|
|
.
The World's Foremost Nation of War
On average,
since the end of World War II, the United States has carried out or
participated in roughly one military invasion of a foreign nation or
territory every 20 months. It is the only nation on Earth whose
current generation has witnessed their country's involvement in no
less than 26 wars and direct military confrontations around the globe.
By Isa F.
Atkins
27 February
2003
In a recent
News Insider poll, nearly 90 percent of participants indicated that
currently the actions of the United States constitute the most serious
threat to world peace. Now, granted, Internet polling is not the most
accurate means of measuring popular convictions. But, scientific or
not, the response by News Insider readers concurs with recorded
history, which crowns the United States as the 20th and 21st century's
undisputed nation of war.
There is a
widespread mythology in circulation, centered on the view that,
following the American Civil War (1861-1865) and the Indian genocide
(1832- 1898), the United States was a primarily peaceful nation,
focusing more on establishing its identity and individuality rather
than on imposing its view of the world upon other nations. According
to this myth, it was only after World War II, when the United States
emerged as a modern military power, that the country adopted a more
aggressive foreign policy under the pretext of the Cold War.
To dispel this
romanticized view of American history one has but to look at the
United States' record of military invasion of Latin American
countries. Following the 1823 issuing of the Monroe Doctrine, which
warned European powers against the re- colonization of the former
Spanish American republics, the United States participated in at least
one hundred instances of armed invasion of Central and South American
nations. This includes Mexico (1846, 1905, 1917), Nicaragua (1850,
1853, 1854, 1857), Panama (1895, 1901, 1908, 1912, 1925), Honduras
(1903, 1905, 1907, 1911, 1912, 1919, 1924-1925), Cuba (1892-1902,
1906- 1908, 1912, 1917), as well as other nations, such Guatemala
(1920), Chile (1891), Argentina (1890), and so on. This is just the
part of the list that covers invasions prior to World War I.
Additionally, the list excludes American military interventions in
that period that took place outside Latin America, such as those of
China (1894-1900, 1911), Korea (1894-1896, 1904, 1905), Philippines
(1898-1910), and Samoa (1899).
Victory in
World War II did not suddenly turn a supposedly peaceful Normal-
Rockwell-type nation into a war machine. But it signified a new period
of extended military aggression, and often total warfare, that went
far beyond the geographical borders of Latin America -traditionally
the American military's back yard. The long list is not limited to the
more widely known instances of Korea (1951-1953), Vietnam
(1950s-1975), Grenada (1983-1984), Libya (1986), as well as the
relatively recent invasions of Panama (1989- 1990), Kuwait (1991),
Somalia (1992-1994), Haiti (1994-1996), Yugoslavia (1999), and
Afghanistan (2002-). It also includes the less widely known military
invasions in Greece (1947-1949), Lebanon (1958, 1982-1984), Laos
(1962), Dominican Republic (1965), Cambodia (1969-1975), Bolivia
(1986), and Zaire (1996- 1997), to name but a few.
In addition,
though not widely reported by mainstream Western media, a team of
American soldiers is currently in action in Ivory Coast, signifying
the first-ever instance of direct American military involvement in
West Africa. Incidentally, this took place after the United States
fiercely opposed a UN resolution to deploy a UN peacekeeping force in
the small African nation. One can thus safely infer that the
Pentagon's interest in this case is less based on philanthropy, and
more on West Africa's spectacular oil reserves, which experts have
described as gigantic.
On average, since the end of World War II, the United States has carried out or participated in roughly one military invasion of a foreign nation or territory every 20 months. It is the only nation on Earth whose current generation has witnessed their country's involvement in no less than 26 wars and direct military confrontations around the globe. In theory, it is possible for one who joined the United States military in 1981, at the age of 18, to still be enlisted and to have participated in ten major armed invasions, thus making him or her a veteran of ten different full- scale wars. No other nation in the world possesses such an overflowing record of military activity.
As the United
States prepares itself -and a fearful world- for yet another military
invasion, we would do well to remember that it is only those unaware
of the lessons of history who can afford to be astonished, confused
and hesitant. The invasion of Iraq will be simply another case of the
unchecked assault on a largely defenseless people by the unrestrained
and brutal military force of our era's foremost nation of war. History
has repeatedly witnessed this senseless and immoral abuse by the
United States, recently enriched with renewed vigor and arrogance.
And, one can be positively certain that this brutality and arrogance
will continue to escalate -unless we, the citizens in whose name all
this is supposed to be happening, finally decide to put a clear and
ultimate end to it.
Copyright ©
2003 by the News Insider and Isa F. Atkins
<http://www.newsinsider.org/atkins/usa_foremost.html>
Join our Daily News Headlines Email Digest
|
|||||||
