As the semester draws to a close and we have discussed many current situations that could be threats to the national security of the United States it bears addressing what could be a U.S. policy of becoming Don Quixote and setting out chasing windmills.
When there truly is a threat to U.S. national security is clearly is the duty of the government to act preferably first in a diplomatic manner and if that approach is unsuccessful then a military approach must be considered. The federal government is given this power by the U.S. Constitution in the preamble as it states that one of the purposes the founding fathers intended when creating the Constitution was “to provide for the common defense”. However the government must act responsibly in its wielding of said power, this is why the founding fathers saw fit to give Congress the power to declare war and after Congress has declared war the President has the power as Commander in Chief, the only manner to alter this procedure is by amendment to the Constitution. The founding fathers intended bringing this country into war and continuing it involvement in a war to be difficult, not simple. Overwhelming circumstances will make it easy for the support required for a declaration of war to be acquired. Why did they make this difficult? Because they knew what would happen if they did not, and what has now happened because the Constitution is not upheld as it should be, rather it is treated as a historical document, not what it is, the supreme law of the land.
After the U.S. entered WWII a buildup occurred in the United States of manufacturers of the goods and weapons required for war. This buildup allowed the U.S. the supply itself and its allies with the materials required to win WWII; however after the victory the buildup did not cease, rather it continued. This high level of capacity to create goods and weapons required for war would become known as the military industrial complex (MIC). The MIC would have its own lobbyist in Washington, D.C. and would continue to fight to supply reasons that would require its existence. Now the MIC not only supplies funding for a Congressional campaign but it also provides employment in the Congressman’s home district, both giving him reasons to resist any defense budget cuts and to brand anyone who dare suggest such cuts as unpatriotic. It is these corporations of the MIC that profit from the act of war, it is in their interest that governments go to and stay at war. These organizations not only supply the goods and weapons required for war, they also supply the funding required for the conflict. In his farewell address, President Eisenhower warned the country of the MIC, and the warning went mainly unheeded. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8y06NSBBRtY
One has to consider the existence of this ability to go to war might increase a country’s willingness to actually go to war. This is why for any war, Congress must be required to fulfill the requirement given to it by the Constitution and declare war or not become involved in a conflict, incidents such as Libya and the combating of the Lord’s Resistance Army are unconstitutional. Our servicemen joined the military to defend the United States against threats to its national security, not against threats to its corporate interests or for the national security of other nations.
One incident where the United States went to war in a conflict that did not present a national security threat to the country was the Vietnam War, which the Gulf of Tonkin incident was responsible for drawing the U.S. into the conflict. However then Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara later admitted the Gulf of Tonkin never happened. It was a false flag reason for the U.S. going to war, a war which profited the MIC. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HODxnUrFX6k
If this was one incident where the America people were misled into going to war, one must wonder how many other times such an act has occurred? One has to consider if Iraq and its alleged weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) were another such event that prompted the U.S. to go to war to profit the MIC. Those WMDs, which were whose “certain presence” was what prompted the U.S. invasion of Iraq, were never found and likely never existed. Now the sabers are once again rattling, this time for an attack on Iran. The question that must be considered is this: Is Iran truly a threat to the U.S. (let other countries worry about their own defense) or is Iran just another windmill to profit the MIC?
No comments:
Post a Comment