Instances of Use of United States Armed Forces Abroad, 1798-2014 The Seville Statement: War is not human nature The biggest threat to us: ourselves 
Iatrogenic warfare Sam Smith, 1998 - It may help add some perspective to the present troubles if we bear in mind that the jewel in the crown of post-World War II American military action was the invasion of Granada. Otherwise, from Korea and Vietnam to Somalia and Iraq, the record has not been impressive. Even in Panama we have left the drug lords in charge. This is not because the American military is incompetent; it is often, in fact, too good for our own good. Bernard Fall, early in the Vietnam conflict, noted this ironic contradiction. He pointed out that while the French, after Dien Bien Phu, had no choice but to leave SE Asia, the economic, technological, and military might of the US allowed it to keep making mistakes indefinitely without suffering serious consequences. Now, once again American politicians have succumbed to the allure of airborne military hardware as a substitute for actual policy. ... Combine presidential pathology, massive propaganda, and a media that believes objectivity stops at the bomb-bay door, and you've got a problem. But even brush aside all of these factors and you still have a problem, namely that we spend hundreds of billions developing our capacity to make war and hardly anything developing our capacity to make peace. What would a peace-centered policy look like? Some of the components would include stopping the bombing, using third parties to negotiate, avoiding the demonization of disputants, bringing back international observers, providing honest broadcast and print information (including debates between the parties) to replace the propaganda all side are fed, and using economic aid to encourage those involved to look towards the future rather than to the past. Peace-making requires entirely different mindsets, paradigms, and even bureaucracies. It doesn't help having a secretary of state who once asked Colin Powell what was the point of having a modern military if you didn't use it. And it certainly requires a different budget.  As we were saying: Every once in awhile some mainstream media puts forth a thesis the Progressive Review has suggested for years, if not decades. A case in point is this article in the Atlantic about America’s failure since WWII in its subsequent wars. This is one of the most unreported stories of our time.And the fact that even one mainstream media has noticed is significant.
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The U.S. dropped 24.287 bombs in Syria and Iraq last year. The US also dropped 1337 bombs in Afghanistan and nearly 500 in Libya. It remains unclear how many US bomb drops are necessary to cause an ISIS assault. Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children. - President Dwight D. Eisenhower, April 16, 1953 Since the United States was founded in 1776, she has been at war during 214 out of her 235 calendar years of existence. Things they don't tell us about war Why the Brookings Institution and the Washington Establishment Love Wars Mercenaries outnumber US troops 3 to 1 in Afghanistan  The Pope turns to the myth of the just war Why wars are bad for the economy The military budget those Republican candidates want to increase 2015 A list compiled by the Congressional Research Service of America's military conflicts finds hundreds of cases but only 11 in which war was formally declared. List of American civilian bombing targets in past decade and a half
