THE UNITED STATES MAINTAINS THE LARGEST AND MOST POWERFUL MILITARY IN HISTORY. U.S. WARSHIPS DOMINATE THE OCEAN SITS MISSILES AND BOMBERS CAN STRIKE TARGETS ON EVERY CONTINENT, AND HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF US TROOPS ARE STATIONED OVERSEAS. EVERY FEW YEARS THE U.S. SENDS SOLDIERS, WARSHIPS AND WARPLANES TO FIGHT IN DISTANT COUNTRIES. MANY COUNTRIES GO TO WAR, BUT THE U.S. IS UNIQUE IN BOTH SIZE AND POWER OF ITS MILITARY AND ITS PROPENSITY TO USE IT.
THE COSTS OF BEING A MILITARY SUPERPOWER AND WAGING WARS AROUND THE WORLD ARE HIGH. BECAUSE HUNDREDS OF BILLIONS OF DOLLARS ARE FUNNELED TO THE PENTAGON EVERY YEAR, THE GOVERNMENT SKIMPS ON PROVIDING BASIC NEEDS OF PEOPLE HERE AT HOME. CUTBACKS IN SOCIAL PROGRAMS HAVE CAUSED FAR MORE DEVASTATION IN THIS COUNTRY THAN ANY FOREIGN ARMY EVER HAS.
FOREIGN WARS ALSO BRING BLOODY RETALIATION AGAINST THE U.S. DESPITE THE HIGH COST IN MONEY AND LIVES, THE GOVERNMENT SEEMS DETERMINED TO KEEP GOING TO WAR, PUTTING US ALL IN HARMS WAY
THE COSTS OF U.S. FOREIGN WARS ARE MORE THAN SIMPLY ECONOMIC, THEY INCLUDE THE LIVES OF SOLDIERS WHO NEVER COME HOME.
TWO CENTURIES AGO, THE UNITED STATES WAS A COLLECTION OF THIRTEEN SMALL COLONIES ON THE ATLANTIC COAST OF NORTH AMERICA. TODAY IT DOMINATES THE GLOBE IN A WAY THAT EVEN THE MOST POWERFUL OF PAST EMPIRES COULD NOT HAVE IMAGINED.
THE PATH TO WORLD POWER HAS NOT BEEN PEACEFUL.
THE AMERICAN REVOLUTIONARIES WHO ROSE UP AGAINST KING GEORGE IN 1776 SPOKE ELOQUENTLY ABOUT THE RIGHT OF EVERY NATION TO DETERMINE ITS OWN DESTINY.
"WHEN IN THE COURSE OF HUMAN EVENTS IT BECOMES NECESSARY FOR ONE PEOPLE TO DISSOLVE POLITICAL BANDS WHICH HAVE CONNECTED THEM WITH ANOTHER AND ASSUME AMONG THE POWERS OF THE EARTH, THE SEPARATE AND EQUAL STATION TO WHICH THE LAWS OF NATURE AND NATURES GOD ENTITLE THEM..." THOMAS JEFFERSON
(DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE 1776)
THE LEADERS OF THE NEW INDEPENDENT COLONIES BELIEVED THEY WERE PREORDAINED TO RULE ALL OF NORTH AMERICA. THIS WAS SO OBVIOUS TO THEM THEY CALLED IT "MANIFEST DESTINY"
"WE MUST MARCH FROM OCEAN TO OCEAN...IT IS THE DESTINY OF THE WHITE RACE"........REPRESENTATIVE GILES OF MARYLAND
THE "MANIFEST DESTINY" SOON LED TO GENOCIDAL WARS AGAINST THE NATIVE AMERICAN PEOPLES. THE U.S. ARMY RUTHLESSLY SEIZED THEIR LAND, DRIVING THEM WEST AND SLAUGHTERING THOSE WHO RESISTED.
