From: Technotranscendence (neptune@mars.superlink.net)
Date: Tue Aug 27 2002 - 20:55:29 MDT
On Monday, August 26, 2002 10:21 AM Brian D Williams talon57@well.com
wrote:
>>First, who is this "we"? Are you a member
>>of the US Federal
>>government? Do you make policy for it?
>
> I am a former member of the U.S. military, and
> as anyone can tell you there are no X-Marines,
> only former Marines.
Willingly or were you drafted?
> It was not my assignment to make policy, but to
> enforce it, something much more to be concerned
> with.
True.
>>Second, NATO was only supposed to last for
>>a decade -- until Europe got back on its feet.
>>Like all temporary government programs, it's
>>shown amazing tenacity in not just clinging to
>>life past its mission but actually expanding.
>
>
> You're confusing NATO with something else.
That goes for Harry S. Truman too -- and the members of the 81st
Congress' Committee on Foreign Relations who held a meeting in 1949
wherein the intention was to only have NATO last 20 years with reduced
American commitments all along. General Omar Bradly testifying before
this committee believed that US troops wouldn't be in Germany for the
full twenty years of the pact. (See Ted Galen Carpenter's _A Search For
Enemies: America's Alliances after the Cold War_, chapter 1, "NATO: A
Cold War Anachronism" and the references therein.)
>>Fourth, since the statement was directed at
>>me: I was born, raised, and continue to live
>>in America. Technically, I'm a US citizen. I
>>don't equate being critical of US government
>>policy with being non-American or un-American.
>>In fact, regarding the US government's imperial
>>policy, I think those who support it are truly anti-
>>American.
>
> I am both a Citizen and a Veteran, and put 4
> prime years of my life on the line so you could
> express your opinion, so express away...
Unless you fought in either the War of Independence or the War of 1812,
you claim is exaggerated. I don't recall the last time US territory was
invaded in the last fifty years... (I was going to write 150, but
Japanese Imperial Forces took the American territory of the Phillipines.
Even this only happened after a long period of provocation from the
Roosevelt Administration. See Thomas Fleming's _The New Dealers' War_
and Robert B. Stinnett's _Day of Deceit_. This does not absolve the
Japanese government of that time for its crimes, though it shows it was
a dance between two partners with one heavily choreographing the other.)
No offense, but I don't believe the US military has been defending
freedom at home so much as engaging in adventures abroad for the last
five decades -- or longer, if you look closely at the origins of US
involvement in both world wars. Of course, most of the blame for this
lies with bad policy and bad goals. Defense does not require far flung
bases, complicated alliances, and undeclared wars in places most
citizens and politicians (and I bet troops) haven't even heard of.
Cheers!
Dan
http://uweb.superlink.net/neptune/
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