America's hidden military empire America's secret wars in Africa Special ops leaders want another a couple of decades of failure in the Mid East Pakistan judge orders CIA officials tried for drone attack Pentagon fear monger of the day Reasons to oppose the use of military force The President: Public servant vs. military commander Hiding the brutality of war from American eyes 2014 The role of oil in foreign interventions So why aren't we doing better? CIA secret study: Drone attacks counterproductive US dramatically increased military attacks after Cold War War on terror: Futility update Boeing, the Second Largest Federal Contractor, Paid No Federal Income Tax in 2013 How America's wars cut our freedoms James Risen on the mercenaries of endless war One reason some people may be mad at us Pentagon and Homeland Security behind growing police brutality Alleged terrorist watchlist has soared under Obama What's better? Housing all the homeless or another Pentagon scam? State Department doc cites death threat by Blackwater official Obama uses Israeli Supreme Court decision to justify killing al-Awlaki The myth that we don't negotiate with terrorists The prisoner of war story nobody's talking about Troubling directive outlines Obama's plan to use the military against citizens Obama's aides claim dictator's powers over military actions  VIA ANTHONY CAHILL Even a small nuclear war would ruin the world Wikileaks tells of US plans for war against Russia Pentagon wants to keep huge war budget, despite lack of wars US psychologists' association rejects ban on aiding military interrogations For 25 years, US special forces carried minature nukes on their back US sailors, sick from Fukushima, file law suit
America's last successful invasion Obama making it easier for more wars US nearly detonated atomic bomb over North Carolina Navy Yard assassin's boss waits 24 hours before suggesting a new Pentagon contract US military has plans to seize American radio airwaves  IMGUR Why America can't live without wars Who loses in limited U.S. attacks? Us Obama and Biden on war powers before something happened to them Worst sentence of the day “Military action” doesn’t mean war, of course. - Ezra Klein, Washington Post Pentagon prepares doctrine on using force on American soil U.S. military thinks being an atheist is a warning sign for suicide When in history has a country as powerful as America been as afraid of a force as small as Al Qaeda? Name one significant thing the American government has done since 9/11 to make it less likely that some in the MId East would want to attack it. Even who we're at war against is a top secret Interview with author of Dirty Wars Military claims power to police streets
 PEOPLE'S BOYCOTT Pentagon sequester plan: slash combat force, boost Lockheed Martin
@GeorgeCarlinSez - Fighting for peace is like screwing for virginity.
2012 Benghazi flap means big bucks
for Blackwater type operations How the Pentagon wastes its money Pentagon using new technique to
suppress dissent Word: What the military really costs George Orwell on long wars Top defense industry CEOs ripping off taxpayers Why are civilian federal agencies buying so much ammunition? Government still has a school for assassins 3,000 U.S. soldiers to serve in Africa next year Panetta: U.S. running out of patience with Pakistan on militant havens - CNN A military drugged by prescription What Rachel Maddow doesn't talk about in her book about war Word: The post Cold War is over: David Stockman - We are now at a historical inflection point at which the time has arrived for a classic post-war demobilization of the entire military establishment. The Cold War is long over. The wars of occupation are