DURING THE CENTURY THAT FOLLOWED THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION, THE NATIVE AMERICAN PEOPLES WERE DEFEATED, ONE BY ONE, THEIR LANDS WERE TAKEN, AND THEY WERE CONFINED TO RESERVATIONS. THE NUMBER OF DEAD IS ESTIMATED TO BE APPROXIMATELY 12 MILLION. BUT THE TRAGEDY DID NOT END WITH THE DEAD. THE NATIVE PEOPLES WAY OF LIFE WAS DEVASTATED. ..."I CAN STILL SEE THE BUTCHERED WOMEN AND CHILDREN LYING HEAPED AND SCATTERED ALONG THE CROOKED GULCH AS PLAIN AS WHEN I SAW THEM WITH EYES STILL YOUNG. AND I CAN SEE SOMETHING ELSE DIED THERE IN THE BLOODY MUD, AND WAS BURIED IN THE BLIZZARD. A PEOPLES DREAM DIED THERE. IT WAS A BEAUTIFUL DREAM...THE NATIONS HOOP IS BROKEN AND SCATTERED.." BLACK ELK, SPIRITUAL LEADER OF THE LAKOTA PEOPLE AND SURVIVOR OF THE WOUNDED KNEE MASSACRE IN SOUTH DAKOTA....
BY 1848, THE UNITED STATES HAD SEIZED NEARLY HALF OF MEXICO'S TERRITORY....IN CONGRESS THE WAR AGAINST MEXICO WAS JUSTIFIED WITH SPEECHES ABOUT THE GLORY OF EXPANDING,"ANGLO-SAXON DEMOCRACY". BUT IN TRUTH IT WAS THE SOUTHERN SLAVE OWNERS THIRST FOR LAND AND THE LURE OF WESTERN GOLD THAT INSPIRED THESE SPEECHES...
(GENERAL ZACHARY TAYLOR ORDERED SCORES OF U.S. SOLDIERS EXECUTED FOR REFUSING TO FIGHT IN MEXICO....)
WITH THEIR DOMAIN NOW STRETCHING FROM COAST TO COAST, THE MANIFEST DESTINY CROWD BEGAN TO DREAM OF AN OVERSEAS EMPIRE. ECONOMIC FACTORS DROVE THESE AMBITIONS.
"OUR CONDITION AT HOME IS FORCING US TO COMMERCIAL EXPANSION....DAY BY DAY, PRODUCTION IS EXCEEDING HOME CONSUMPTION...WE ARE AFTER MARKETS, THE GREATEST MARKETS IN THE WORLD "...COL. CHARLES DENBY-A RAILROAD MAGNATE AND ARDENT EXPANSIONIST.
CALLS FOR EMPIRE WERE ECHOING THROUGH THE HALLS OF WASHINGTON..
" I FIRMLY BELIEVE THAT WHEN ANY TERRITORY OUTSIDE THE PRESENT TERRITORIAL LIMITS OF THE UNITED STATES BECOMES NECESSARY FOR OUR DEFENSE OR ESSENTIAL COMMERCIAL DEVELOPMENT, WE OUGHT TO LOSE NO TIME IN ACQUIRING IT.".....SENATOR ORVILLE PRATT/CONNECTICUT, 1894
TO BECOME A WORLD POWER, THE US BUILT A WORLD CLASS NAVY. A GUNG-HO THEODORE ROOSEVELT WAS PUT IN CHARGE OF IT...
"I SHOULD WELCOME ALMOST ANY WAR, FOR I THINK THIS COUNTRY NEEDS ONE".....T.ROOSEVELT 1897..
THE NEXT YEAR, TAKING A FANCY TO SEVERAL SPANISH COLONIES , INCLUDING CUBA AND THE PHILIPPINES, THE U.S. DECLARED WAR ON SPAIN. REBEL ARMIES WERE ALREADY FIGHTING FOR INDEPENDENCE IN BOTH COUNTRIES AND SPAIN WAS ON THE VERGE OF DEFEAT. WASHINGTON DECLARED THAT IT WAS ON THE REBELS SIDE AND SPAIN QUICKLY CAPITULATED, BUT THE U.S. SOON MADE IT CLEAR THAT IT HAD NO INTENTION OF LEAVING...
