American Military Adventurism

It seems to me that since the late 80's our Military has been sent to more and more places globally. I can't really figure out why...I don't think the world is any worse off now than it was 30 years ago, but there we are, constantly interjecting ourselves somewhere.

Should we? Maybe we should simply be that shining city on the hill that Jefferson envisioned of us, and not try to be the global cop.

Would the world "like" us more if we pulled our forces back home? Doubtful, there's gotta be a biggest kid on the block for the rest to dislike, but it sure would save a lot of lives and money if we let other nations work out their issues without our intervention.

On the other hand, there's the whole line of reasoning of...we could've prevented the holocaust, or stopped it earlier, had we been more globally involved\aware in the 30's.

reply to post by BobM88


I think the aware is enough and not the evolved.

Think of the money that goes to keeping troops all over the world...it drill wells and build schools.

When the US doesn't do it someone else will, then everybody will moan at them,

History tends to repeat itself in this manner

As a for instance, the invasion of Panama in 1989. Operation Just Cause. We invade the country and take the President captive and take him to jail back in the US.

We may have had reasons for it...but I wonder if the Soviets had done that, would we have seen it as a necessary action? We clearly disapproved of their invasion of Afghanistan in 1979, and spent years arming the opposition, but I'm not so sure that there's much of a difference there.

reply to post by BobM88


I was talking to a friend about this today..... Here is why I think our military is being used as it is....

The Globalist Banks! ie Federal Reserve! Now hear me out on this.

Look at how the U.S. is struggling but still surviving considering we are flat out broke! Why aren't we in the positon that Greece is?

My thoughts, OUR MILITARY!!! Look at how our government put our men and women into harms way in the name of the UN which I call the NWO! Our military is being used for our debt by the same scumbags that created it in the first place! As long as our government allows our military to be used, that is how long the banks keep our country alive... Our debt makes Greece look like nothing. But yet, we are still hanging on and the Global Banks are still propping us up. I will guarantee you this much, when the banks (globalists) are done using our military to futher their goals, THAT WILL BE THE DAY THEY PULL THE PLUG ON THE USA!

I know it is out there, but just think about it for awhile....

Two world wars and hundreds of millions of deaths lead the US to believe that fighting small wars in other parts of the world would keep us from fighting big wars at home. The question is do you act on something that you see becoming a threat early or do you wait until it is a threat later. Word War or small conflict?

Originally posted by TritonTaranis
When the US doesn't do it someone else will, then everybody will moan at them,

History tends to repeat itself in this manner

I don't think anyone else will spend the kind of money the US does to keep bases around the world.

World's Top Military Spenders: U.S. Spends More than Next Top 14 Countries Combined
mercatus.org...

Originally posted by MrSpad
Two world wars and hundreds of millions of deaths lead the US to believe that fighting small wars in other parts of the world would keep us from fighting big wars at home. The question is do you act on something that you see becoming a threat early or do you wait until it is a threat later. Word War or small conflict?

I do understand that, and I tried to address that in my OP...I don't know the answer. But, also, I think that our military is being used inappropriately more than ever, even taking the question of keeping conflicts local.

Post WWII and up until Grenada in 1983 we had the Korean conflict, The Dominican Republic, Vietnam, where American troops were sent on a mission other than "Peacekeeping".

After 1983 we had Panama, Desert Storm, Serbia, Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya...

That's what I mean when I say it seems that our overseas presence is escalating. We've obviously been in the Middle East since 1990 with countless strikes against Iraq in the 90's when he wasn't allowing UN inspectors in...I recall many airstrikes in Serbia in the 90's, Tomahawk strikes against Afghanistan in the late 90's...

How about this thought: If we have an issue somewhere, say Afghanistan post 9/11...why couldn't we just go in, remove the Taliban, and leave? That *was* the original mission as I recall. Hand over the Al-Qaeda you're harboring, or we'll remove you from power. So we did...Maybe sticking around wasn't the best plan in hindsight?

reply to post by seeker1963


I've read a similar idea from another person too...that our Military was used to erase our foreign debt, in a sense. I can see that possibility, certainly. It WOULD explain why it is being used more and more frequently.

reply to post by Char-Lee


My question, at least in part is, should anyone have bases globally? Is it necessary? I can see both sides of the coin, so I'm interested in what others have to say on the topic.

I'll say this, I tend to favor withdrawing back to the US. That doesn't mean I think we should have nothing to do with the rest of the world, but I'm not so sure we need to have bases set up like police precincts all over the world either.

reply to post by BobM88

My question, at least in part is, should anyone have bases globally? Is it necessary? I can see both sides of the coin, so I'm interested in what others have to say on the topic.

I'll say this, I tend to favor withdrawing back to the US. That doesn't mean I think we should have nothing to do with the rest of the world, but I'm not so sure we need to have bases set up like police precincts all over the world either.

You said a mouthfull in that statement! Not only is our military become the police force for the world (which it really bothers me to even say it, but it is true) take a look at the police state that our government has implemented while our troops have been off fighting bogus wars!!

Is it a wonder the Janet Napolitano and Homeland Security have issues with returning troops turning into (what they call) terrorists???

As far as I am concerned, the writing is on the wall for those of us who choose to read it. In our governments eyes, the most dangerous terrorists on this planet are the American citizens who are poised and waking up to take this country back!!

reply to post by seeker1963


It does seem, again this is just my opinion--I can't provide "proof", it's just a gut feeling--that since maybe the 90's that the citizenry, or at least parts of it, have been watched as closely as foreign enemies. This feeling, obviously, really took off post 9/11 with the tightening security that inevitably followed. I understand the reason for it, but I don't know if we're doing it the best way we could? I admit there's not been another 9/11 since 9/11, so maybe something is being done right in so much as "homeland security".

