14 January 2011
By Jacob G. Hornberger A good example of the military mindset that has
predominated in American society since at least World
War II is found in an op-ed in the Washington Times
today. Its title is "China's Imperialism on Full
Display" and is written by Retired Navy Admiral James
A. Lyons, who served as commander in chief of the U.S.
Pacific Fleet and senior U.S. military representative
to the United Nations. The introductory sentence sets the tone of the
op-ed: "To foster its imperialistic goals, China for
the past two decades has funded an unprecedented
military expansion program." Now, that's an interesting sentence. Is Lyons
saying that any country that funds an unprecedented
military expansion is automatically doing so to foster
imperialistic goals rather than preparing for
self-defense? If so, where does that leave the United States?
After all, surely Lyons is aware that the U.S.
government has also funded an unprecedented military
expansion program, not only for the past two decades
but ever since World War II. And while we're on the subject of imperialism,
Lyons would certainly agree that it's the U.S.
government, not the Chinese government, that has some
700-1000 military bases in more than 130 countries
around the globe. Also, we shouldn't forget that it's the United
States, not China, that has invaded and occupied two
separate, independent countries in the last ten years
— Iraq and Afghanistan. In fact, let's assume that the Chinese communist
regime suddenly did the following things: began
spending as much money on military armaments as the
U.S. government; began invading and occupying
countries for the purpose of installing pro-Chinese
regimes; began instituting an international
assassination program; began supporting military coups
in countries with the aim of installing pro-Chinese
dictators into office; began imposing deadly sanctions
and embargoes on other countries for the purpose of
bringing them into line with Chinese policy; began
sending troops and intelligence agents into countries
around the world, including the United States, to
kidnap terrorists and enemy combatants and then
rendition them to North Korea for purposes of torture;
began building a series of secret prisons around the
world for the purpose of holding prisoners
indefinitely without trial; began building Chinese
military bases in more than 100 countries, including
Cuba, Venezuela, Mexico, and Nicaragua; and began
sending Chinese and North Korean naval fleets into the
Gulf of Mexico for military exercises. Question for Admiral Lyons: What would be your
reaction to those things? I'll tell you. Lyons would exclaim, "Why, those no
good communist thugs! They're trying to conquer the
world. We've got to be prepared to defend ourselves.
We've got to start spending more money than ever on
the military and the military-industrial complex. We
don't have a choice. If we don't, the dominoes will
fall and America will succumb to the communists. Why,
maybe we should even think about going back into
Vietnam and stop the commies there!" But what does the good admiral say when confronted
with the fact that the U.S. government is engaged in
all these actions? Oh, then things are different. No doubt, Lyons
would exclaim, "All this is necessary so that the U.S.
military and the CIA can continue defending the
freedoms of the American people." While people such as Lyons can easily recognize
statism when it's committed by Chinese or Soviet
communists, alas they have a blind spot when it comes
to American statism. At the end of World War II, U.S. statists convinced
the American people that a perpetual military machine
was necessary to combat America's World War II ally,
the Soviet Union. Thus, America's military
expenditures grew exponentially, decade after decade,
as U.S. military officials continually scared
Americans into believing that the dominoes were going
to fall and America was going to fall to the Soviet
communists. In 1989, the unexpected happened. That official
threat came to an end with the fall of the Soviet
Union. For several years, the statists argued that it
was all a Soviet conspiracy to lull Americans into
complacency and, therefore, that America's military
machine should continue to expand exponentially. But the supposed conspiracy never materialized, the
Soviet Union remained dismantled, and the Berlin Wall
wasn't reconstructed. No problem. The U.S. government
went into the Middle East, stirred up some hornet's
nests, and came up with a new official enemy, one that
was even better than the Soviet communists — the
terrorists. After the 9/11 blowback attacks, U.S.
officials said that it was now more necessary than
ever that we expand America's military and
military-industrial complex. But proponents of American imperialism and
militarism know that if they're forced to exit
Afghanistan and Iraq, the terrorist threat will
dissipate. Thus, it's never too soon to begin
preparing plans for a new official enemy, one that can
be used to justify the continued, ever-growing
expansion of America's warfare state. The Chinese
communists can fit the bill. Just ask Admiral Lyons.
Jacob Hornberger is founder and president of The
Future of Freedom Foundation. Comments 💬 التعليقات |