"THE PHILIPPINES ARE OURS FOREVER AND JUST BEYOND THE PHILIPPINES ARE CHINA'S ILLIMITABLE MARKETS, THE PACIFIC OCEAN IS OUR OCEAN"....SENATOR ALBERT BEVERIDGE OF INDIANA, 1900...
ELABORATE RACIST THEORIES WERE INVENTED TO JUSTIFY COLONIALISM AND THESE THEORIES WERE ADOPTED ENTHUSIASTICALLY IN WASHINGTON....
"WE ARE THE RULING RACE OF THE WORLD, WE WILL NOT RENOUNCE OUR PART IN THE MISSION OF OUR RACE, TRUSTEE, UNDER GOD OF THE CIVILIZATION OF THE WORLD...HE HAS MARKED US AS HIS CHOSEN PEOPLE...HE HAS MADE US ADEPT IN GOVERNMENT THAT WE MAY ADMINISTER GOVERNMENT AMONG SAVAGE AND SENILE PEOPLES"......
SENATOR BEVERIDGE..
SENATOR BEVERIDGE..
BUT THE FILIPINOS DID NOT SHARE THE VIEWS OF SENATOR BEVERIDGE AND HIS BUDDIES. THEY FOUGHT THE NEW INVADERS JUST AS THEY HAD FOUGHT THE SPANISH. THE U.S. SUBJUGATED THE PHILIPPINES WITH BRUTE FORCE...
U.S. SOLDIERS WERE ORDERED TO BURN ALL AND KILL ALL, AND THEY DID, BY THE TIME THE FILIPINOS WERE DEFEATED....600,000 HAD DIED...
THE PHILIPPINES, PUERTO RICO, AND GUAM WERE MADE INTO U.S. COLONIES, IN 1898, CUBA WAS FORMALLY GIVEN ITS INDEPENDENCE, BUT ALONG WITH IT THE CUBANS WERE GIVEN THE PLATT AMENDMENT, WHICH STIPULATED THAT THE U.S. NAVY WOULD OPERATE A BASE IN CUBA FOREVER, THAT THE US MARINES WOULD INTERVENE AT WILL, AND THAT WASHINGTON WOULD DETERMINE CUBA'S FOREIGN AND FINANCIAL POLICIES.....
DURING THAT SAME PERIOD, THE U.S. OVERTHREW HAWAII'S QUEEN LILIUOKALANI AND TRANSFORMED THESE UNSPOILED PACIFIC ISLANDS INTO A US NAVY BASE, SURROUNDED BY DOLE AND DEL MONTE PLANTATIONS. IN 1903, AFTER THEODORE ROOSEVELT BECAME PRESIDENT, HE SENT GUNBOATS TO SECURE PANAMA'S SEPARATION FROM COLOMBIA. THE COLOMBIAN GOVERNMENT HAD REFUSED ROOSEVELTS TERMS FOR BUILDING A CANAL.
THEN THE UNITED STATES BEGAN SENDING MARINES EVERYWHERE..
THEY WERE SENT TO CHINA, RUSSIA, NORTH AFRICA, MEXICO, CENTRAL AMERICA, AND THE CARIBBEAN....
BETWEEN 1898 AND 1934, THE MARINES INVADED CUBA 4 TIMES, NICARAGUA 5 TIMES, HONDURAS 7 TIMES, THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC 4 TIMES. HAITI TWICE, GUATEMALA ONCE, PANAME TWICE, MEXICO 3 TIMES, AND COLOMBIA 4 TIMES.
