Memorial Day: When Should The United States Go To War?

Vietnam War

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vietnam_war

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"Do Wars Really Defend America's Freedom?"
http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2014/11/do-wars-really-defend-americas-freedom.html

Alan: Old people send young people to war. Increasingly, these aging warriors have no skin in the game. More often than not they chest thump to satisfy an ego need or to prepare their statue in the belligerent Hall of History. In future, wars should only be declared by people with skin in the game. Senators and representatives who do not have children, grandchildren or other intimate relatives "in harm's way" will be ineligible to participate in congressional decisions to wage war. Although it is now commonplace for presidents to wage war without congressional consent (1942 was the last congressional declaration of war) the new protocol for commencement of hostilities is that eligible members of Congress will, within six months of an executive order to wage war, vote to prolong that war or "walk it back."

Better yet, bring back the draft. 

"Proposal For Two Years Of Obligatory National Service"

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2012/07/proposal-for-two-years-of-obligatory.html

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"Save America. Restore The Draft"

Dana Milbank

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2013/11/save-america-restore-draft-by-dana.html

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"Why Veterans Miss War"
TED Talk
http://www.ted.com/talks/sebastian_junger_why_veterans_miss_war

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Marine Commandant, Major General Smedley Butler: "War Is A Racket"

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2013/09/marine-commandant-major-general-smedley.html

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Smedley Butler on Interventionism

-- Excerpt from a speech delivered in 1933, by Major General Smedley Butler, USMC.

“War is a racket. It always has been. It is possibly the oldest, easily the most profitable, surely the most vicious. It is the only one international in scope…. [and] the profits are reckoned in dollars and the losses in lives.

A racket is best described as something that is not what it seems to the majority of the people. Only a small ‘inside’ group knows what it is about. It is conducted for the benefit of the very few, at the expense of the very many. Out of war a few people make huge fortunes. 

For a great many years, as a soldier, I had a suspicion that war was a racket; not until I retired to civil life did I fully realize it…. I must face it and speak out.

There isn’t a trick in the racketeering bag that the military gang is blind to. It has its ‘finger men’ (to point out enemies), its ‘muscle men’ (to destroy enemies), its ‘brain men’ (to plan war preparations), and a “Big Boss” (super-nationalistic capitalism). 

It may seem odd for a military man to adopt such a comparison. Truthfulness compels me to.

I suspected I was just part of a racket at the time. Now I am sure of it. Like all the members of the military profession, I never had a thought of my own until I left the service. My mental faculties remained in suspended animation while I obeyed the orders of higher-ups. 

I helped make Mexico and especially Tampico safe for American oil interests in 1914. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City Bank boys to collect revenues in. I helped in the raping of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefit of Wall Street. The record of racketeering is long. I helped purify Nicaragua for the international banking house of Brown Brothers in 1909-1912. I brought light to the Dominican Republic for American sugar interests in 1916. I helped make Honduras “right” for American fruit companies in 1903. In China in 1927, I helped see to it that Standard Oil went its way unmolested….

I had, as the boys in the back room would say, a swell racket…. I might have given Al Capone a few hints. The best he could do was operate his racket in three city districts. We Marines operated on three continents…. 

Our exploits against the American Indian, the Filipinos, the Mexicans, and against Spain are on a par with the campaigns of Genghis Khan, the Japanese in Manchuria and the African attack of Mussolini.

No country has ever declared war on us before we first obliged them with that gesture. Our whole history shows we have never fought a defensive war.” 

The entire text of "War is a Racket" is freely available at http://www.ratical.com/ratville/CAH/warisaracket.html
Smedley Butler's Wikipedia page - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smedley_Butler

In his lifetime, Major General Butler was the most decorated Marine ever. 

In retirement, General Butler, a life-long Republican, ran for a Pennsylvania Senate seat.

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A few years ago, retired Air Force general friend, AWC, commented: "It seems we haven't fought a good war since World War II." It is increasingly to those with eyes to see that "good" wars are as rare as octuplets and that every possible restraint will only minimize the stupidity of bellicosity, not eliminate it. 

Pope Benedict XVI asks whether a "just war" will ever again be possible. 
http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2011/12/daily-dose-122511-just-war-or-just-war.html 

Fortunate Son
Creedence Clearwater Revival

Recording with lyrics: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rbNnvPBokNs

Recording with video clips from "Tour of Duty": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ScisGFllPY

"Fortunate Son," Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fortunate_Son

Some folks are born made to wave the flag,
Ooh, they're red, white and blue.
And when the band plays "Hail to the chief",
Ooh, they point the cannon at you, Lord,

It ain't me, it ain't me, I ain't no senator's son, son.
It ain't me, it ain't me; I ain't no fortunate one, no,

Yeah!
Some folks are born silver spoon in hand,
Lord, don't they help themselves, oh.
But when the taxman comes to the door, 
Lord, the house looks like a rummage sale, yes,

It ain't me, it ain't me, I ain't no millionaire's son, no.
It ain't me, it ain't me; I ain't no fortunate one, no.

Some folks inherit star spangled eyes,
Ooh, they send you down to war, Lord,
And when you ask them, "How much should we give?"
Ooh, they only answer More! more! more! yoh,

It ain't me, it ain't me, I ain't no military son, son.
It ain't me, it ain't me; I ain't no fortunate one, one.

The Iraq War

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iraq_war

If any nation on earth did to the United States what the United States did to Iraq -- and with analogous justification -- Uncle Sam would never forgive that country and would eagerly vaporize its inhabitants; every man, woman and child.

What we call "Christianity" would be summarily sidelined in our consuming quest for vengeance, vindictiveness and retribution.