Think Again: War

[gilliam]

Interesting article. Full of interesting facts. Here is a snippit:

"America Is Fighting More Wars Than Ever."
Yes and no. Clearly, the United States has been on a war footing ever since 9/11, with a still-ongoing war in Afghanistan that has surpassed the Vietnam War as the longest conflict in American history and a pre-emptive war in Iraq that proved to be longer, bloodier, and more expensive than anyone expected. Add the current NATO intervention in Libya and drone campaigns in Pakistan, Somalia, and Yemen, and it’s no wonder that U.S. military spending has grown more than 80 percent in real terms over the last decade. At $675 billion this year, it’s now 30 percent higher than what it was at the end of the Cold War.

But though the conflicts of the post-9/11 era may be longer than those of past generations, they are also far smaller and less lethal. America’s decade of war since 2001 has killed about 6,000 U.S. service members, compared with 58,000 in Vietnam and 300,000 in World War II. Every life lost to war is one too many, but these deaths have to be seen in context: Last year more Americans died from falling out of bed than in all U.S. wars combined.

And the fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan has taken place against a backdrop of base closures and personnel drawdowns elsewhere in the world. The temporary rise in U.S. troop numbers in South Asia and the Middle East, from 18,000 to 212,000 since 2000, contrasts with the permanent withdrawal of almost 40,000 troops from Europe, 34,000 from Japan and South Korea, and 10,000 from Latin America in that period. When U.S. forces come home from the current wars – and they will in large numbers in the near future, starting with 40,000 troops from Iraq and 33,000 from Afghanistan by 2012 – there will be fewer U.S. troops deployed around the world than at any time since the 1930s. President BarackObama was telling the truth in June when he said, “The tide of war is receding.”

foreignpolicy.com/articles/2011/08/15/think_again_war?page=full

 

[catholictiger]

Interesting article. Full of interesting facts. Here is a snippit:

"America Is Fighting More Wars Than Ever."
Yes and no. Clearly, the United States has been on a war footing ever since 9/11, with a still-ongoing war in Afghanistan that has surpassed the Vietnam War as the longest conflict in American history and a pre-emptive war in Iraq that proved to be longer, bloodier, and more expensive than anyone expected. Add the current NATO intervention in Libya and drone campaigns in Pakistan, Somalia, and Yemen, and it’s no wonder that U.S. military spending has grown more than 80 percent in real terms over the last decade. At $675 billion this year, it’s now 30 percent higher than what it was at the end of the Cold War.

But though the conflicts of the post-9/11 era may be longer than those of past generations, they are also far smaller and less lethal. America’s decade of war since 2001 has killed about 6,000 U.S. service members, compared with 58,000 in Vietnam and 300,000 in World War II. Every life lost to war is one too many, but these deaths have to be seen in context: Last year more Americans died from falling out of bed than in all U.S. wars combined.

And the fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan has taken place against a backdrop of base closures and personnel drawdowns elsewhere in the world. The temporary rise in U.S. troop numbers in South Asia and the Middle East, from 18,000 to 212,000 since 2000, contrasts with the permanent withdrawal of almost 40,000 troops from Europe, 34,000 from Japan and South Korea, and 10,000 from Latin America in that period. When U.S. forces come home from the current wars – and they will in large numbers in the near future, starting with 40,000 troops from Iraq and 33,000 from Afghanistan by 2012 – there will be fewer U.S. troops deployed around the world than at any time since the 1930s. President BarackObama was telling the truth in June when he said, “The tide of war is receding.”

foreignpolicy.com/articles/2011/08/15/think_again_war?page=full

good we need to bring the troops home and save money.

 

[Nec5]

article:

But though the conflicts of the post-9/11 era may be longer than those of past generations, they are also far smaller and less lethal. America’s decade of war since 2001 has killed about 6,000 U.S. service members, compared with 58,000 in Vietnam and 300,000 in World War II. Every life lost to war is one too many, but these deaths have to be seen in context: Last year more Americans died from falling out of bed than in all U.S. wars combined.

