McCrystal Scandal Shows Us the Military No Longer Protects America -- It Guards Empire

[marmar]

AlterNet / By Frank Schaeffer

McCrystal Scandal Shows Us the Military No Longer Protects America -- It Guards Empire
The military is no longer protecting America only -- it's also defending an empire that will lead to more and more loss of American lives for no reason.

June 24, 2010 |


The Obama/McChrystal debacle is symptomatic of a wider divide -- the widening estrangement between our civilian elites and our military. McChrystal deserved to be fired and has been. But this event is a symptom of a bigger problem.

General McChrystal's disdain for President Obama did not arise in a vacuum. The context is: 1) the disconnect between our "all-volunteer military" -- that is now really a professional mercenary force by another name -- and the civilian political leadership with less and less personal military service experience. And 2) the fact that the Republican Party has wrapped itself in the flag while the Democrats have had a harder time distancing themselves from some voices that have been perceived as offensively anti-military within their big tent.

The real reason that Rolling Stone was able to quote so many highly placed military people's disdain for members of the Obama administration is because the military sees itself as more moral and better -- and certainly more conservative -- than the types who serve in civilian roles today, especially within a Democratic administration.

Disclosure: I'm someone who has experienced this "disconnect" first hand. When my son volunteered for the Marines it was a shock to me. As a typical member of the white upper middle classes, as a writer living in Boston and as someone who never served, I was shocked by his choice. ..........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.alternet.org/world/147326/mccrystal_scandal_shows_us_the_military_no_longer_protects_america_--_it_guards_empire/