The United States has been at war continuously since 9/11 — there are now 240,000 active-duty and reserve troops in at least 172 countries and territories. This is an open letter to all of us. We have a lot of fixing to do, my friends. Sometimes I feel a little strange posting on this website. I tell my kids that I’m the token liberal. Well, my long-lost friend, I guess that’s OK. Thanks for the platform. So here goes…
Our modern 24/7 news media are overlooking one particular issue that predates and transcends the Trump Movement…That issue is the normalization of armed conflict. We, as a country, have accepted that war has become a permanent condition.
And I wish more people had a problem with that.
This letter hopes to, at a minimum, help remind people that international affairs don’t have to be this way. I also hope it reminds us that we can still be civil. Like listening to an alternate opinion without the knee-jerk reaction to talk louder. After all, doesn’t being civilized imply less war and more polite discourse. Every single one of us smiles at a curious, friendly baby. All of us feel wonderful when the baby smiles back. Why do you think that is so? We should be looking for what unites us, not what divides us.
For starters, we all worship our children. Nobody’s wrong if you believe that. Tonight, I shared a sweet family moment with a co-worker who I am certain does not share my political views. We’ve come to respect one another over the last year and I enjoy working with her. Imagine that. We’re not all crazy simpletons if we disagree on an issue, but we should all have to compromise to get along.
Anyway, to jog our memories a bit more, I’d like to excerpt some of the greatest words spoken by an American president since the Gettysburg Address (JFK, at the American University Commencement, Spring, 1963):
“…What kind of peace do I mean? What kind of peace do we seek? Not a Pax Americana enforced on the world by American weapons of war…I am talking about genuine peace, the kind of peace that makes life on earth worth living, the kind that enables men and nations to grow and to hope and to build a better life for their children — not merely peace for Americans but peace for all men and women — not merely peace in our time but peace FOR all time…
“…Today the expenditure of billions of dollars every year on weapons acquired for the purpose of making sure we never need to use them is essential to keeping the peace. But surely, the acquisition of such idle stockpiles — which can only destroy and never create — is not the only, much less the most efficient, means of assuring peace…
“…I speak of peace, therefore, as the necessary rational end of rational men. I realize that the pursuit of peace is not as dramatic as the pursuit of war — and frequently the words of the pursuer fall on deaf ears. But we have no more urgent task!
“…Some say that it is useless to speak of world peace or world law or world disarmament — and that it will be useless until the leaders of the Soviet Union adopt a more enlightened attitude…But I also believe that WE must reexamine our own attitude — as individuals and as a Nation — for our attitude is as essential as theirs. And every graduate of this school, every thoughtful citizen who despairs of war and wishes to bring peace, should begin by looking inward — by examining his own attitude toward the possibilities of peace, toward the Soviet Union, toward the course of the cold war and toward freedom and peace here at home…
“…So, let us not be blind to our differences — but let us also direct attention to our common interests and to the means by which those differences can be resolved. And if we cannot end now our differences, at least we can help make the world safe for diversity. For, in the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet. We all breathe the same air. We all cherish our children’s future. And we are all mortal.”
Like traffic jams or robo-calls, war has fallen into the category of things that Americans may not welcome, but have learned to live with. In 21st-century America, war is not that big a deal.
Today, 55 years after such beautiful words were spoken, we have thousands of soldiers in harm’s way in at least three wars: Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria. Not to mention our rather hot presence in Yemen, Somalia, Libya, Niger, Mali, Pakistan, etc. Not to mention brewing potential disasters in Korea, Ukraine, and now, Iran. Oh yeah, and what about China and Russia? One has to ask, what is going on? Yet, a clear majority of the American people could not care less, so long as we don’t see the body-bags. Hell, most of us couldn’t find half the aforementioned countries on a map!
Nobody cares Dude. We, collectively—unless you are a relative or friend of a current Vet— suffer nothing from the status quo of endless war. Let me say that again so you can ponder it. We, collectively—unless you are a relative or friend of a current or deceased Vet—suffer nothing from the above status quo of endless war. We started to several years back when gasoline broke $4 a gallon nationwide, but that is an easily forgotten memory now. It’ll come back. Freshwater will also become expensive and likely soon eclipse oil as the commodity of choice.
