Cuba USA
By Manuel E. Yepe
Although not included among the casualties of US warmongering, the "resignation" of Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel appears to be a "by-product" of US setbacks in the frequent wars in which the global
superpower takes part.
Let us recall that Hagel expressed in his remarks at the Defense One Summit on November 14, 2013, that “the will of the people reflected in the recent elections is that there be no more wars, no more Middle
East.”
And he added: “The world is going to become more complicated. It's more interconnected. And even with nations such as Iran and Syria ... military power can help achieve a joint approach with the government to provide a path for understanding rather than the war.
It is not common to hear the highest ranking US Pentagon chief say that “war is always an option but generally it is not a wise or popular decision”. Nor is it common to hear him say that “it is preferable to talk with non-allies like Iran, Russia and China to avoid a conflict before it explodes.”But certainly many people in the United States, even in highest levels of government, are tired of so much war anywhere in the world, no matter how much high technology reduces the number of U.S. casualties.
“Even if we defeat the Islamic State, we’ll still lose the bigger war against the Islamic world,” is the forecast of Andrew J. Bacevich, George McGovern fellow at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs, who is writing a history of U. S. military involvement in the Greater Middle East.
Syria has become at least the 14th country in the Islamic world that U.S. forces have invaded, occupied or bombed, and in which U.S. soldiers have killed or been killed. And that’s just since 1980.
Before that there were: Iran (1980, 1987-1988), Libya (1981, 1986, 1989, 2011), Lebanon (1983), Kuwait (1991), Iraq (1991-2011, 2014-), Somalia (1992-1993, 2007-), Bosnia (1995), Saudi Arabia (1991, 1996), Afghanistan (1998, 2001-), Sudan (1998), Kosovo (1999), Yemen (2000,
2002-), Pakistan (2004-).
According to Professor Bacevich, defeating the Islamic State would only commit the United States more deeply to a decades-old enterprise that has proved costly and counterproductive.
In support of his view, Bacevich goes back to 1980 when President Jimmy Carter announced that the United States would use force to prevent the Persian Gulf from falling into the wrong hands. Thus the United States undertook the responsibility to protect the post-Ottoman world and insert itself into a region in which it had previously avoided serious military involvement.
“At the time, oil — not freedom, democracy or human rights — defined the principal American interest, and stability was the goal. Military power offered the means by which the United States hoped to attain
that goal. Armed might would keep a lid on things. The pot might simmer, but it wouldn’t boil over,” said Bacevich.
In practice, however, whether putting boots on the ground or relying on missiles from above, subsequent U.S. efforts to promote stability have tended to produce just the opposite.
Back in Vietnam, this was known as burning down the village to save it. In the Greater Middle East, it has meant dismantling a country with the aim of erecting something more preferable — “regime change”
as a prelude to “nation building.”
Mostly, coercive regime change has produced power vacuums. Iraq offers a glaring example, post-Gaddafi Libya offers a second. And, Afghanistan will probably become a third whenever U.S. and NATO combat
troops finally depart.
We may be grateful –said Bacevich– that Obama has learned from his predecessor that invading and occupying countries in this region of the world just doesn’t work. The lesson he will bequeath to his
successor is that drone strikes and commando raids don’t solve the problem, either.
“We must hope for victory over the Islamic State. But even if achieved, that victory will not redeem but merely prolong a decades-long military undertaking that was flawed from the outset.”
“No matter how long it lasts, America’s war for the greater Middle East will end in failure. And when it does, Americans will discover that it was also superfluous.”
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Cuba USA
Washington Wars Against the Thirld World
By Manuel E. Yepe
Although not included among the casualties of US warmongering, the "resignation" of Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel appears to be a "by-product" of US setbacks in the frequent wars in which the global
superpower takes part.
Let us recall that Hagel expressed in his remarks at the Defense One Summit on November 14, 2013, that “the will of the people reflected in the recent elections is that there be no more wars, no more Middle
East.”
