The U.S. has been at war or at least engaged in military conflicts almost every year since it's founding.
"Nah," you say.
Check out this site. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lists_of_wars_involving_the_United_States There are bitty wars when the government attacked different Indian tribes, but there are biggies which involved the rest of the world.
Officially the U.S. declared war only five times.
I was born during WWII, probably the last necessary war. Estimated deaths have been calculated between 70-85 million. Something about a 15 million person discrepancy is upsetting.
Korea caused about three million people deaths, mostly Korean civilians. The breakdown of military deaths can be found here. Spoiler: Some 54,246 U.S. Military deaths happened according to the Department of Defense. What did it solve? Is America safer for their deaths. Didn't they die for more lies?
We can't forget Vietnam, where men were drafted and went off for reasons that were based on a lie: if the U.S. fell to Communism, it would create a domino effect and by sacrificing their lives it was better to fight them there than in the U.S.
Vietnam fell, but the U.S. has not been overrun by the Vietnamese communists or not. The two countries share business relationships now.
Men volunteered to fight for their country (lie, lie, lie they were fighting for vested interests) while others who weren't at university or had young families were drafted. Unfair even if there was a draft lottery.
If I had a son and he had been drafted, I would have driven him to Canada and if he still wanted to join up, I'd have locked him up where he couldn't join the military. Any other life choice, my mythical son was free to make, but joining the military was like standing on a precipice ready to throw himself off. I refused to give birth to cannon fodder.
I did not want to see the name of any son of mine on a long black wall like on the Vietnam Memorial in D.C. along with boys I knew. 50,000 plus died for a lie, albeit in honorable way.
I think folk singer Phil Ochs said it best as White Boots Marching in a Yellow Land.
Clinton and Trump (the later whom I have nothing much good to say about) have been criticized for getting out of doing their military service. I would like to think they were not willing to die for a lie, but more likely the idea of walking through mud and rice paddies just to kill yellow people when they could be home doing more pleasant things, may have had a bigger part. And maybe they knew that the country would not be appreciative of their services once they came home. The treatment of veterans has been cruel and irresponsible on too many levels.
This century has been one Middle East crisis after another. We have Netanyahu claiming that Israel has a right to protect itself, and by doing that they are denying other countries and people the right to defend themselves. Nothing like a little genocide to bring peace to a region NOT.
There's always a made-up reason to attack a school, a hospital, a camp killing, killing, killing. And if there's a chance that peace just might break out, Israel sends another bomb guaranteeing the combat will go on and on and on... And if bombs won't work, maybe starvation will.
Africa is not free from U.S. Military although the African command is headquartered at Kelley Barracks near Stuttgart where my ex and I were stationed in the 1960s. Why? There haven't been so many lies as lack of explanation on why they are there in the first place. And wouldn't diplomacy and development aid be a better way to go?
That brings us to Trump and his current band of morons. There are reasonable questions that the intelligence about Iran wasn't valid. Two senators, Murphy and Johnson, hearing the same report came to different conclusions, one of which is a Trump toady. As for believing Trump on anything, the fact The Washington Post caught him in over 30,000 lies erodes any confidence that this time he just might be telling the truth.
Look at military spending by nations https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_with_highest_military_expenditures
The U.S. is highest at $997 billion. Number 2 is China at $334 billion. Meanwhile U.S. kids go hungry, schools are underfunded and the U.S. health system is a disgrace compared to every other industrialized country. Some of the money would go a long way to solving the problems. If you don't have enough to eat or medical care when you need it are you safe. NO!
Probably your chances of being hurt by a foreign attack or dying by a bad social contract is greater.
I believe that most of the military believe they are defending their country having been fed the propaganda from childhood. Trump has called much of the military "losers" which is an incorrect term for people doing what they think is right. But what if they would discover that they are doing the opposite, making the world less safe.
What if every soldier refused to fight?
It's naive to hope that every soldier would put down their arms (which would destroy the weapons manufacturers who gain from military aid to places like Israel).
One of the things about getting old, I can say I heard it all before and the same old, same old lies about why a war or military action is necessary grows less believable with every event.
When I'm depressed by the absolute horrendous of those that pretend to be leaders, I will play Imagine by John Lennon. Does it help? Not much, but it keeps me sane.
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today... Aha-ah...
Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion, too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace... You...
You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will be as one
Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world... You...
You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will live as one
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