almost over and were complete failures — Afghanistan and Iraq. The American empire is done. There are no real seriously armed enemies left in the world that can possibly justify an $800 billion national defense and security establishment, including Homeland Security It's not just the right that ignores science: the war is human nature myth Obama considers cutting number of nuclear bombs Pentagon misdiagnosed thousands of troops to save medical costs Pentagon privatizing its international war on drugs Pentagon sees nothing wrong with rigging TV news What the government is really afraid of: us 2011 Secret files reveal dirty games of Blackwater and other mercenaries Inside Romania's secret CIA prison The biggest threat to America: ourselves The military is a lousy way to create jobs At least our military is winning the star wars Banks may have illegally foreclosed on 5,000 members of the military For profit colleges ripping off military students
 BRUCE EGGUM How the war on terror did us in (with lots of help from Republicans) How to tell you're no longer an empire John Mueller, Foreign Affairs: An al Qaeda computer seized in Afghanistan in 2001 indicated that the group’s budget for research and weapons of mass destruction, almost all of it focused on primitive chemical weapons work, was some $2,000 to $4,000.” Pentagon working on war with China Virginia as heart of military complex Nuke for Jesus Air Force course shut down Pentagon wants to use social media for propaganda Left-right coalitions against the wars... Grand jury looking into Abu Ghraib Boeing ripping off government for spare parts Real costs of our wars: $3.7 trillion Pentagon wants to change military pensions
A complete guide to the West's foreign policy The sick way we count war deaths The record: regime change efforts are a bust Retired generals & admirals double dipping big time Army testing soldiers for 'spiritual fitness' U.S. and Canada agree to share military against civil unrest Obama's use of mercenaries would make Bush blush 2010 Businessman claims Blackwater paid him to buy steroids and weapons on black market IF YOU WANT TO HELP TO MAKE TERRORISTS MORE PEACEFUL, IT'S A CRIME MILITARY TO SPY ON WHAT ITS TROOPS ARE THINKING ARMY DENIES PURPLE HEARTS TO SOLDIERS WITH BRAIN INJURIES HIGH SCHOOL DRAFTS STUDENTS INTO JROTC TROOPS PUT ON LOCKDOWN FOR REFUSING TO ATTEND CHRISTIAN EVANGELICAL CONCERT MILITARY SPENDING: THE BIGGEST YET MOST UNDISCUSSED CONTRIBUTOR TO OUR DEFICITS PENTAGON CENSORS AFGHAN COVERAGE BIG TIME OUTSOURCING WAR: THE HIDDEN MERCENARY FACTOR PENTAGON CAN'T ACCOUNT FOR $8.7 BILLION IN IRAQ FUNDS ONE THOUSAND AMERICAN TROOPS FOR EACH MEMBER OF AL QAEDA PETREAUS GEARS UP FOR ANOTHER WAR A GENERAL GIVES WESLEY CLARK'S EGO A RUN FOR THE MONEY THE PENTAGON EXPLAINS HOW TO MAKE BROWNIES SECRET TAPE OF BLACKWATER OWNER REVEALED THE THREE WARS WE'LL NEVER WIN SECRET PRISON DISCOVERED IN BAGHDAD MILITARY SUICIDES OUTPACE BATTLE DEATHS AMERICA'S WAR CRIMES KILL CHILDREN, TOO MAINE'S LARGEST CITY VOTES TO END WAR FUNDING AMERICA NOW HAS TO RENT ITS ALLIES WIKILEAKS VIDEO SHOWS U.S. COPTERS KILLING IRAQI CIVILIANS PETREUS, OTHERS PLANNING 80 YEAR WAR WIMPY COMMANDANT APPARENTLY AFRAID GAY MARINES MIGHT RAPE HIS STRAIGHT TROOPS TERRORISM IS MORE DANGEROUS TO AMERICANS THAN SHARKS - BUT NOT MUCH ELSE THE UNDECLARED NUCLEAR WEAPONS STATES YOU DON'T HEAR ABOUT PENTAGON HIRED ANALYST WHO THOUGHT HUSSEIN WAS TO BLAME FOR 9/11 TO WRITE MAJOR REPORT ON AL QAEDA MILITARY RIFLE-SIGHT MAKER INCLUDES BIBLE REFERENCES ON PRODUCTS OBAMA APPOINTS MASTER OF COVERUP TO INVESTIGATE XMAS DAY BOMBING A FEW QUESTIONS FOR BARACK OBAMA
