Why We Seek War: Why is America in so Many Wars?

reply to post by donhuangenaro


took the words out of my mouth.

There is money to be made in war.

War is money, and Americans love money.
War is a power trip, and Americans love that too.

Hell, I work for a company that makes weaponry that does not work, but we pay out our bribes to Congress and the Pentagon, just like everyone else here does.

We are patriots here, we love war, we love killing, and we love making money.

We need to sell much more of our faulty weaponry that does not work, to employ more Americans. We support the American economy with jobs.

Who cares if a few of our guys die, or are horribly wounded, or incapacitated for life ?
Hell, they joined the military to be shot at and bombed, what do they expect.

Far more important than a bit of American blood is that our corporation makes many hundreds of millions of dollars. We support the US unions, and our political parties. Nothing is more patriotic than that.

The whole American economy depends on US government military spending, and the bribes and corruption that it all supports.

So let's start another big military operation.

MARTIAL LAW. A sure fire money winner.
We are going to start manufacturing mobile prison cells, and torture chambers built into containers. We need weapons for mass control of crowds, flame throwers and means of deploying toxic chemicals against the US public. That will be a big money spinner.

We have bribed Congress to fund our new research and development project on how best to control the American suburbs and disarm the US public.

We are going to make billions of dollars more, and what is good for us, is good for America.

[edit on 4/2/2010 by Silver Shadow]

It's a good question. USA hasn't had a day's peace since the late 19th Century. Check it out. Go through each President backwards and it's late 19th Century since one didn't have a beef with someone else.

I also have asked myself why we are in so many wars. Over time, I have come to the conclusion it is the military industrial complex, run by mega corporations in league with nations and heads of nations to keep wars going to ensure the billions if not trillions in profits generated by the blood of others.

Of course there are political, and nationalistic reasons for pursuing wars, but to date the only reason I can see is because there is profit in it for a select few and that select few is so filthy rich that they can buy governments. They can create armies and wage war with whom they like. It's not about whats right or wrong. It's about doing what keeps war going and expanding.

It's all about the money and of course, enough is never enough. More is not enough. Nothing will satiate the greed beast when money is involved.

Lastly this posting made me think for a second that what if peace could be as profitable as war? It gives me something to ponder and in the scheme of things, it's not a crazy thought to have.

Great posting. Good brain stimulator.

reply to post by Kandinsky


It is quite ironic to me that All those Viet Nam Anti War Protesters from back in the 60's are now Older , but Still not Wiser . Most of them tossed aside their Idealogly of Peace And Love in order to make a Buck . And to think how they Condemned the WWII Generation for their Values , and replaced them today with almost the same Thing ..........Hypocrates Indeed !

This entire topic is bogus. You say the USA has been in so many wars. By what comparison? What huge amount of wars are you talking about? The Brits have been just as involved in the wars in the middle east. Are they equally blood-thirsty? Why do you mention only the USA when there are more than a dozen countries involved in the current conflicts in the ME? Before we kept Iraq from invading one of our friends in the Middle East in the '90's, what was the last war that the US was involved in? The '60s? Hell, we spent decades just trying to avoid a war with the Soviet Union.

You're right, the US just loves war.

[edit on 2/4/2010 by bagari]

I think you have to go back and look at the history of Europe, it was constantly embroiled by war and being invaded by other cultures. The Persians, Romans, Hun, Muslims, Mongols all tried to take over Europe. There was also infighting amongst the British, French, Spanish. And then there was the Germans, Italians, Turks. The Japanese attacked PH. The USSR becoming hostile and spreading communism all over the world.

Originally the USA was non-interventionist focusing more on trade. But towards the late 19th and early 20th centuries it realized that it would have to start intervening in order to protect it's foreign interests.

Today the USA wants to maintain the status quo with it being the remaining super power and having no other states vying for world supremacy. A lot of the little and proxy wars are a means to an end.

Most of this I would support except for the fact that the government, or rather the elites in power, also see the average citizen as a threat and want to maintain the status quo and protect their own political supremacy. They do this mainly by control of the media creating generations of apathetic and ignorant people.

www.alternet.org...

The total of America's military bases in other people's countries in 2005, according to official sources, was 737. Reflecting massive deployments to Iraq and the pursuit of President Bush's strategy of preemptive war, the trend line for numbers of overseas bases continues to go up.

Interestingly enough, the thirty-eight large and medium-sized American facilities spread around the globe in 2005 -- mostly air and naval bases for our bombers and fleets -- almost exactly equals Britain's thirty-six naval bases and army garrisons at its imperial zenith in 1898. The Roman Empire at its height in 117 AD required thirty-seven major bases to police its realm from Britannia to Egypt, from Hispania to Armenia. Perhaps the optimum number of major citadels and fortresses for an imperialist aspiring to dominate the world is somewhere between thirty-five and forty.

