John Chuckman
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE IN RUSSIA INSIDER
“Why the Most Expensive Military Still Can't Win a War
“Spending money has become its primary purpose”
The Pentagon used to prepare fresh, hot pizzas in Vietnam and helicopter them out to troops in the field.
I think that says something important about America and war.
But we have to keep in mind that America's wars aren't like other people's wars to start with.
Since WWII, every single war had absolutely nothing to do with defense.
They were all colonial wars fought, not for the protection of the American people, but for the interests of America's power establishment.
None of them inspired the troops involved.
All of them were viewed as dirty little jobs.
Except by the psychopaths, a type always attracted to the military, for whom they were playtime with real human beings, free of all constraints and laws.
Morale, bravery, heroism, and purpose - all the stuff of epoch war stories of the past - pretty much have been missing from three-quarters of a century of American colonial wars and interventions. There are no Jimmy Stewart types with tears on the cheeks to bring a lump to your throat.
I noted with interest that back in the time of the illegal American invasion of Iraq, the New York Times – always an imperial drum-beater despite its reputation inside the United States as “liberal” – made an effort for a while to revive the old American WWII expression “GIs.”
“GIs” [Government Issues, for those unfamiliar] was an affectionate term for citizen-soldiers fighting aggressors in faraway places seventy-five years ago. The term was used in films and in newspaper reports and cartoons.
When I saw the New York Times trying to label well-paid, well-equipped modern American mercenaries who were illegally invading a country as “Aw shucks, Ma” GIs, it brought bitter laughter.
These guys actually lived in air-conditioned tents, generating immense electric bills on the desert.
I believe The New York Times abandoned the effort, but I’m not certain since I stopped reading the paper. Again, that pathetic effort tells us something about America’s modern wars.
Perhaps it helps explain why so many of America’s wars are so unsuccessful, despite the huge amounts of money spent on them and all the public relations hype from Washington and the pitiless destruction of other people with practices like carpet-bombing.
There can be no success when you attempt meaningless tasks. It’s often not even clear what success would be, say for example, in a war like that in Afghanistan. The only certainty is lots of death and destruction.