 WHY MORE SECURITY DOESN'T WORK A GUIDE TO COUNTRIES WHERE OUR MILITARY IS OPERATING ARMY ARRESTS GI MOTHER ASSIGNED TO AFGHANISTAN WHO CAN'T FIND CARE FOR HER 11-MONTH OLD SON COULD HASAN HAVE DONE IT BY HIMSELF? HOW STUDENTS ARE ABUSED BY MILITARY RECRUITING FBI WHISTLEBLOWER POINTS FINGER AT BUSH OFFICIALS 2009 MILITARY BENEFITING FROM PAUPER DRAFT LESS THAN HALF OF ELIGIBLE VETS HAVE GOTTEN MONEY FOR TUITION AND EXPENSES BLACKWATER OFFERS TO TRAIN FAITH BASED ORGANIZATIONS DEFENSE SECRETARY TELLS MEDIA NOT TO SHOW PHOTOS OF DYING SOLDIER WILD WACKENHUT ALSO GUARDING NUCLEAR SITES US MILITARY LARGEST SINGLE CONSUMER OF OIL IN THE WORLD MILITARY BACKS DOWN ON RATING REPORTERS OBAMA ADMIN ENGAGED IN MAJOR WAR NEWS CENSORSHIP MILITARY CAUGHT SPYING ON WEST COAST PEACE ACTIVISTS WAR KILLS TROOPS AND OUR ECONOMY SUICIDE PREVENTION MANUAL PUSHES CHRISTIANITY HONDURAS COUP LEADER TRAINED AT NOTORIOUS AMERICAN SCHOOL FEDERAL JUDGE SAYS MILITARY CAN PRESSURE MINORS WHOM DID WE KILL TODAY? TRACKING US. BOMBS THE NEW MILITARY PERVERSION: REMOTE WARFARE HUMAN RIGHTS SUPPORTERS ATTACK MILITARY COMMISSIONS EVANGELICALS SUBVERTING MILITARY U.S. TROOPS PUSHED CHRISTIANITY IN AGHANISTAN TAPED EVIDENCE THAT ARMY IS CONCEALNG POST-TRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER AMONG VETS PENTAGON WANTS PACKS OF ROBOTS TO HUNT DOWN 'NON-COOPERATIVE' HUMANS LIKE DOGS SUBS THAT COLLIDED CARRIED MISSILES EQUAL IN POWER TO 1,248 HIROSHIMA BOMBINGS AMERICA'S LAST FLAG OFFICER TO ACTUALLY WIN A WAR BRITISH FOREIGN SECRETARY CHALLENGES WAR ON TERROR IS THE MILITARY SUPPRESSING FRIENDLY FIRE DEATHS? JUSTICE DEPARTMENT DESIGNS NEW TORTURE WEAPON PENTAGON SEEKS TO OVERTURN INITIATIVES AGAINST RECRUITING EXCESSES CONFLICT OF INTEREST IN INTELLIGENCE 2008 AMERICA SPECIAL FORCES INVADING COUNTRIES ILLEGALLY ARMY'S NEW PLAN FOR TROOP MIND CONTROL INTERNAL BRITISH SPY AGENCY REPORT CHALLENGES TERROR MYTHS MILITARY RECRUITING VIOLATES INTERNATIONAL CHILD LAW FORTY PERCENT OF MILITARY WOMEN
AT HOSPITAL JROTC TEACHING SCHOOL CHILDREN HOW TO KILL EACH OTHER MILITARY HEAVILY CENSORING PHOTOS OF THE WAR FORMER GITMO PROSECUTOR SAYS TRIALS ARE RIGGED HOW TO TELL THE RANK OF SOMEONE IN THE AIR FORCE'S BATTLE AGAINST TERRORISM THE AMERICAN WAR MOVES TO PAKISTAN SEARS TO START SELLING LINE OF OFFICIAL U.S. MILITARY GARB INTERNAL BRITISH SPY AGENCY REPORT CHALLENGES TERROR MYTHS FORTY PERCENT OF MILITARY WOMEN AT HOSPITAL REPORT BEING SEXUALLY ASSAULTED IN THE AIR FORCE'S BATTLE AGAINST TERRORISM   We recently ran pictures of flight accomodations (top) for high Air Force brass provided by the Project on Government Oversight. POGO has now come up with the enlisted equivalent. Troops have sat for hours on long flights in mangled seats and on netting inside cargo aircraft. This photo (bottom) was taken at Al Udeid Airbase in Qatar. Al Udeid is a major logistics hub for U.S. operations in Afghanistan, and is a command center for operations in Iraq. It is home to the 379th Air Expeditionary Wing of the U.S. Air Force. AMERICA PRIVATIZES ITS WARFARE PENTAGON RESISTED IRAN AIR ATTACKS PIMP MY RIDE -- AIR FORCE EDITION US MILITARY PLANNED TO TEST DEADLY NERVE GAS ON AUSTRALIAN SOLDIERS AMERICA PRIVATIZES ITS WARFARE NAVAL BLOCKADE OF IRAN WOULD BE AN ACT OF WAR VETERANS' PSYCHOLOGIST TELLS STAFF TO STOP STRESS SYNDROME DIAGNOSES: "REALLY DON'T HAVE TIME" MORE THAN 43,000 MEDICALLY UNFIT TROOPS SENT TO WAR REVIVING THE GI BILL OF RIGHTS SUICIDES & MENTAL RELATED DEATHS MAY TOP IRAQ BATTLE FATALITIES THE COST OF PREJUDICE: 2-3 BATTLE BRIGADES MAKING A KILLING ON THE WAR ON TERROR FREE THINKING SOLDIER SUES ARMY OVER THREATS  PENTAGON HEAVILY MANIPULATED TELEVISION MILITARY COVERAGE US AIR FORCE ADOPTS NAZI MOTTO US AIR FORCE - The Air Force has a new advertising campaign to recruit the next generation of Airmen as well as better inform people about the Air Force mission: "Above All." Although the phrase 'uber alles' describing Germany well precedes the rise of Hitler, any one who lived through World War II would easily associate it with its Nazi use. The adoption by the Air Force is either stupid or scary. http://www.