The report similarly omits bases in Afghanistan, Iraq (106 garrisons as of May 2005), Israel, Kyrgyzstan, Qatar, and Uzbekistan, even though the U.S. military has established colossal base structures in the Persian Gulf and Central Asian areas since 9/11. By way of excuse, a note in the preface says that "facilities provided by other nations at foreign locations" are not included, although this is not strictly true. The report does include twenty sites in Turkey, all owned by the Turkish government and used jointly with the Americans. The Pentagon continues to omit from its accounts most of the $5 billion worth of military and espionage installations in Britain, which have long been conveniently disguised as Royal Air Force bases. If there were an honest count, the actual size of our military empire would probably top 1,000 different bases overseas, but no one -- possibly not even the Pentagon -- knows the exact number for sure.

It has nothing to do with ideology.

It has nothing to do with defending American soil.

It is all about greed, corruption, and money.

Suppose America withdrew all it's foreign troops, closed all the foreign bases, and mothballed all the carrier battle fleets.

What would happen ?

Only about HALF the US workforce would be out of a job.

You say BS,
But the guy that works at the factory that supplies the widgets for the US air force loses his job, so he cannot afford a new car, or to to eat at Mc Donalds or buy a new pair of jeans.

So people at GM, Mc Donalds and Levi Straus also get unemployed.
America is a war economy, and new wars must be started to keep it all going.

Simple as that.

Some pretext MUST be found to begin a third war.
The economic consequences of peace would be absolutely catastrophic.

reply to post by bagari


america is like that movie Mars Attacks..............

We come in peace............

rrrrraaaaaatttttttttaaaaaaaattttttttt..........

Because there are few people (and families) who make money from killing people in other countries. That simple.

The people of the USA should understand they are being used, manipulated, robbed and let these people sent their children into death for these sociopaths.

[edit on 4-2-2010 by zatara]

Just to put things into perspective for people......

Here is an edited list of United States military operations for the last 235 years. For explanations of each conflict, please peruse the link provided.

en.wikipedia.org...

1775-1800

1775-1783 - American Revolutionary War

1776-1777 - Second Cherokee War

1776-1794 - Chickamauga wars

1786-1787 - Shays' Rebellion

1794 - Whiskey Rebellion

1798-1800 - Quasi-War, an undeclared naval war with France.

1799-1800 - Fries's Rebellion

1801-1805 - First Barbary War

1806 – Spanish Mexico

1806-10 – Gulf of Mexico

1810 – West Florida (Spanish territory).

1812 – Amelia Island and other parts of east Florida, then under Spain.

1812-15 – War of 1812.

1813 – West Florida (Spanish territory).

1813-14 – Marquesas Islands (French Polynesia).

1814 – Spanish Florida.

1814-25 – Caribbean.

1815 – Algiers.

1815 – Tripoli.

1816 – Spanish Florida.

1816-18 – Spanish Florida - First Seminole War.

1817 – Amelia Island (Spanish territory off Florida)

1818 – Oregon


1820-23 – Africa.

1822 – Cuba.

1823 – Cuba.

1824 – Cuba.

1824 – Puerto Rico (Spanish territory).

1825 – Cuba. In March cooperating American and British forces landed at Sagua La Grande to capture pirates.[RL30172]

1827 – Greece.


1831-32 – Falkland Islands

1832 – Attack on Quallah Battoo, Sumatra, Indonesia

1833 – Argentina. - October 31 to November 15.
1835-36 – Peru.

1836 – Mexico.

1838 – The Caroline affair on Navy Island, Canada.

1838-39 – Sumatra (Indonesia).

1840 – Fiji Islands.

1841 – McKean Island (Drummond Island/Taputenea), Gilbert Islands (Kingsmill Group), Pacific Ocean.

1841 – Samoa.

1842 – Mexico.

1843 – China

1843 – Africa.

1844 – Mexico.

1846-48 – Mexican-American War

1849 – Smyrna (Izmir, Turkey).

1851 – Turkey.

1851 – Johanns Island (east of Africa).

1852-53 – Argentina.

1853 – Nicaragua.

1853-54 – Japan.

1853-54 – Ryūkyū and Bonin Islands (Japan).

1854 – China.

1854 – Nicaragua.

1855 – China.

1855 – Fiji Islands

1855 – Uruguay

1856 – Panama, Republic of New Grenada.

1856 – China.

1857-58 – Utah War.

1857 – Nicaragua

1858 – Uruguay

1858 – Fiji Islands

1858-59 – Turkey

1859 – Paraguay.

1859 – Mexico.

1859 – China.