IN MANY COUNTRIES, THE MARINES STAYED ON AS AN OCCUPYING ARMY, SOMETIMES FOR DECADES. WHEN THE MARINES FINALLY LEFT, THE TYPICALLY LEFT THE COUNTRIES THEY HAD OCCUPIED IN THE HANDS OF A FRIENDLY DICTATOR, ARMED TO THE TEETH TO SUPPRESS HIS OWN PEOPLE..
BEHIND THE MARINES, CAME LEGIONS OF U.S. BUSINESS EXECUTIVES READY NOT ONLY TO SELL THEIR GOODS BUT ALSO TO SET UP PLANTATIONS, DRILL OIL WELLS, AND TO STAKE OUT MINING CLAIMS. THE MARINES RETURNED WHEN CALLED UPON TO ENFORCE SLAVE-LIKE WORKING CONDITIONS AND PUT DOWN STRIKES, PROTESTS, AND REBELLIONS...
GENERAL SMEDLEY BUTLER WAS ONE OF THE MOST CELEBRATED LEADERS OF THESE MARINE EXPEDITIONS. AFTER HE RETIRED HE RECONCILED HIS CAREER, DESCRIBING IT AS FOLLOWS..
"I SPENT 33 YEARS AND 4 MONTHS IN ACTIVE MILITARY SERVICE...AND DURING THAT TIME PERIOD, I SPENT MOST OF MY TIME AS A HIGH CLASS MUSCLE MAN FOR BIG BUSINESS, FOR WALL STREET, AND THE BANKERS. IN SHORT, I WAS A RACKETEER, A GANGSTER FOR CAPITALISM..THUS I HELPED MAKE MEXICO AND ESPECIALLY TAMPICO SAFE FOR AMERICAN OIL INTERESTS IN 1914. I HELPED MAKE HAITI AND CUBA A DECENT PLACE FOR THE NATIONAL CITY BANK BOYS TO COLLECT REVENUE IN. I HELPED IN THE RAPING OF HALF A DOZEN CENTRAL AMERICAN REPUBLICS FOR THE BENEFIT OF WALL STREET, I HELPED PURIFY NICARAGUA FOR THE INTERNATIONAL BANKING HOUSE OF BROWN BROTHERS IN 1902-1912, I BROUGHT LIGHT TO THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC FOR AMERICAN SUGAR INTERESTS IN 1916. I HELPED MAKE HONDURAS RIGHT FOR AMERICAN FRUIT COMPANIES IN 1903. IN CHINA IN 1927, I HELPED SEE TO IT THAT STANDARD OIL WENT ON ITS WAY UNMOLESTED"....
WORLD WAR 1 WAS A HORRIFIC WAR AND BATTLE AMONG THE EUROPEAN COLONIAL POWERS OVER HOW TO DIVIDE UP THE WORLD. WHEN PRESIDENT WOODROW WILSON DECIDED TO ENTER INTO THE FRAY, HE TOLD THE AMERICAN PEOPLE HE WAS SENDING TROOPS TO "MAKE THE WORLD SAFE FOR DEMOCRACY"
WILSONS AMBASSADOR TO ENGLAND SAID RATHER FORTHRIGHTLY THAT THE U.S. WOULD DECLARE WAR ON GERMANY BECAUSE IT WAS...."THE ONLY WAY OF MAINTAINING OUR PRESENT PRE-EMINENT TRADE STATUS".....W.H. PAGE, 1917
FOR THIS 130,274 US SOLDIERS WERE SENT TO THEIR DEATHS..................
"OUR BOYS WERE SENT OFF TO DIE WITH BEAUTIFUL IDEALS PAINTED IN FRONT OF THEM NO ONE TOLD THEM THAT DOLLARS AND CENTS WERE THE REAL REASON THEY WERE MARCHING OFF TO KILL AND DIE"....
GENERAL SMEDLEY BUTLER, 1934
WORLD WAR 1 WAS SUPPOSED TO BE THE WAR TO END ALL WARS....
IT WAS NOT.....
TO BE CONTINUED......
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