Think about the number and skill level of our troops abroad. Now think about the number of people who can’t even name some of the countries we’re in, much less care about them. Or worse, the number who have accepted it as normal. Now think about what we could be doing with all those people and all that money—$5 to $7 trillion, depending on how you count, working here at home. Building stuff. Creating stuff. Solving problems.
I can’t be the only person who sees the advantage of simply pulling everything back home—everyone and every piece of equipment. We’re gonna need all of it at some point. Are you listening, my military friends? Most people in this country are clueless as to where you are or why you are there. That should bother us a little bit. This has got to end. How? and Why? are we paying for this, should be at the top of everyone’s question list. Why don’t we take just 50percent home and play smart defense while we mess with Russia in an IW campaign that makes what they did to us look like a party prank?
How did this happen? How long has this been going on? Since JFK?
We as a nation have accepted endless war as a natural state of affairs. I challenge anyone to describe the ideal world in 20 years and then try to describe how we get there without war. I’m sorry my friends, it’s impossible without alien intervention.
How about in 2050 or 2060? My granddaughter Lila will be 50 in 2060. I’ll be long dead. Her mother, Jessica, will be much older than me right now…she’ll be 80 in 2060. When I worked at DIA, we were often asked to project the threat for the next 20 years. It was hard, but doable. I can barely imagine 2050-2060 without the help of some great writers. I recently read “Splinterlands” by John Feffer. It’s as good of a prediction of life in 2050 as any I’ve seen or heard. And it doesn’t look good.
So, to say that I’m very worried about Pompeo as Secretary of State and Bolton as National Security Advisor is an understatement. I’m not sure if I can think of a worse combination accept Moe, Larry, and Curly. If General Mattis punches out, we are in deep trouble.
This trajectory we are on is utter insanity and potentially disastrous for the US. It looks like we’re ready to start yet another war or two, and most Americans are just gonna sit back and let it happen—no one really cares.
We’ve spent trillions of dollars since 9-11 on making it impossible for it to happen again. In many ways, we have succeeded. But I argue that it is happening again.
As UBL correctly assumed, we are now spending our national treasure to make sure it never happens again. He spent $500,000. Let’s see, using the lowest estimate of how much we’ve spent on the GWT since 9/11—$5 trillion— that is 0.0000001 of what we’ve spent. So, if we baked a pie, UBL would get maybe a couple molecules of it.
UBL, Russia, and now China, correctly foresaw how they can defeat us from within. It’s really the only way they could.
If we don’t start reigning in our military budget, we will soon find ourselves in the fix that many blues singers sang about in “Nobody Knows You When You’re Down and Out,” broke and with no friends. This is like Reagan challenging the Soviets with Star Wars. Only now, the same trick is being played on us. We’re going to spend our way into oblivion. The only way to avoid it is unspeakable. It would make the Holocaust look like an experiment. And now our president wants to man our southern border with the military?
Look at us. We are as divided a nation as I have ever seen in my lifetime. And I went from schoolboy to adolescent, to college student during Vietnam. Bobby Kennedy, Martin Luther King…that stuff is Boy Scouts compared to what’s going on today. I hope you, the young people, are listening. You are Noah’s Dove. The world will soon be yours, thank God. I just worry that it may be too late.
People…we’ve got to stop this endless war. Who’s winning but Eisenhower’s military industrial complex? This is exactly what he warned us about. We could have gotten there in my generation. Well, at least we started thinking about it. But now I fear we’re at least another century off. The human development trajectory just took a major dip downward. And I see no immediate signs of a pull-up.
That’s where you kids come in. Throw the bums out, finally. Change the world and put it on a trajectory to efficiency and enlightenment. If anyone could have done it, it was my generation: the Boomers. Turns out that that kind of change takes several generations or more. That’s what is happening now. Only you can overcome the inertia.
