Writer's Block: Peace for sale
Is it appropriate for governments to spend so much money on defense and weapons? How much is too much?
No, in general. A threat from a neighbor is one thing. Going around the world inventing threats is something else.
A large US military was believed necessary in the early days of the Cold War, and alliances were made, east and west. NATO has resulted in a major part of the US military stationed in Europe, and we have been unable to reduce those forces for over 60 years. Ridiculous! Then, another large force has been kept in Korea ever since the Korean War, and other major troop placements throughout the far east (Japan, Ph8ilippines, Okinawa, etc.) More ridiculous!
I don't even want to talk about Viet Nam, except to note that we should have learned a lesson there. We didn't.
I'm ambiguous about the 1991 Gulf War, except to note that it was quick, completed its objective (to get Iraq out of Kuwait), and over. There was no reason to have conquered Iraq, and we didn't. It should have been left there.
What has happened since 2001 has been again, ridiculous. We had no reason to attack Iraq, other than the President's belief that he had, somehow, to vindicate his father. We ended up in a middle eastern version of Viet Nam, and there seems to be no way to get out.
None of our "allies" in either the far east or Europe have spent anywhere near the same proportion of their national economies as we have. We should not be the world's cop. We need a military about half the size we have, we don't need nuclear aircraft carriers, we don't need bases anywhere but within our own borders. The supposed enemy for which NATO was begun has split up into component parts, and some of them have in fact asked to join NATO.
Our military budget should be cut in half and the savings applied to reducing the national debt.
No, in general. A threat from a neighbor is one thing. Going around the world inventing threats is something else.
A large US military was believed necessary in the early days of the Cold War, and alliances were made, east and west. NATO has resulted in a major part of the US military stationed in Europe, and we have been unable to reduce those forces for over 60 years. Ridiculous! Then, another large force has been kept in Korea ever since the Korean War, and other major troop placements throughout the far east (Japan, Ph8ilippines, Okinawa, etc.) More ridiculous!
I don't even want to talk about Viet Nam, except to note that we should have learned a lesson there. We didn't.
I'm ambiguous about the 1991 Gulf War, except to note that it was quick, completed its objective (to get Iraq out of Kuwait), and over. There was no reason to have conquered Iraq, and we didn't. It should have been left there.
What has happened since 2001 has been again, ridiculous. We had no reason to attack Iraq, other than the President's belief that he had, somehow, to vindicate his father. We ended up in a middle eastern version of Viet Nam, and there seems to be no way to get out.
None of our "allies" in either the far east or Europe have spent anywhere near the same proportion of their national economies as we have. We should not be the world's cop. We need a military about half the size we have, we don't need nuclear aircraft carriers, we don't need bases anywhere but within our own borders. The supposed enemy for which NATO was begun has split up into component parts, and some of them have in fact asked to join NATO.
Our military budget should be cut in half and the savings applied to reducing the national debt.