It seems official, the United States is a permanent wartime state. Senior Obama Administration officials have stated that the War on Terror, in its “limitless form,” will carry on for another decade, possibly two. Given our role in the world, as an economic and military super-power, and given the economic, social and environmental crisis we see the world in, we must no longer deny that US foreign policy is a great agent of repression. We are a global threat to peace, security, liberty and the environment.
Violence has become our foreign policy – it is the status quo. Our nation-state acts as an agent of terror to occupied territories and lesser states under its influence. The system will stop at no cost. As Bush-era “shock and awe” grew unpopular, the system was able to change the face of its aggression with the Obama era drone wars.
Perhaps what is most disturbing is the support the public lauds on politicians who support aggressive foreign policy. This represents the decaying moral fabric of the nation – the economy, scandals and social issues dominate public thought. Hawks such as Lindsey Graham (waging an all out assault on the habeas corpus), vulgar libertarians such as Rand Paul (whose filibuster, cheered as patriotic by the very people who supported the invasion of Iraq, did not call for the end of drone attacks overseas, only to protect us Americans) and let’s not forget the most effective evil, the noble peace prize-winning Commander-in-Chief (whose NDAA effectively silences dissent, much more ominous than the Patriot Act – who he himself signed again) are all popular politicians. What has become of the anti-war movement?
Our foreign policy is morally unjust. As our troops are separated from their loved ones, flown overseas, killed and maimed, so too are innocent people in our occupied territories. Towns and villages are bombed, occasions such as weddings, birthdays and funerals are bombed, first responders are bombed, men, women and children are murdered, families are torn apart, hundreds of thousands are displaced, people are indefinitely detained and tortured in detainment. Our tax dollars fund this inconceivable aggression, but what is the scandal – the targeting of political groups? What about state sanctioned murder?
We are laying waste to helpless people, who have often been repressed by dictators and authoritarian regimes we placed in power. Where is our national conscience? We were hurt when people cheered September 11th, but then acted just as barbaric at the news of Bin Laden’s death. How do we not get it?
Change must come from within. The system will obviously still act, regardless of falling public support for the war. But, we are an obedient society. The more we obey the harsher the state becomes, and the more it is able stop dissent. With laws such as the NDAA, the state has defined what is just, but it is the state that is unjust.
The state says in order to uphold the American way we must be strong, and our economy must grow at any cost – this rhetoric is championed by conservatives and liberals alike. We can stand for this no more. We need freed markets, we need to decentralize our institutions, we need to develop alternatives to power, we need to change our moral consciousness. Humanity needs peace.
Our crisis is institutional, but also moral and intellectual. If the government will not stop the war, we must stop the government. Will we?
" As our troops are separated from their loved ones, flown overseas, killed and maimed . . . "
Why do even supposed radicals wax all sentimental about the troops? They signed up to kill for politicians and their pet corporations. Fuck 'em.
Radicals can and should remain sympathetic towards troops, because we acknowledge their place in our society's overall system of power. Most come from relatively powerless backgrounds (lower, lower-middle classes). To them, joining the military is sort of like a deal with the devil — sell your soul to the institution and receive the perks.
Also, chances are they did not sign up consciously thinking they were signing up to kill for the material purposes of the politicians and corporations. Through pervasive propaganda, the government has managed to convince many, and probably most people, that wars are only fought for noble purposes. Therefore, we should not blame the troops, but rather the actual decision-makers behind the propaganda/war machine.
Lastly, for strategic purposes, it is not good to alienate the troops. Many people, even if they abhor war, appreciate the service of troops, and value the notion of sacrifice. There is no sense in alienating these people. Also, troops that have returned from war, and have realized it's horrors can be allies in the struggle against the military state.
Troops are mostly recruited at a young age. I remember when I was in high school almost every week some branch of the military was in our lunchroom scouting 16, 17 and most importantly, 18 year old kids to join. This happens predominately in "low income" areas of the country, county schools, rural areas, inner city, etc. Troops do not set foreign policy, they are victims of it, it is not their fault.
Troops are mostly recruited at a young age. I remember when I was in high school almost every week some branch of the military was in our lunchroom scouting 16, 17 and most importantly, 18 year old kids to join. This happens predominately in "low income" areas of the country, county schools, rural areas, inner city, etc. Troops do not set foreign policy, they are victims of it, it is not their fault.
My recent post Our Moral Crisis
Most of the troops (like most terrorists) do not come from relatively powerless backgrounds. They're middle-class boys and girls who "want to make a difference" and raise their self-esteem by killing people for Jesus and Uncle Sam and their brothers-in-arms. So, they are cogs in a larger machine for whose existence they are otherwise not responsible; so what? Should we be sympathetic to cops? Politicians? Corporate bureaucrats? They're all cogs too, in the same way. As for pervasive propaganda – again, lots of people radicals are free to loathe are "victims" of propaganda, in the same way. Convenient naivety is not an excuse for direct complicity in murder, mass vandalism, and terrorism.
