forces to "defend the homeland", yet are mere pawns in the global chess game.
It has always been so... the leaders benefit handsomely, while the peons are sacrificed.
Happy Memorial Day.
Posted by brisa at May 26, 2008 06:12 PMA few weeks ago I happened to notice out of the corner of my eye a very tall young guy in a military uniform exiting a thrift shop right behind me.
It didn't really register till I saw him again about 10 minutes later in the grocery store talking to a young man in the fruits and veggies. I watched as they left for a few minutes, and when the f & v guy returned, I just had to ask: was he a military recruiter? He and a co-worker laughed and said yes, that's how they operate.
Later, I saw the soldier cruising the main aisle, looking down the secondary aisles for more victims to approach.
I got a whiff of desperation.
Posted by at May 26, 2008 07:10 PMi dunno, phid, all i see is all sorts of notices about it being a museum. and national war memorials tend to be in washington, which seems to be lengel's point.
Posted by Turkana at May 26, 2008 07:30 PMAmericans and their military have been duped about most wars, especially Wilson's War, WW I.
There was no reason for the U.S. to enter that one.
After WW II, most U.S. wars were under false pretenses. Here is a revealing site about Vietnam and Johnson's duplicity.
The BBC has a good history of the Vietnam period. Both the American people and its military were abused about the plans of succeeding governments. Memorial Day should also be about what went wrong. “War and Protest - The U.S. in Vietnam”.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A664058
There is a very interesting discussion between Lyndon Johnson and Senator Richard Russel where they express their doubts about escalation.
Johnson - “And in any event, that we haven’t got much choice, that we are treaty bound, that we are there, that this will be a domino that will kick off a whole list of others, that we’ve just got to prepare for the worst. Now I have avoided that for a few days. I don’t think the American people are for it. I don’t agree with Morse and all he says, but -”
What was it that Washington said about entangling alliances?
Johnson speaking to McGeorge Bundy,
“Johnson - And we just got to think about - I was looking at this sergeant of mine this morning… and I just thought about ordering his kids in there and what in the hell am I ordering him out there for? What the hell is Vietnam worth to me? What is Laos worth to me? What is it worth to this country? Now we’ve got a treaty but, hell, everybody else’s got a treaty out there and they’re not doing anything about it. Of course if you start running from the Communists, they may just chase you right into your own kitchen.”
Posted by bernarda at May 27, 2008 02:43 AM