Why we should have a healthy fear of the military...

[Dhalgren]

http://www.tomdispatch.com/index.mhtml?pid=70243


Tomdispatch Interview: Chalmers Johnson on Our Military Empire

<snip>

"The Soviet Union imploded. I thought: What an incredible vindication for the United States. Now it's over, and the time has come for a real victory dividend, a genuine peace dividend. The question was: Would the U.S. behave as it had in the past when big wars came to an end? We disarmed so rapidly after World War II. Granted, in 1947 we started to rearm very rapidly, but by then our military was farcical. In 1989, what startled me almost more than the Wall coming down was this: As the entire justification for the Military-Industrial Complex, for the Pentagon apparatus, for the fleets around the world, for all our bases came to an end, the United States instantly -- pure knee-jerk reaction -- began to seek an alternative enemy. Our leaders simply could not contemplate dismantling the apparatus of the Cold War.

That was, I thought, shocking. I was no less shocked that the American public seemed indifferent. And what things they did do were disastrous"

We live in a military state - a "soft" one, but one, nonetheless...

[wtmusic]

1. Every country is a military state

when it comes right down to it. When push comes to shove, guns talk and laws walk.

[lectrobyte]

2. I'll grant you that point. Why do we then need to outspend the

remainder of the world by so much?

[wtmusic]

3. Call me a pessimist

but too many people make too much money from it.

[enigma000]

4. That's assuming the "good" guys won the Cold War

There is an argument to be made that the wrong side lost the Cold War.

And it was a full decade between the fall of the USSR and 9-11. The Clinton years saw some reduction in the military budget. Also, keep in mind, most of vassal states in America's Empire stay in willingly. The US, by paying for the "defense/occupation" of these imperial provinces, allows the puppet governments to spend more on social services, welfare, health care etc.

[Dhalgren]

6. But according to Johnson the whole thing is a three-card-monte

kind of deal. We maintain a military empire in order to sustain our economy - an economy which has become almost entirely based on war, death, and oppression. The willingness of some of our "provinces" to remain under our thumb is not the question. The questions are: Who are we? And is it who we want to be? Is there any way to get out of this spiraling trap of death, destruction and mayhem?

[The Stranger]

5. The current Administration fist tried to target the Chinese and revive

the Cold War. Then they found a better Other/enemy and a "war" that could "last for decades." The only problem is they finished off their enemy too quickly, and had to re-create it.

The Power of Nightmares: The Shadows in the Cave