Lastly, for strategic purposes, we should not be trying to appeal to the troops anymore than we should fear alienating white conservative racists, or gliberal progs, or radfems. The vast majority of them are proud of what they've done, and any anger they have is directed at politicians and generals for not letting them nuke the sand-niggers to minimize the dangers to themselves and their buddies, and at the anti-war movement for second-guessing the value of their "service". To truly win them over as allies we would have to get so far off-track that we'd completely give up on anti-imperialism. Any ex-soldiers worth winning will find their way to us without us kissing their precious asses and insulting their intelligence.
The troops are victims of foreign policy in the same way that the BATF is a victim of the war on drugs. In the same way that rapists are victims of oppressive gender norms.
That doesn't make any sense. For numerous reasons.
My recent post Our Moral Crisis
Bad apples are not the bunch. Sure, some folks may just want to "take out terrorists" but I think most are doing what they see to be right by their country, they are walking into a war zone, after all. There was large support for Dennis Kucinich (the strength through peace guy) from military active duty and vets who identified as democrats when he ran for president. There was overwhelming support for Ron Paul (the we marched right in we can march right out, reign in our military interventionism, due process under the law for detainees guy) from active duty and military vets who identified as Republicans. There has been a large number of military vets who have been very outspoken critics of war – from the right and the left. Howard Zinn was a bomber in WWII and spoke out all the time against war – Yeah, Howard Zinn, what a supporter of the military industrial complex! (said no one… ever)
Back to just wanting to do the right thing, recruitment, propaganda and so on. I turned 18 a month before graduating from high school, just 8 months after September 11th. I wanted to join the military (thankfully, due to a medical condition I was not deemed fit for combat – so I went to college instead). I didn't want to join to lay waste to people, as an 18 year old kid I thought it to be a patriotic duty, after all, that's what I had been taught my entire life. So I know from personal experience that your assumption that folks join to serve politicians and corporate masters is absurd. I come from a long line of working class vets, it was the best paying gig they could find at the time. Neither I, my family members, nor my classmates who served, thought we were going to "waste the enemy" for our good pals the government and crony corporations. Those vets in my family — all anti-war now, and vehemently opposed me wanting to join.
This idea somehow that every single troop is 'bad" rings of the fundamentalist bigot arguments of yesterday and today. "That entire group of people is bad, just because they are, all of them." For many serving in the military it is the only way to get a college education (I know people who had this sentiment, coming out of rural Tennessee, whose families were poor, free education sounded good). Some of these kids (at the time) had kids of their own, the choice was made to support their family (after all, why would reserves be gone for such a long time?)
Troops also can't just voluntarily leave the military. They sign a contract, breach that contract, good luck with the rest of your life, try to get kicked out, same luck to you. Dishonorable Discharge does not make it easy to advance in this society. So with no recourse, troops are separated from their families, flown to war zones and they have no recourse – dissent is not tolerated in the military. Some of these human beings die, others are maimed, many suffer from PTSD (which I sadly forgot to mention in the commentary) with little help when they return home. Trending in the news now is the sexual assault that happens in the military, where troops are forced to salute their rapists. There is all the reason to support our troops – the best way to do so is to bring them home and stop invasive policies that will continue to put them in harms way. It is good for them and our global community.
Let us not forget that we are in a period of Americas longest wartime effort, and as I wrote in this post, will carry on (possibly) for another two decades. But is the war on our minds? No. It is not a top priority. Perhaps if we listened to our troops, tried to understand what it is like, there would be more of a movement to stop these wars.
Too be radical is to engage power structures and organize/build a movement for peace. Not to hate ones brothers and sisters (no matter where they are from), that is something so sinister as to wish peace unattainable.
My recent post Our Moral Crisis
"I am profoundly thankful that during my formative years I never had contact with any institution under State control; not in school, not in college, nor yet in my three years of irregular graduate study. No attempt was ever made by any one to indoctrinate me with State-inspired views,—or any views, for that matter,—of patriotism or nationalism. I was never dragooned into flag-worship or hero-worship, never was caught in any spate of verbiage about duty to one’s country, never debauched by any of the routine devices hatched by scoundrels for inducing a synthetic devotion to one’s native land and loyalty to its jobholders. Therefore when later the various aspects of contemporary patriotism and nationalism appeared before me, my mind was wholly unprepossessed, and my view of them was unaffected by any emotional distortion … I could see them as they are."
A. J. Nock – "Memoirs of a Superfluous Man"
(P.S.: This font should be black.)