War is the New Normal

Devastating article by retired Lt. Col. USAF William J. Astore which begins:

It was launched immediately after the 9/11 attacks, when I was still in the military, and almost immediately became known as the Global War on Terror, or GWOT. Pentagon insiders called it “the long war,” an open-ended, perhaps unending, conflict against nations and terror networks mainly of a radical Islamist bent. It saw the revival of counterinsurgency doctrine, buried in the aftermath of defeat in Vietnam, and a reinterpretation of that disaster as well. Over the years, its chief characteristic became ever clearer: a “Groundhog Day” kind of repetition. Just when you thought it was over (Iraq, Afghanistan), just after victory (of a sort) was declared, it began again.

Now, as we find ourselves enmeshed in Iraq War 3.0, what better way to memorialize the post-9/11 American way of war than through repetition. Back in July 2010, I wrote an article for TomDispatch on the seven reasons why America can’t stop making war. More than four years later, with the war on terror still ongoing, with the mission eternally unaccomplished, here’s a fresh take on the top seven reasons why never-ending war is the new normal in America.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/william-j-astore/war-is-the-new-normal_b_6594242.html

The seven reasons he gives are:

1. The privatization of war
2. The embrace of the national security state by both major parties
3. “Support Our Troops” as a substitute for thought
4. Fighting a redacted war
5. Threat inflation
6. Defining the world as a global battlefield
7. The new "normal" in America is war

It's a good list and I highly recommend the article be read in full. It ends thusly:

How do we inoculate our children against such a permanent state of war and the war state itself? I have one simple suggestion: just stop it. All of it. Stop making war a never-ending part of our lives and stop celebrating it, too. War should be the realm of the extreme, of the abnormal. It should be the death of normalcy, not the dreary norm.

It’s never too soon, America, to enlist in that good fight!



Amen Brother.

Or:

No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare.

–James Madison, Political Observations, Apr. 20, 1795 in: Letters and Other Writings of James Madison, vol. 4, p. 491 (1865)

Originally posted by no1marauder
It's a good list and I highly recommend the article be read in full. It ends thusly:

How do we inoculate our children against such a permanent state of war and the war state itself?

Surely the cold war, was also a permanent state of war, and in many ways more psychologically damaging to children. From what I have heard, many americans grew up terrified of commies.

Originally posted by twhitehead
Surely the cold war, was also a permanent state of war, and in many ways more psychologically damaging to children. From what I have heard, many americans grew up terrified of commies.

The "Cold War" was a rhetorical device; it certainly was NOT a "permanent state of war".

Originally posted by no1marauder
Devastating article by retired Lt. Col. USAF William J. Astore which begins:

It was launched immediately after the 9/11 attacks, when I was still in the military, and almost immediately became known as the Global War on Terror, or GWOT. Pentagon insiders called it “the long war,” an open-ended, perhaps unending, conflict against nations and terror ne ...[text shortened]... ry norm.

It’s never too soon, America, to enlist in that good fight!



Amen Brother.[/b]

You think we were defeated in Viet Nam.. really?

Originally posted by Hugh Glass
You think we were defeated in Viet Nam.. really?

Maybe you didn't have access to a newspaper on May 1, 1975 so this might be helpful:

http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/fall_saigon.htm

We have lots of new normals. An $18 trilion plus debt, illegals pouring into the country, drugs being legalized. Babies aborted by the millions.

Just embrace your Progressive rulers. Why do you wish to turn back the clock? Stop being so regressive, new ways of thinking are cool. 😵

Originally posted by twhitehead
Surely the cold war, was also a permanent state of war, and in many ways more psychologically damaging to children. From what I have heard, many americans grew up terrified of commies.

I remember the drills in school, get down under the desk, then the trips to a small under ground bunker.. I would say it left an impression on me.

Originally posted by no1marauder
Maybe you didn't have access to a newspaper on May 1, 1975 so this might be helpful:

http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/fall_saigon.htm

Memory is good enough, we left the South with a promise to come back to assist if there was a problem,, congress de-funded that effort simple enough.. I lived it,, where were you? sucking your binky...

Originally posted by Hugh Glass
Memory is good enough, we left the South with a promise to come back to assist if there was a problem,, congress de-funded that effort simple enough.. I lived it,,

The US left with the promise, "If you like your government, you can keep your government." 😛

The Paris Peace Accords had little practical effect on the conflict, and were routinely flouted, mainly by the North Vietnamese, as well as the Saigon government, which enlarged the area under its control in 1973. North Vietnamese military forces gradually moved through the southern provinces and two years later were in position to capture Saigon.

Nixon had secretly promised Thieu that he would use airpower to support the Saigon government should it be necessary. During his confirmation hearings in June 1973, Secretary of Defense James Schlesinger was sharply criticized by some senators after he stated that he would recommend resumption of U.S. bombing in North Vietnam if North Vietnam launched a major offensive against South Vietnam. However, Nixon was driven from office due to the Watergate scandal in 1974 and when the North Vietnamese began their final offensive early in 1975, the United States Congress refused to appropriate the funds needed by the South Vietnamese to protect Saigon, citing strong opposition to American involvement in the war by Americans and the loss of American equipment to the North by retreating Southern forces. Thieu subsequently resigned, accusing the U.S. of betrayal in a TV and radio address:

At the time of the peace agreement the United States agreed to replace equipment on a one-by-one basis. But the United States did not keep its word. Is an American's word reliable these days? The United States did not keep its promise to help us fight for freedom and it was in the same fight that the United States lost 50,000 of its young men.[9]

Originally posted by Hugh Glass
Memory is good enough, we left the South with a promise to come back to assist if there was a problem,, congress de-funded that effort simple enough.. I lived it,, where were you? sucking your binky...

No such promise was ever made as your next post clearly shows.

In any event, the people in the US had the good sense to admit defeat. That does not alter the fact that it was a defeat.

Sorry too busy playing CoD:MW3.

youtube.com/watch?v=DcckHAYCxGk

What were you saying?

Originally posted by Hugh Glass
I remember the drills in school, get down under the desk, then the trips to a small under ground bunker.. I would say it left an impression on me.

There are far more nuclear weapons aimed at the US now then there were then.