One other thing, I've always wondered if anyone else got this feeling: When the "Patriot Act" was first announced, it sounded to me like a Stalin-esque program to watch one another and report your neighbor to the government if you had any suspicions. Ie; "If you see something, say something".

If I reported every weird person I ever saw I'd have Homeland Security on speed dial!

reply to post by BobM88


"See something Say something" is nothing new in history. Hitler used the same tactic and it worked! Hell, if I called HLS everytime I saw someone who looked strange,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,I would never be able to look in the mirror ever again!

reply to post by seeker1963


Hitler used that tactic, that's my point...for a free republic, I feel like we've gotten very totalitarian in the last 20 years.

reply to post by BobM88


the united states is the global version of a bully. when the potential victim could fight back and hurt the bully, the bully goes elsewhere looking for weaker targets.

that in a nut shell is what the world thinks of america.

not always, especially up to the end of the second world war, but now that's what america has become.

so while the bully thinks he's on top, because it appears to him that everybody fears him, people start banding together and start plotting against the bully for their own protection.

until one day the bully will cross the line and get a beating and surprise that he'll never forget.

and all the bully's victims start cheering around the world.

that's the course america is on. and wouldn't romney be the personification of that.

but he's the worst kind of cowardly bully, arrogant and weak, but with the power and money to get people to do his bidding, while he is incapable of doing it himself.

reply to post by BobM88


It really isn't fair to lump operation or conflict together and call it adventurism. And I say this as one not overly fond of the military industrial complex at all. First WWII changed everything about the world, and as a consequence of that we were the only nation on the planet that could produce equipment and manpower to act as the balance to the Soviet industrial machine.

Panama was about securing the canal zone before our lease was up. No one really made a stink about Panama for a few reasons. First we built the canal we could be trusted to not close it down. Second we put Noriega in power he was our mess to remove. And finally because for the most part what happens in the Western Hemisphere is our problem to deal with.

Desert Storm was in response to the invasion of Kuwait, and had almost universal international backing. Serbia and Somalia were another set of internationally backed operations to stop what amounts to genocide. Like it or not with the power comes a responsibility to step up and do the right things.

Do we always do it right? No we don't and those are the ones we should be really focused on. Things like invading Iraq, and saber rattling with Iran and North Korea. These are the things that should make one concerned. It is one thing to act for the right reasons and principles. But it is a complete different thing than throwing the first punch at the loudmouth that is only trying to goad you into swinging on him.

Originally posted by BobM88
As a for instance, the invasion of Panama in 1989. Operation Just Cause. We invade the country and take the President captive and take him to jail back in the US.

We may have had reasons for it...but I wonder if the Soviets had done that, would we have seen it as a necessary action? We clearly disapproved of their invasion of Afghanistan in 1979, and spent years arming the opposition, but I'm not so sure that there's much of a difference there.

The Carter Administration had already started arming the Afghan 'Holy Warriors', before the Soviets invaded. This marked the beginning of the end for detente.

As A US Marine, and Combat Veteran, I say, bring the troops home. Let's fix home before we fix the world. We have the power and the resources if we just make the right decisions. We cannot help the world when our own country is falling apart. We must save ourselves if we ever want a chance at saving the world.

reply to post by BobM88


For me personally there is only really one main conspiracy on the planet right now and that is who really runs everyday things and why. In a perfect world, where we all just got along there would be no need for bases of any description, but that's not the case. This type of Imperialism has been going on forever (think Holy Roman Empire) and as an example the Crusades from around 1098ad. Even back then there was a small patch of land in the middle east that people wanted, and finally reclaimed about 1948.

Unfortunately it seems every time I try to make sense of military and political maneuvers, the "reason" we're told just doesn't add up. As you said, if we're looking for a certain individual in a certain country, it should be easy find said person and punch his card. We can't find this guy so now we're told "No, it's about Weapons of Mass Confusion.......but we gotta go and pillage (insert country here) instead", but we can't find them either. Then it becomes "We gotta liberate these people from (insert country here) and save them from themselves".

The whole time this is going on, most people won't even question it, but few people (such as the ATS types ) begin to question everything. So people say "It's about oil!", others say "It's about control!" and before anybody has figured anything out, the next country is taken over. At this point everybody starts getting mad at each other and blaming the next guy for the worlds ills.

But at the end of the day, I see one common denominator and that is "the little country in the middle east" is always involved, and ever so vocal. Why is this place so important? Why was this place fought over so much? I mean this has been happening long before America was even America!

In comes Eschatology in some form or another, strange symbols, mysteriously coincidental numbers and weird clubs. Basically this forces out any logical, earthly reasons as to why there would be another nations military setting up shop around the globe other than security.

As far as an absolute answer is concerned, I don't have it and nor do many others. But I can bet the answers are more than likely not of this world so to speak and steeped in high strangeness, which makes it damn near impossible to figure out for the average Joe. While we keep fighting amongst ourselves and pointing fingers, there are a hand full of people laughing all the way to the bank, or to the next country......or what the hell, maybe Mars!

Apologies for thinking out loud mate(I might be off topic), and no disrespect to any nation.........but I just have no other answer.

reply to post by Stonesplitter


Great post! Thanks for sharing, and you may well be correct. Sometimes it seems like the world we see is like a thin plastic wrap overlaying a much deeper, darker world underneath. We're only allowed a peek under the wrap now and then, and it's very briefly and probably nothing of any real consequence overall when we do get that peek.

I worry, sort of...not like there's much I can do about it...about Syria next. The US seems to be going out of its way to look for a fight in the last several years. That's all I can think of...Especially with Libya and apparently Syria next.