The New American Militarism - The normalization of war

[Dover]

Apr 22, 2005



THE NEW AMERICAN MILITARISM
The normalization of war
By Andrew J Bacevich

At the end of the Cold War, Americans said "yes" to military power. The skepticism about arms and armies that pervaded the American experiment from its founding vanished. Political leaders, liberals and conservatives alike, became enamored with military might.

The ensuing affair had and continues to have a heedless, Gatsby-like aspect, a passion pursued in utter disregard of any consequences that might ensue. Few in power have openly considered whether valuing military power for its own sake or cultivating permanent global military superiority might be at odds with American principles. Indeed, one striking aspect of America's drift toward militarism has been the absence of dissent offered by any political figure of genuine stature.

For example, when Senator John Kerry, Democrat of Massachusetts, ran for the presidency in 2004, he framed his differences with George W Bush's national security policies in terms of tactics rather than first principles. Kerry did not question the wisdom of styling the US response to the events of September 11, 2001, as a generations-long "global war on terror". It was not the prospect of open-ended war that drew Kerry's ire. It was rather the fact that the war had been "extraordinarily mismanaged and ineptly prosecuted". Kerry faulted Bush because, in his view, US troops in Iraq lacked "the preparation and hardware they needed to fight as effectively as they could". Bush was expecting too few soldiers to do too much with too little. Declaring that "keeping our military strong and keeping our troops as safe as they can be should be our highest priority", Kerry promised if elected to fix these deficiencies. Americans could count on a President Kerry to expand the armed forces and improve their ability to fight.

Yet on this score Kerry's circumspection was entirely predictable. It was the candidate's way of signaling that he was sound on defense and had no intention of departing from the prevailing national-security consensus.

Under the terms of that consensus, mainstream politicians today take as a given that American military supremacy is an unqualified good, evidence of a larger American superiority. They see this armed might as the key to creating an international order that accommodates American values. One result of that consensus over the past quarter-century has been to militarize US policy and encourage tendencies suggesting that American society itself is increasingly enamored with its self-image as the military-power nonpareil. ...cont'd

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Front_Page/GD22Aa01.html

[salib]

1. This is an incredible article

And an even better series. Worth following.

[wallwriter]

2. See also: Peak Oil