I really appreciate superbly articulated ideas; crisp concepts from thoughtful and well-spoken people. Sometimes, however, there are gems hidden among the bluster of political thugs.
Consider this Tweet from our President (with my highlighting):
“Endless Wars, especially those which are fought out of judgement mistakes that were made many years ago, & those where we are getting little financial or military help from the rich countries that so greatly benefit from what we are doing, will eventually come to a glorious end!”
— Donald J Trump (Twitter, 1/7/2019)
For those who don’t know, Twitter tweets (posts) are limited to 280 characters. (Mr. Trump likes to pack his full.) If you take this Tweet, remove the gook and extract the subject, verb and object, you have:
“Endless Wars come to end”
Like many of our president’s words, there is no directive in here, no actionable steps, no commitment. You won’t (and shouldn’t) glean any hopefulness from this, but it does serve as reminder that the United States is still fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan and Syria and other places. If asked why, we are told this is part of our global war on terrorism.
Terrorism is a military tactic—not a country or an ideology.
According to the Department of Defense Base Structure Report, the DoD manages a worldwide real property portfolio that spans all 50 states, seven U.S. territories with outlying areas, and 42 foreign countries. The total estimated value of the military-use buildings and structures on these properties is $879 Billion; and these sit on an aggregate of nearly 25 million acres world-wide.
Of course, this doesn’t count our 11 carrier battle groups, or 66 nuclear submarines, or black sites operated by the CIA.
If you look at the territories the allies occupied during World War II, the U.S. Military still has a presence there. Germany, Italy, Japan, Guam, the Philippines, the Marshall Islands, Diego Garcia, Midway, the Solomon Islands…. We just don’t leave. Ever.
Beyond the real-estate, the United States has ongoing military activities in 120 countries right now. Ask yourself again, “Who are we at war with?” and “When does this end?”
Our Constitution does not include anything about the United States being a global police department. We support authoritarian regimes, so we’re clearly not acting to spread democracy or ‘freedom.’ Many treaties that required U.S. Military protection outlived their need long ago. Frankly, we have become the cause, not the cure, for much of the unrest overseas.
We are risking the lives of our soldiers, our children, on causes that are not ours– claiming we are fighting a phantom that will never end in countries who have not asked for our help and don’t want us there.
The argument has been made that the U.S. Military provides not just protection, but economic boosts to countries and territories outside of the U.S. The domestic benefit of Scott AFB, Whiteman AFB and Fort Leonard Wood in our region is undeniable, and shouldn’t more of that economic boost be focused on U.S. communities?
We are bankrupting our country by overreaching with our military strength. We should be looking at restructuring our military for defense and refocus on our domestic needs. What great things we could accomplish if we could re-purpose Pentagon budget more for the benefit our our country and its citizens.
Isn’t it time to end this endless war footing?
–– Mark Toenjes, WCD Member