The Role of the US Military and the March Toward Imperialism

Is it me, or does it become more and more evident as time goes by the our actions as a nation are as imperialistic as ever? Many of you will say 'duh', but what bothers me is that most Americans fail to see what we are doing as Imperialistic. Thus far, the justification(s) for the Iraq war has been to remove an evil dictator and bring democracy to the country. At least that's what I understand. Please, if I am missing any reasons, let me know. Because I cant for the life of me see how a country with no wmd's halfway across the world is of any large threat to the US. So why pay billions upon billions of $ to send our soldiers over there to fight and die for an Imperialistic goal? My biggest concern is this: what happens next?

Will this trend of invasion, under the guise of premptive warfare continue? It saddens me that new recruits joining the US military today won't have the chance to defend their country; they will instead be fighting for United States imperialism.

With all our garrisons that dot the globe, and the latest war in Iraq, it is going to be harder and harder for an administration to deny this new use of the armed forces. By the time it is universally accepted that the American Empire is well on its way to completion, it will be too late to go back. Hell, we're probably already at that point.

 

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Well I'll say it before anyone else does. You conspiracy theorist. And now let's continue to ignore the whole issue.

Btw, I agree with you completely.

- N

 

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The sheer size of our military has been dropping dramatically since Vietnam and our number of bases abroad has been taking a similar dip since the end of the Cold War. Not only are we not trying to take over the world, we are giving up control of those areas where we already do have influence. Most of it just isn't worth the bother.

I would personally have zero problem if we did turn into the next Roman Empire and seize the world in a great Pax Americana. That said, it just isn't going to happen as things stand. It isn't in our best interests.

 

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The number of nations in which the US has bases is higher than it has ever been. Bases are being closed in "old Europe" because the cold war is over. Big bases are being phased out in favor of smaller forward deployment bases that could grow in a hurry. Stats that show the number of soldiers deployed at foreign bases falling don't include Iraq deployments in their stats.

Many support functions formerly done by soldiers are now being done by contractors in order to "save money" except the contractors are allowed to cheat the US taxpayers so even having contractors hire third world people at third world wages for support services may not save the taxpayers any money.

The British found that the empire cost more than it was worth. The only thing the empire is really good for is taking money from the taxpayers to give to politically connected corporations that receive corporate welfare. For Americans unless we can force the foreigners to pay for the empire Pax Americana is not in our self interest. The foreigners will probably try to hurt us if we try to make them pay for our empire.

From http://www.moir.org.co/index.php?idcategoria=13889 : Defense Department's annual "Base Structure Report" for fiscal year 2003, which itemizes foreign and domestic U.S. military real estate, the Pentagon currently owns or rents 702 overseas bases in about 130 countries. .........

The 2003 Base Status Report fails to mention, for instance, any garrisons in Kosovo -- even though it is the site of the huge Camp Bondsteel, built in 1999 and maintained ever since by Kellogg, Brown & Root. The Report similarly omits bases in Afghanistan, Iraq, Israel, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Qatar, and Uzbekistan, although the U.S. military has established colossal base structures throughout the so-called arc of instability in the two-and-a-half years since 9/11.

 

And it doesn't matter that the size of our military is dropping when in a couple years, we'll have a whole robotic army.

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- N

 

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"The Bush administration says it will carry its "war against terrorism" to many lands. Since September 11, 2001, the US has waged wars on Afghanistan and Iraq and deployed troops in many other countries to carry out special operations against alleged terrorists. In early 2002, the administration announced that it considered Iraq, Iran and North Korea as part of an “axis of evil.” By 2005, the "axis of evil" had become the "outposts of tyranny," and included Zimbabwe, Cuba, Belarus, Burma, Iran and North Korea. Threats against Syria have intensified, as Washington has heightened tensions with Iran and North Korea over nuclear programs. News of the "war on terrorism" fills the US mass media as political analysts, journalists and others speculate about who will be the next target for US regime change."

http://www.globalpolicy.org/empire/intervention/index.htm


Bases Deacreasing... ye bullshit.

