The forever war is allowed to continue in as many places as it does for as long as it has because virtually no one in a position of authority wants to demand an end to it.
Nothing more disappoints me than the complete abdication of Congress, especially the Progressive Left of the Democratic Party. I came of age during the Vietnam War and well remember Democratic Senators like William Fulbright railing against LBJ and the war, and holding public hearings for all Americans to be educated on this criminal war.
That has all changed and the Democratic Party is as much wedded to Pentagon spending and endless wars as the Republican Party. Even the supposed threat of a “fascist tyranny” under Trump didn’t deter Democrats from increasing National Security State funding. We have become a democracy in name only, as our executive, legislative, and judicial branches, along with the MSM, are wholly owned and operated by Corporate America. This doesn’t end well.
(1) In media coverage and public justifications for attacks on states and organizations that have not attacked the United States, vague words which imply a relationship without stating what that relationship actually consists of are used to scramble the minds of the public. We often hear that a group is "linked" or "connected" to another one. This is nothing but a linguistic trick. The concept of a "link" or a "connection" is so broad that it can describe any kind of relationship at all, no matter how small. I am "linked" with the Bush Administration by virtue of being an American citizen who was alive during Bush's presidency. Russia is "linked" with Spain in the sense that both countries have formal diplomatic relationships. I am "connected" with Coca Cola corporation because I work for a company that once had them as a client, though I never worked on any matters involving Coca Cola. Are any of these "links" remotely meaningful? No. Instead of letting the media get away with merely reporting that one group is "linked" or "connected" to another, they should ask to know what those "links" actually ARE. The SDF group in Syria, for example, is "linked" to the PKK because it is in fact a different name for essentially the same organization, with the same leadership and the same objectives.
(2) In Somalia and many other cases, I do not think the public pays much attention to what the American military and federal government are doing unless it involves uniformed American troops staging a ground invasion. When the American military merely institutes a no-fly-zone or better yet conducts a remote missile strike of a foreign state, Americans don't pay much attention or even necessarily think of these things as acts of war. We are conditioned to think that a "war" means uniformed American troops on the ground, fighting another country's military, or perhaps fighting in the air using combat jets. We are visual creatures, and these issues can seem deeply abstract if the description of a military act doesn't look like "our guys fighting their guys" in our mind's eye. There has got to be a way to change this. Assuredly, most farm boys in rural Pakistan have just as much of a grievance against the US when an American drone kills their brother as they would if a uniformed American serviceman did so. We shouldn't be surprised when such people resent America and balk by asking "what did we ever do to you?" A death via a drone operated from a warehouse in San Antonio isn't any different from the Pakistani boy's point of view than an American shooting their big brother dead point blank.
Nothing more disappoints me than the complete abdication of Congress, especially the Progressive Left of the Democratic Party. I came of age during the Vietnam War and well remember Democratic Senators like William Fulbright railing against LBJ and the war, and holding public hearings for all Americans to be educated on this criminal war.
That has all changed and the Democratic Party is as much wedded to Pentagon spending and endless wars as the Republican Party. Even the supposed threat of a “fascist tyranny” under Trump didn’t deter Democrats from increasing National Security State funding. We have become a democracy in name only, as our executive, legislative, and judicial branches, along with the MSM, are wholly owned and operated by Corporate America. This doesn’t end well.
A fine piece. A few things stick out to me:
(1) In media coverage and public justifications for attacks on states and organizations that have not attacked the United States, vague words which imply a relationship without stating what that relationship actually consists of are used to scramble the minds of the public. We often hear that a group is "linked" or "connected" to another one. This is nothing but a linguistic trick. The concept of a "link" or a "connection" is so broad that it can describe any kind of relationship at all, no matter how small. I am "linked" with the Bush Administration by virtue of being an American citizen who was alive during Bush's presidency. Russia is "linked" with Spain in the sense that both countries have formal diplomatic relationships. I am "connected" with Coca Cola corporation because I work for a company that once had them as a client, though I never worked on any matters involving Coca Cola. Are any of these "links" remotely meaningful? No. Instead of letting the media get away with merely reporting that one group is "linked" or "connected" to another, they should ask to know what those "links" actually ARE. The SDF group in Syria, for example, is "linked" to the PKK because it is in fact a different name for essentially the same organization, with the same leadership and the same objectives.
(2) In Somalia and many other cases, I do not think the public pays much attention to what the American military and federal government are doing unless it involves uniformed American troops staging a ground invasion. When the American military merely institutes a no-fly-zone or better yet conducts a remote missile strike of a foreign state, Americans don't pay much attention or even necessarily think of these things as acts of war. We are conditioned to think that a "war" means uniformed American troops on the ground, fighting another country's military, or perhaps fighting in the air using combat jets. We are visual creatures, and these issues can seem deeply abstract if the description of a military act doesn't look like "our guys fighting their guys" in our mind's eye. There has got to be a way to change this. Assuredly, most farm boys in rural Pakistan have just as much of a grievance against the US when an American drone kills their brother as they would if a uniformed American serviceman did so. We shouldn't be surprised when such people resent America and balk by asking "what did we ever do to you?" A death via a drone operated from a warehouse in San Antonio isn't any different from the Pakistani boy's point of view than an American shooting their big brother dead point blank.
Why, in the year 2021, is the US military still bombing Somalia? Money. No other reason.