1860 – Angola, Portuguese West Africa

1860 – Colombia, Bay of Panama.

1861-65 – American Civil War

1863 – Japan

1864 – Japan

1864 – Japan

1865 – Panama.

1865-1877 Southern United States

1866 – Mexico

1866 – China.

1867 – Nicaragua.

1867 – Formosa (island of Taiwan)

1868 – Japan (Osaka, Hiolo, Nagasaki, Yokohama, and Negata)

1868 – Uruguay.

1868 – Colombia.

1870 – Mexico.

1870 – Kingdom of Hawaii.

1871 – Korea.

1873 – Colombia (Bay of Panama).

1873-96 – Mexico.

1874 – Kingdom of Hawaii.

1876 – Mexico.

1882 – Egypt.

1885 – Panama (Colon).

1888 – Korea.

1888 – Haiti.

1888-89 – Samoa.

1889 – Kingdom of Hawaii.

1890 – Argentina.

1890 – South Dakota

1891 – Haiti.

1891 – Bering Strait. - July 2 to October 5. Naval forces sought to stop seal poaching.[RL30172]

1891 – Chile.

1893 – overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom

1894 – Brazil.

1894 – Nicaragua.

1894-95 – China

1894-95 – China.

1894-96 – Korea.

1895 – Colombia.

1895-96 – Venezuela.

1896 – Nicaragua.

1898 – Nicaragua.

1898 – Spanish-American War

1898-99 – Samoa.

1898-99 – China.

1899 – Nicaragua.

1899-1913 – Philippine Islands.

1900 – China.

1901 – Colombia (State of Panama).

1902 – Colombia.

1902 – Colombia (State of Panama)

1903 – Honduras.

1903 – Dominican Republic.

1903 – Syria

1903-04 – Abyssinia (Ethiopia).

1903-14 – Panama.

1904 – Dominican Republic.

1904 – Tangier, Morocco.

1904 – Panama.

1904-05 – Korea.

1906-09 – Cuba

1907 – Honduras.

1910 – Nicaragua.

1911 – Honduras.

1911 – China.

1912 – Honduras.

1912 – Panama.

1912 – Cuba

1912 – China.

1912 – Turkey

1912-25 – Nicaragua.

1912-41 – China.

1913 – Mexico.

1914 – Haiti

1914 – Dominican Republic

1914-17 – Mexico.

1915-34 – Haiti.

1916 – China.

1916-24 – Dominican Republic.

1917 – China.

1917-18 – World War I.

1917-22 – Cuba.

1918-19 – Mexico.

1918-20 – Panama.

1918-20 – Soviet Union.

1919 – Dalmatia (Croatia).

1919 – Turkey.

1919 – Honduras.

1920 – China.

1920 – Guatemala.

1920-22 – Russia (Siberia).

1921 – Panama - Costa Rica.

1922 – Turkey.

1922-23 – China.

1924 – Honduras.

1924 – China.

1925 – China.

1925 – Honduras.

1925 – Panama.

1926-33 – Nicaragua.

1926 – China.

1927 – China.

1932 – China.

1933 – Cuba.

1934 – China.

1940 – Newfoundland, Bermuda, St. Lucia, - Bahamas, Jamaica, Antigua, Trinidad, and British Guiana.

1941 – Greenland.

1941 – Netherlands (Dutch Guiana).

1941 – Iceland.

1941 – Germany.

1941-45 – World War II.

1945 – China.

1945-49 Occupation of part of Germany.

1945-55 Occupation of part of Austria.

1945-46 Occupation of part of Italy.

1945-52 Occupation of Japan.

1944-46 Temporary reoccupation of the Philippines during WWII and in preparation for previously scheduled independence.

1945-49 Occupation of South Korea and defeat of a leftist insurgency.

1946 – Trieste (Italy).

1945-47 US Marines garrisoned in mainland China to oversee the removal of Soviet and Japanese forces after World War II.

1948 – Palestine.

1948 – Berlin.

1948-49 – China

1950-53 – Korean War.

1950-55 – Formosa (Taiwan).

1954-55 – China.

1955-64 – Vietnam.

1956 – Egypt.

1958 – Lebanon.

1959-60 – The Caribbean.

1962 – Thailand.

1962 – Cuba.

1962-75 – Laos.

1964 – Congo (Zaire).

1959-75 – Vietnam War.

1965 – Dominican Republic.

1967 – Israel.

1967 – Congo (Zaire).

1968 – Laos & Cambodia.

1970 – Cambodia Campaign.

1973 – Operation Nickel Grass

1974 – Evacuation from Cyprus.

1975 – Evacuation from Vietnam.

1975 – Evacuation from Cambodia.

1975 – South Vietnam.

1975 – Cambodia.