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123087033 HEARING LOSS A MASSIVE PROBLEM AMONG TROOPS WHAT IF THEY GAVE A WAR AND NOBODY CAME? SOLDIER CLAIMS PROMOTION DENIED BECAUSE OF HIS ATHEISM ARMY UPGRADES 'NATION BUILDING' TO LEVEL OF COMBAT IN ITS LATEST MANUAL PENTAGON LAWYER WHO TRIED TO RIG GITMO CASES RESIGNS AIR FORCE BANS ALL SITES WITH WORD 'BLOG' IN THEM PENTAGON: TREAT INTERNET LIKE AN ENEMY WEAPONS SYSTEM SHORT-CHANGING MASSACHUSETTS FOR BAGHDAD BLACKWATER LEAVES MERCENARY TRADE ASSOCIATION BECAUSE ETHICS STANDARDS ARE TOO TOUGH 2007 'HIDDEN COSTS' DOUBLE PRICE OF TWO WARS COMPLETE GUIDE TO UNCLE SAM'S RECRUITING INCENTIVES GOP SENATOR CALLS FOR MILITARY DRAFT BLACK RECRUITMENT TO ARMY PLUMMETS LOST IN IRAQ SINCE WORLD WAR II   EXPERTS OVERWHELMINGLY THINK U.S. IS LOSING WAR ON TERROR 9/11 STATS [From the Independent, UK] 2,973 Total number of people killed (excluding the 19 hijackers) in the September 11, 2001 attacks 2,932 Total number of US servicemen and women killed in Afghanistan and Iraq since September 2001 72,000 Estimated number of civilians killed worldwide since September 11, 2001 as a result of the war on terror 2 Number of years since US intelligence had any credible lead to Osama bin Laden's whereabouts 1,248 Number of published books relating to the September 11 attacks $40bn Airline industry losses since September 2001 91 per cent Terror cases from FBI and others that US Justice Dept declined to prosecute in first eight months of 2006 http://news.independent.co.uk/world/politics/article1466758.ece
 THIS CHART, compiled by Ryan Singel at Wired, shows come of the the relative risks in contemporary life over the past five years. Other useful comparisons include those in a recent article in Foreign Affairs that estimates the probability of an American being killed in an terrorist incident is about 1 in 80,000. And as we have reported previously, you are also more likely to die of a workplace accident, be murdered, commit suicide, be killed by the side effects of a prescription drug, or die of cancer or heart disease. 2006  ANNALS OF IMPROBABLE RESEARCH - After anxious months of waiting, Gregg F. Martin's superiors have again validated his strategic leadership principles. Martin wrote the classic military guide "Jesus the Strategic Leader." On February 17, G.W. Bush's nomination of Gregg F. Martin was confirmed by the Senate. After writing his famous study, then-Lieutenant Colonel Martin was promoted to command the 130th Engineer Brigade of the Army's 5th Corps. The 51-page-long "Jesus the Strategic Leader" [in the Army War College Journal] includes a drawing of Martin's "pyramid model" of Jesus the strategic leader. According to this model, Jesus is a pyramid, resting atop and partially intersecting God. God is a pyramid, too, but with a broader base. A third, inverted pyramid is supported atop Jesus' pyramid. This third pyramid begins with what Martin calls the "Top Three" disciples (Peter, James and John) and broadens to include the other apostles, then the disciples and, topping everything, the masses. Admirers are eager to see how high