 

Funny, all the places we have no military establishment in, lol. Looking at that map, I'm going to pull a Nostradamus and predict which countries we'll next wage war with..

Gotta love our American dominance.

- N

 

I'm going to play Nostradamus right now and predict that your career will involve digging ditches in those newly invaded countries. God speed. Next time maybe you can make replies that actually have meaning instead of tandem one-liners?

Clockwood you must have a blindfold because a pax-americana IS being attempted, not through military but politically.

 

Geez, you didn't read Neildo's post very thoroughly, did you? He said, "Gotta love our American dominance." Now just between you and me, I think that had a HELLUVA LOT of meaning, don't you? ...LOL!

I don't think he has a blindfold. But YOU forgot the most important aspect of the take-over .....economically. There are KFC and MacDonald's in almost every country of the world ....and they're doing great!!

Don't need slaves, they're too costly. We'll send giant Caterpillar ditch diggers and use fuel made from Iraqi and Iranian oil! Geez, Angel, you ain't so good tplaying Nostradamus, are you?

Baron Max

 

i am american, living in europe.
what i have found since moving here, is this:
1. every tiny piece of "history" we recieved as children about ww2 is wrong.
2. every tiny piece of "history" we recieved as children about the soviets was wrong.
3. every tiny piece of "news" we recieve on television about the war on terror is wrong.
4. every tiny piece of "news" we recieve about the war in iraq is wrong.

in short, the government of the united states LIES. why would anyone believe anything that is published in the name of the pentagon? they lied about wmd's in iraq.
can anyone count how many times the justification for the new iraq war has changed?

i have counted three changes (not counting the original reason, which i initially supported).

pax americana can kiss my ass. im staying in europe.

 

How about you not troll my posts with boring replies.

 

Good. You never were an American if you can't stand by your country through thick and thin, and you don't know what it means to be an American.

 

That's why being an American and being a member of any other nation are two different things. Eventually one has to grow up and realize that their country can and will be wrong at times. Why do you think Germany got so far in WW2? Dumbass.

 

Hey, Devil Inside. Why do you assume that America is the one wrong all the time? I suspect that some of our stuff is wrong and some slanted, but I doubt that Europe is so godlike all the time themselves. They are just as likely to be giving false information, overinflating pieces damaging to us, waxing over good things, and putting a slant on everything else.

In short, Europe can bend over and lick my hairy American balls.

 

How about we just shove 'em farther up your own ass Clockwood? Yes, Jayleew is a dumbass.

 

if there were a foreign invasion, i would be the first american on a plane, ready to pick up a gun to defend my home.

as it stands, it is our american DUTY to view the govt with suspicion.


and i never said europeans were godlike. but they look at ALL sides of an issue before passing judgement. americans very rarely do this.
i challenge any of you to name ONE american leader that looked at both sides of a conflict before rushing headlong into war, or starting a propoganda war against another nation.
in fact, i triple dog dare you.

 

So?

Again, so?

I see nothing wrong with Imperialism. Hell, I myself am an Imperialist and a Monarchist.
Why the hell do you think I like Britain a lot more than the US?

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Uh, speak for yourselves. Oops, another one-liner.

There, here's two.

Nah, let's make it lucky three.

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- N

 

Imperialism will bring the US to its knees, or greatly diminish our power in the long run. If we take the path that so many powers before us have, we will get too involved and too tangled up with so much shit it'll make our heads spin. We'll over extend, and wont have the means to support it. One of the main reasons I started this thread was to convey my disgust at the possibility that our troops will soon die for no damn good reason...maybe they already are in Iraq. Any future wars will begin to show where we are truly heading.

 

Who remembers the three-week period after "Mission Accomplished" when Bush and Rumsfeld were lofting trial balloons (measures of public opinion) about whether the Iraqis would get democracy (and only a puppet democracy at that)? For a while there it could have gone either way. Apparently other Republicans let them know that an uncloaked US dictatorship would be hard to sell even to a mostly brainwashed public.