Prisoners of War

The worst financial crisis since the Great Depression has sparked a great reckoning. Barack Obama now argues that it represents a "failed philosophy," "the idea that if we give more and more to those with the most, prosperity will trickle down to everyone else." His broadscale indictment of the "era of greed and irresponsibility on Wall Street and in Washington" plasters John McCain, a self described "foot soldier in the Reagan revolution, to his record, and exposes his recent cross dressing as a populist tribune.

Yet, the Iraq War, surely the worst foreign policy debacle at least since Vietnam, has had little effect in challenging the "failed philosophy" that an imperial America is the "indispensable nation" needed to police the globe. Even as Congress balked at the $700 billion bail out of Wall Street and Republicans filibustered against even a token $50 billion stimulus plan for Main Street, next year's $700 billion military budget was passed without a murmur.

Today in the New York Times, the Institute for America's Future which I co-direct published an "op ad" entitled Prisoners of War. It makes the simple point that we will be unable to put our nation back on track at home if we remain prisoners of war abroad.

For the ad and back materials, go here.

We are spending about $12 billion a month on the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. The latter will end costing $3 trillion. More troops are being dispatched to the former. We maintain an empire of over 700 bases across the world. Our navy polices the seven seas. We spend as much on our military as the rest of the world combined -- and that is apparently not enough. Both major party political candidates are committed to increasing the size of the military and the amount we will spend on it.

Yet the military has no answer to the major challenges we face to our security -- a globalized economy of increasing instability, the rise of India and China, increasing global indebtedness that can't be sustained, a growing dependence on foreign oil, catastrophic climate change and the accompanying resource struggles.

Even, as a study from the Rand Corporation, the Pentagon's own think thank notes, the declaration of a Global War on Terror has detracted from a sensible strategy to deal with al Qaeda and its allies. We've turned fanatics into warriors, inflating their importance and adding to their attraction. We've squandered lives and money in Iraq, alienating our allies, exhausting our military, and emboldening our adversaries. We've slighted the global intelligence sharing, financial pressure, and aggressive policing which are the core of a realistic strategy, and weakened the necessary public campaign to appeal to moderate Islam and isolate the suicidal zealots. When you carry only a hammer, as any carpenter would tell you, more and more things start looking like nails.

Just as the financial crisis calls into question the market fundamentalism of the last years, one would think the Iraq debacle would trigger a debate about our imperial policies and our distorted priorities. Sadly, the absence of a serious peace movement has left the cloistered world of our national security managers undisturbed. As we head into what surely will be an election that brings a sea change to our politics, we remain prisoners of war.

Comments

[oldfreedomdude]

Well put and very timely. I hope people listen.

[Republicrats]

Eventually it will all have to come home to roost. What does the federal budget look like in broad terms, does anyone know? Percentage or real dollars to military, entitlements, foreign aid, domestic programs, all of the various departments? We will have to realing and reduce, the spending spree must end.

[vanron100]

Great article.......

This is not a 'leadership' issue!
- this is an 'economic' issue, and this type of bailout is wrong, and the market falling and the finance industry scrambling - is a 'correction' - and long overdue.

This kind of 'bailout' is America's new crazy brand of 'Socialism'...without any of the benefits!

Nationalization of AIG, makes the US government owner of the world's largest insurance company with $5.5 trillion in liabilities.
Nationalization of the finance industry, increases the debt to American citizens to $14.8 trillion.

Wall street has 'wound' everyone up, like the Bush gang did in the run up to the Iraq War. - fear and panic - and we've 'bit' again!

Too many in the media and government still cling to America being forever this great Imperial power that is 'entitled' do whatever it wants – 'in America's best interest' – and who decides that – Bush?

That all needs to change to what's -“in the World's best interest is in America's best interest”. Think about it – how can that not be true!

This what is at the root cause of this financial turmoil and America's misguided Foreign Policy
– the rest of the world 'be darned', your either with us or against us, either way, we're going to do as we please – we own the Biggest Stick!
– no rules or regulations
– no respect for international laws of economics or conflict.
America Rules! Good or Bad!

[zerotimes10]

From the T.V. in the other room I can hear John McCain defending Palin. He is making the argument that alot of politicians and leaders didn't have "experience". This is not the issue. Her mind and her actions are the issue and I for one find them vacuous. So what she's a Mom. Omama is a Dad and Biden is a Dad. And from I can see they could teach Ms. Palin a few things about parenting.

[timberdoodle]

If you try to post a blog about America placing too much emphasis and money into military actions and munitions they normally won't print it so I am surprised to see such a good commentary on the subject on this site.

Many people outside America often wonder why your country would put so much of your resources into these issues when you could easily and more affordably have better domestic policies like true universal health care and retirement benefits as well as better education. Having said this my guess is the culture of the U.S. wouldn't allow a President to change this type of policy.