It is not common to hear the highest ranking US Pentagon chief say that “war is always an option but generally it is not a wise or popular decision”. Nor is it common to hear him say that “it is preferable to talk with non-allies like Iran, Russia and China to avoid a conflict before it explodes.”But certainly many people in the United States, even in highest levels of government, are tired of so much war anywhere in the world, no matter how much high technology reduces the number of U.S. casualties.
“Even if we defeat the Islamic State, we’ll still lose the bigger war against the Islamic world,” is the forecast of Andrew J. Bacevich, George McGovern fellow at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs, who is writing a history of U. S. military involvement in the Greater Middle East.
Syria has become at least the 14th country in the Islamic world that U.S. forces have invaded, occupied or bombed, and in which U.S. soldiers have killed or been killed. And that’s just since 1980.
Before that there were: Iran (1980, 1987-1988), Libya (1981, 1986, 1989, 2011), Lebanon (1983), Kuwait (1991), Iraq (1991-2011, 2014-), Somalia (1992-1993, 2007-), Bosnia (1995), Saudi Arabia (1991, 1996), Afghanistan (1998, 2001-), Sudan (1998), Kosovo (1999), Yemen (2000,
2002-), Pakistan (2004-).
According to Professor Bacevich, defeating the Islamic State would only commit the United States more deeply to a decades-old enterprise that has proved costly and counterproductive.
In support of his view, Bacevich goes back to 1980 when President Jimmy Carter announced that the United States would use force to prevent the Persian Gulf from falling into the wrong hands. Thus the United States undertook the responsibility to protect the post-Ottoman world and insert itself into a region in which it had previously avoided serious military involvement.
“At the time, oil — not freedom, democracy or human rights — defined the principal American interest, and stability was the goal. Military power offered the means by which the United States hoped to attain
that goal. Armed might would keep a lid on things. The pot might simmer, but it wouldn’t boil over,” said Bacevich.
In practice, however, whether putting boots on the ground or relying on missiles from above, subsequent U.S. efforts to promote stability have tended to produce just the opposite.
Back in Vietnam, this was known as burning down the village to save it. In the Greater Middle East, it has meant dismantling a country with the aim of erecting something more preferable — “regime change”
as a prelude to “nation building.”
Mostly, coercive regime change has produced power vacuums. Iraq offers a glaring example, post-Gaddafi Libya offers a second. And, Afghanistan will probably become a third whenever U.S. and NATO combat
troops finally depart.
We may be grateful –said Bacevich– that Obama has learned from his predecessor that invading and occupying countries in this region of the world just doesn’t work. The lesson he will bequeath to his
successor is that drone strikes and commando raids don’t solve the problem, either.
“We must hope for victory over the Islamic State. But even if achieved, that victory will not redeem but merely prolong a decades-long military undertaking that was flawed from the outset.”
“No matter how long it lasts, America’s war for the greater Middle East will end in failure. And when it does, Americans will discover that it was also superfluous.”
- The Bolivarian Revolution Is Not Over
by Rosa Miriam Elizaldesource Desbloqueando Cubatranslation Cuba - Network in Defense of Humanity It is wrong to delight of others' misfortunes especially if it occurs in the middle of a perfect storm of lies and nonsense about Venezuela that has...
- Cuba´s Legal System / Interview From Havana Youtube
Contrary to the stereotyped portrayal in the Western media, the rule of law is alive and well in Cuba. In today's program, host Cristina Escobar interviews Dr. Leonard Perez Gallardo, notary public and professor at the University of Havana School...
- A Victory For The People In Havana: Former Cuban Parliamentary Speaker Hails Restoration Of Ties. Video
Interview of Ricardo Alarcónby Democracy Now Hundreds of dignitaries from Cuba and the United States gathered outside the Cuban Embassy in Washington, D.C., to mark the historic restoration of diplomatic...
- How Many Muslim Countries Has The U.s. Bombed Or Occupied Since 1980?
By Glenn GreenwaldSource Information Clearing House Barack Obama, in his post-election press conference yesterday, announced that he would seek an Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF) from the new Congress, one that would authorize Obama’s...
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The caption for the picture above: "REBELLE WITH...