up the military pyramid the new general will rise. GEORGE ORWELL ON THE LONG WAR GEORGE ORWELL, 1984 - In past ages, a war, almost by definition, was something that sooner or later came to an end, usually in unmistakable victory or defeat. In the past, also, war was one of the main instruments by which human societies were kept in touch with physical reality. . . Physical facts could not be ignored. In philosophy, or religion, or ethics, or politics, two and two might make five, but when one was designing a gun or an airplane they had to make four. Inefficient nations were always conquered sooner or later, and the struggle for efficiency was inimical to illusions. Moreover, to be efficient it was necessary to be able to learn from the past, which meant having a fairly accurate idea of what had happened in the past. Newspapers and history books were, of course, always colored and biased, but falsification of the kind that is practiced today would have been impossible. War was a sure safeguard of sanity, and so far as the ruling classes were concerned it was probably the most important of all safeguards. While wars could be won or lost, no ruling class could be completely irresponsible. But when war becomes literally continuous, it also ceases to be dangerous. When war is continuous there is no such thing as military necessity. Technical progress can cease and the most palpable facts can be denied or disregarded. As we have seen, researches that could be called scientific are still carried out for the purposes of war, but they are essentially a kind of daydreaming, and their failure to show results is not important. Efficiency, even military efficiency, is no longer needed. Nothing is efficient in Oceania except the Thought Police. . . War, it will be seen, is now a purely internal affair. In the past, the ruling groups of all countries, although they might recognize their common interest and therefore limit the destructiveness of war, did fight against one another, and the victor always plundered the vanquished. In our own day they are not fighting against one another at all. The war is waged by each ruling group against its own subjects, and the object of the war is not to make or prevent conquests of territory, but to keep the structure of society intact. The very word 'war', therefore, has become misleading. It would probably be accurate to say that by becoming continuous war has ceased to exist. http://www.online-literature.com/orwell/1984/17/ PENTAGON PLANS FOR PERPETUAL WAR AGAINST SOMEONE PENTAGON'S PSYOPS FOR ITS OWN EMPLOYEES 2005. IRAQ WAR MOST EXPENSIVE SINCE WORLD WAR II GIs TOLD TO BUY THEIR OWN FLAK JACKETS HOMELAND SECURITY CHAIR CHEERS PANIC PUSHERS STATE DEPARTMENT HIDES STATS SHOWING TERROR WAR A FLOP CIA REFUSES TO REVEAL TIES WITH NAZI WAR CRIMINALS BUSH PUTS AMERICAN BUSINESS AT RISK ABROAD BIN LADEN DISTINGUISHES BETWEEN RED AND BLUE STATES NATIONAL GUARD TROOPS UNDER LOCKDOWN BY ARMY TRAINERS 2004 GIs CLAIM THEY WERE TOLD: REENLIST OR GO TO IRAQ 57 YEAR OLD VET CALLED TO ACTIVE DUTY SELECTIVE SERVICE HEAD WANTS WOMEN TO REGISTER FOR DRAFT, RAISE MAX AGE TO 35 INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION AGAINST
THE RECRUITMENT, US CONTRACTOR RECRUITS GUARDS FOR IRAQ IN CHILE HOLD THAT NEXT WAR - U.S. NAVY NOT READY UNTIL DECEMBER BUSH YOUTH ORGANIZE FOR NEXT WAR THE PENTAGON'S MISSING $1 TRILLION THE MAN BEHIND BUSH'S TOTAL WAR STRATEGY |
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David Keen has taken a great step
toward revising our thinking about war in his book Useful
Enemies:When Waging Wars Is More Important Than Winning Them.