Context does not explain away the deaths. People falling out of bed dying are accidents. When a soldier at war dies, he dies because he was ordered to fight and possibly die by his commander. There better be a darn good reason for putting another human being’s life in immediate and foreseeable danger. And having our soldiers milk cows(I’m not kidding) and bring nice-nice to people that don’t want it is not worth an American life.

War is about winning. It’s not about standing around playing cop. Our last worthless president did not understand that or even care. Our current one is playing similar games. The next one will probably be the same. It’s disgraceful and immoral.

 

[ppeter]

I, like the last commenter, find the original post disingenuous.
To compare having our troops killed in five unjust wars with falling out of bed is a bit strange, as if grave intrinsic evil were mainly a matter of numbers. One loss is an unacceptable crime and too many.
You simply can’t compare conflicts today with those of the 20th century, the bloodiest age in human history, because today nearly everyone everywhere can see the conflicts unfold in real time. In the recent past, people were blissfully ignorant of what was going on a hundred miles away. Their destabilizing effects of conflict are instantly multiplied.
Whereas the great wars of the last century could be believed in, today it’s much, much harder to be blind to the opportunism and fecklessness of our leaders, both D and R, in putting our troops on the line. Obama’s guru’s dreams of a war of the worlds to stimulate our economy out of recession reveal all too clearly the deadly materialistic “realism” of our elites, who count our troops as just another exploitable resource.
The article cited also fails to give the number of troops remaining abroad after the very modest reductions that have taken place, which would show how little the tide of war has receded.
As far as Obama’s promises to pull back in the future, they’re not worth terribly much.
In the current context, it’s hard not to see this article as simply a fig-leaf to cover the current administration’s war-mongering and the so-called peace movement’s partisan hypocrisy.

 

[latin_rite]

Context does not explain away the deaths. People falling out of bed dying are accidents. When a soldier at war dies, he dies because he was ordered to fight and possibly die by his commander. There better be a darn good reason for putting another human being’s life in immediate and foreseeable danger. And having our soldiers milk cows(I’m not kidding) and bring nice-nice to people that don’t want it is not worth an American life.

War is about winning. It’s not about standing around playing cop. Our last worthless president did not understand that or even care. Our current one is playing similar games. The next one will probably be the same. It’s disgraceful and immoral.

A quick question. Over 360,000 ppl died last in the u.s from falling out their bed? In just one year that many people? Do Americans sleep over the edge of death pits or something?

 

[Scott_Lafrance]

good we need to bring the troops home and save money.

Exactly. We don’t need them in Japan, Diego Garcia, Italy, Germany, Britain, the Carribean, Portugal, Spain, Greece, etc…anymore. Bring them home and save money. We have aircraft carrier battle groups that can be anywhere in the world in less than a week. No need occupying foreign countries (especially friendly ones) with our troops. Imagine if Britain had a military base here?

 

[stevegravy]

Imagine if Britain had a military base here?

Indeed, we might make some money off them, not that they have a lot but a little.

 

[UnworthyApostle]

Here is what Sun Tzu said in the “Art Of War”.

“Again, if the campaign is protracted, the resources of the State will not be equal to the strain…There is no instance of a country having benefited from prolonged warfare…Contributing to maintain an army at a distance causes the people to be impoverished…When their substance is drained away, the peasantry will be afflicted by heavy exactions.”

How much of this has come true?
We need to return to the classics in the west as they were right on many things. Our current situation in these wars ruins the economy.

 

[Nec5]

A quick question. Over 360,000 ppl died last in the u.s from falling out their bed? In just one year that many people? Do Americans sleep over the edge of death pits or something?

I think the articles states that more people die falling out of their bed each year than die in all 3(or 4 or 5) of our wars combined each year.

In other words, the author is attempting to compare apples and oranges: accidents vs conscious decisions.

 

[Darryl1958]

A quick question. Over 360,000 ppl died last in the u.s from falling out their bed? In just one year that many people? Do Americans sleep over the edge of death pits or something?

It explains why Japanese, sleeping on mats as they do, tend to live longer than people elsewhere.

Who knew that sleeping in a bed was more dangerous than war?