https://www.lewrockwell.com/lrc-blog/no-justifications-for-americas-aggressions/

Those politicians who have supported the use of American military forces and warfare in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya and Pakistan have mistreated the people and societies in these countries. There is no justification for the injuries and harms that American forces have inflicted on others and none for the injuries and harms borne by the Americans who have participated in these wars. There is not a single justification for the huge resources extracted from tax-paying Americans to pay for these exceedingly costly expeditions, and no justification for the huge debts incurred that signal the extraction of taxes from future generations.

Those who instigate and direct American military attacks and otherwise support the wars invariably present justifications for what they are sponsoring and making happen. We are told that noble motives are at work behind these wars Made in America. We are told that these attacks are to root out terrorists, to prevent massacres, to maintain American freedoms, to stamp out evil, to prevent larger wars, to spread civilization, to institute democracy, to obtain national security, to protect Americans, to stop weapons of mass destruction, to secure nearby countries, to remove dictators and bad governments, and to prevent attacks on the homeland.

Supporters of American interference and war in foreign nations have found it easy to make up plausible and high-sounding rationales for war, destruction, cruelty and the mistreatment of others. But none of the rationales justifies the immorality of American aggressions. Treating people badly and harming them has no moral justification.

And not one of the pragmatic justifications we have heard holds up under scrutiny either. One does not root out terrorists by creating more of them. One does not prevent massacres and misery by massacres of one’s own and by uprooting whole peoples. One does not spread civilization by destroying civilizations. One does not maintain American freedom by killing Iraqis who are not attacking Americans; and one does not maintain such freedoms by turning America into a police state. One does not institute democracy in societies by destroying the existing government balance, providing fertile ground for terrorists, and by creating ethnic and religious conflicts. One does not protect Americans and secure the homeland by eliciting whole new generations of anti-American warriors intent on inflicting damage upon any and all Americans. One does not stop weapons of mass destruction that do not exist in the first place. One does not obtain national security by spending trillions on wasted armaments, soldiers and wars.

The actual motives and causes of the American aggressions that we observe remain to be assessed. The recent history goes back at a minimum to Bill Clinton, the Kosovo War and the NATO bombing campaign. It goes back further to other Middle East wars in which America participated.

Whatever we learn or surmise now about these deeper motivations, we can say already that none of the existing and publicized justifications presented to us by neocons, warmongers, stern senators, generals, and executive leaders holds up as a justification, be it moral or pragmatic.

The hidden motives we hear postulated most frequently include protecting Israel, protecting the dollar, securing oil and natural resources, controlling pipelines, feeding the military-industrial complex, pandering to the darker motives of the American people, feeding the power drives of politicians, distorted religious and utopian motives, the sociopathic tendencies of our leaders, revenge, imperial interests of corporate businesses, and a long-reinforced American cultural habit of warfare and expansion.

The variety of leaders and persons supporting war suggests that a variety of motives is at work. But whatever one believes, none of these motives is a good motive. None justifies the dreadful results.

There are also conditions that have made the road to war easier for Americans to travel. The armed forces are a voluntary force. The costs of war are not immediately apparent. The media have one-sidedly supported the wars. The press has sanitized the war reporting. The armed forces have controlled the distribution of war photos and news. Public relations efforts abound.

But the most basic factor is that war-making, taxation and debt issuance all lie in the hands of a powerful central government. They are a ready-made instrument available for the use of that government or those that influence that government’s decisions.

7:24 am on November 23, 2014

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