This is the real reason for wars...Read on...You go to war or declare war against another sovereign nation for one of two reasons:1. You are attacked without provocation, like, say, Pearl Harbor.2. An ally by treaty is attacked without provocation and you go to help them. Another form of this would be to be asked by a sovereign nation for help.
The ultimate goal of either one of these reasons SHOULD BE to end the hostilities as soon as possible either by the attacking side surrendering such, as in our Revolutionary or Civil War, or a ceasefire arbitrated by some third party and then an effort to bring some peace and stability and reason between the warring factions.
After WWII instead of sending most of our soldiers home and shutting down our munitions factories we kept our military large and immediately went into the so-called Cold War. This was a war against an ideology, communism, not a nation, even though the USSR and to some degree China were the personification of it.
So for almost 45 years we fought the "Cold War" against an ideology which finally collapsed on its own. Did we win that war? And was it really necessary to spend all that money to "win" that war? I don't think it had anything to do with war. The military industrial complex that Eisenhower warned about needed an excuse to continue making war profits so they needed a "war," so they got one. So we fought in Korea, war profits were good....
But along comes a ceasefire for Korea.... So now what? Another threat of Communism in Vietnam and another "war" and more arms and profits. 10-plus years of lots of profits and arms buildup until the fall of Saigon in 1975. So now what do they do? Back to the old "commie threat" (Red China, etc.), bigger missiles, more planes, bombs, etc.
So for 15-plus more years more profits until quite to everyone's surprise communism effectively collapses as a world threat, Clinton gets elected and peace threatens to break out. (Oh, I almost forgot the first Gulf War, a good little war that increased profits but ended too quickly). No need for big missiles, planes etc. Panic sets in among the arms merchants. How do they keep the war machine going if there is no threat? Along comes a think tank run by a bunch of neocons called the Project For a New American Century, formed in 1995, that advocates a foreign policy of American military superiority in the world.
So the arms merchants see a new chance to keep their war profits going. But Clinton is a Democrat and surely will not go along with this. So wait until he is out of office, put in a friendly dumb president in 2000, a Republican of course, and start the new century out with great expectations and the "war party" in power. Along comes 9/11 and lo and behold the "Global War on Terror," an arms merchant's dream: a hundred years of war profits, almost forever. So how do you keep the "Global War on Terror" going for a hundred years? Make sure there are more terrorists out there under every bush, scare the crap out of the American people so they will continue to support a big military budget and life goes on.
So is Iraq a success for the arms merchants? You better believe it. The War in Iraq has fueled more terrorists, which will keep the Global War on Terror going for years and was just an opening shot in a wider war with Iran, Syria, etc. All to keep the war machine busy and increase profits. Remember, "war is good for the economy."
So what to do about Iraq? The arms merchants could care less. They are chomping at the bit to go elsewhere.
So we can continue supporting the president in another course-change in Iraq and hope for the best or we can impeach him and Cheney, Mr. Arms Merchant, and maybe have a chance to break the arms merchants once and forever.
~ Bill Keyes