1976 – Lebanon

1976 – Korea.

1978 – Zaire (Congo).

1980 – Operation Eagle Claw, Iran.

1981 – El Salvador.

1981 – Libya

1982 – Sinai

1982 – Lebanon.

1982-1983 – Lebanon.

1983 – Egypt.

1983 – Grenada.

1983-89 – Honduras.

1983 – Chad.

1984 – Persian Gulf.

1985 – Italy.

1986 – Libya.

1986 – Libya.

1986 – Bolivia.

1987 – Persian Gulf.

1987 –October 19, Operation Nimble Archer

1987-88 – Persian Gulf.

1987-88 – Operation Earnest Will

1987-88 – Operation Prime Chance

1988 – Operation Praying Mantis

1988 – Operation Golden Pheasant

1988 – USS Vincennes shoot down of Iran Air Flight 655

1988 – Panama.

1989 – Libya.

1989 – Panama

1989 – Colombia, Bolivia, and Peru.

1989 – Operation Classic Resolve, Philippines

1989-90 – Operation Just Cause, Panama

1990 – Liberia.

1990 – Saudi Arabia

1991 – Operation Desert Shield and Operation Desert Storm (Persian Gulf War).

1991 – Iraq.

1991 – Zaire.

1991-96 – Operation Provide Comfort.

1992 – Operation Silver Anvil, Sierra Leone

1992-1996 – Operation Provide Promise

1992 – Kuwait.

1992-2003 – Iraq

1992-95 – Somalia.

1993-Present – Bosnia-Herzegovina.

1993 – Macedonia.

1994-95 – Operation Uphold Democracy, Haiti.

1994 – Macedonia.

1995 – Operation Deliberate Force, Bosnia.

1996 – Operation Assured Response, Liberia.

1996 – Operation Quick Response, Central African Republic.

1997 – Operation Silver Wake, Albania

1997 – Congo and Gabon.

1997 – Sierra Leone.

1997 – Cambodia.

1998 – Operation Desert Fox, Iraq

1998 – Operation Shepherd Venture, Guinea-Bissau.

1998 - 1999 Kenya and Tanzania.

1998 – Operation Infinite Reach, Afghanistan and Sudan.

1998 – Liberia.

1999-2001 East Timor.

1999 – Operation Allied Force

2000 – Sierra Leone.

2000 – Yemen.

2000 – East Timor.

2001 – Afghanistan.

2002 – Yemen.

2002 – Philippines.

2002 – Côte d'Ivoire.

2003 – 2003 invasion of Iraq leading to the War in Iraq.

2003 – Liberia.

2003 – Georgia and Djibouti

2004 – 2004 Haïti rebellion occurs.

2004 – War on Terrorism: US anti-terror related activities were underway in Georgia, Djibouti, Kenya, Ethiopia, Yemen, and Eritrea

2006 – Pakistan

2006 – Lebanon.

2007 – Somalia.

2008 – South Ossetia, Georgia.

2009 – Pakistan

en.wikipedia.org...

I don't care what ANYONE says, that's an enormous amount of military-related operations and conflicts for a supposedly peace-loving country.

A - W

America = War

America exists for War

Why?

War makes Money! War makes rich people even richer and helps to keep the population of not so bright or not so fortunate individuals under control ie DEAD!

We recently saw here in the UK a BBC interview of new recruits into the US Army to fight the money making wars.

It was HORRIFIC.

We sat and watched replicants of the death camps survivors of the Nazi era repeat, parrot fashion..'This recruits thinks....', 'This recruits thinks....' much like the walking dead of the Zombie Apocalypse. These new recruits, be they male of female had shaved heads, exactly the same clothing, exactly the same blank facial features and repeated exactly the same crap that had been imprinted on their fragile minds. No thought was taking place, just blank hopelessness.

When you see this in action, you know the Elite Monstrosities that rule this planet are having a laugh.....at our expense and it can quite make your blood boil with anger, frustration and the cry for Justice!

But I don't think anyone is listening to those cries for Justice and I don't think anyone is coming to save us soon!

Which leads me to the conclusion that we have to say 'NO' and do our best to start by saving ourselves before we can do anything for the rest of the sadly brain dead human race.

But that's why America is always at war.... in my humble opinion.

Originally posted by Silver Shadow

Suppose America withdrew all it's foreign troops, closed all the foreign bases, and mothballed all the carrier battle fleets.

What would happen ?

That's a good question, but maybe not in the way you intended. What would happen? Would the rest of the world all hold hands and sing kumbaya? Would there be a new era of peace throughout the world? Has mankind evolved beyond war, except for the US?

I think many of us in the western world have a warped perception about how peaceful the world really is....


[edit on 4-2-2010 by joebob]