[curly2]

I think I can answer that question. It comes down to the right-wing philosophy (championed by libertarians and neocons) that there are only a few things that the US government should be allowed to run. National Security is the biggie.

It's a philosophical belief more than anything.

My mother would have called the results "biting off your nose to spite your face." If given a choice between ending hunger in the US or funding health care, and using the same amount of money for war, libertarians and neocon republicans will always pick the war, because that's what the government is "supposed" to spend money on. No matter if it makes the quality of life for people in the US and Iraq go down. That doesn't matter. As long as we're not spending money on "socialist" activities.

[Errour]

Excellent reminder of a major solid object in the fog cranked out by the various smoke-making machines. W's adolescent fantasies, and our toleration of them, have got us into a nightmare.
Let's all cut back on "entertainment" till we can get the animals back in their cages. We don't need John Wayne braggadocio or a lake of political swans right now. We need some common sense for a change. Forget the foolish wars, beat the bankers and their arrogant, exploitative organizations into shape, fix our roads and bridges, and, for heaven's sake, educate a new generation that has better values than to elect morons to high office.

[Clairvaux]

"We will be unable to put our nation back on track at home if we remain prisoners of war abroad."

The globalists are not all that interested in putting our nation "back on track". In fact it could be argued that a strong American Republic is a bump in the road on the way to the global fascist state.

They ARE interested in America as a over militarized power run by a unitary executive. To create the New World Order they need an enforcer. We're it.

Globalism may eventually be an inevitable and even good goal for our planet. But we have to be very cautious. It has to be a world democracy instead of fascism with the corporations and the elite running the show.

If you trust the people currently in power, you just haven't been paying attention.

[Bluesman48]

Not one peep from anyone about cutting the obscene military budget to help prevent our economic collapse. Absolutely disgusting.

[Clairvaux]

Absolutely.

Cut the damn thing 10% every year for the next 5 years, and then think about further reductions.

[deaconblue43]

The incompetence is never ending. We spend billions to get into Iraq and disband the Iraqi army just to turn around and spend billions to put the army back together. Sort of like giving Wall Street $700 billion to repair everything their greed destroyed in the first place. A bunch of "speculators" who couldn't see this coming..........yeah right. All in the plan to loot the treasury. Don't scare us with a credit crunch because the truth is they only lent money to themselves in the first place.

[Zenfull]

Obama will cut the military budget and change our foreign policy. That is certain. We need to get him elected. His strategic goal is to get elected along with a Democratic Congress. This is the most iomportant thnk anyone involved in the Peace Movement can be doing right now. Get Obama and the Democrats elected.

[Thaigold]

Many people have missed the main component of this market confusion; Wall Street did not create this worldwide financial storm – it was man-made by multinational players who used Wall Street as a no-holds-barred casino.

The suggestion that the US taxpayer should pick up the international markers of betters who willingly entered the gambling hall, and lost their poke is not going to fly.

If there is a bailout, then it will be proportional, and international in scope. Americans were not the authors of this mess, and we will not pick up your useless markers. You people went into the casino, and placed your bets. We Americans are not going to make good – markers made in greed – and pass this debacle onto the shoulders of everyday, hard working Americans. We are not going to reanimate your zombie debt.
The US Congress needs to heed this warning.
No Bailout!

[jeffrey678]

RIGHT ON!

[Zenfull]

I think it's unfortunate that the media has characterized this financial mess as a "Bailout for Fatcats" -- it is a government financial tool to stabilize the economy and maintain credit markets. Yes, irresponsible and greedy investors who created this mess will benefit, but we must act to protect middle class and working people and retired people who will be most damaged if the governement fails to do something.

[curly2]

Respectfully, I disagree. There always needs to be a catalyst to product change.

I think what we need is a wake-up call, and show that by allowing this financial mess to happen (which our elected politicians have) there are real consequences. Then maybe we'll start to take more of an interest in who we're voting for, and not just pick the person we'd like to have a beer with.

[poisonpen2u]

Thank You! I agree completely!

[sclucie]

Then you better get on the phone with your Republican representative. Because they are working with the lobbyists to directly reward the corporations which are bleeding the average American to death. Their "counter bill" includes the following clauses:

"Allow companies to carry back losses arising in tax years ending in 2007, 2008, or 2009 back five years, generating a tax refund and immediate capital."
"Allow a "repatriation window" for profits earned by U.S. firms overseas. Such repatriation amounts would not be taxed if invested in distressed debt (as defined by Treasury) for at least one year."
Suspend the capital gains tax rate for two years.
The bill also wants to turn federal accounting requirements back to pre-Enron standards. Corporations will be allowed to inflate the value of their holdings, based on future worth. If I am not mistaken, this was the cause of the Enron meltdown.

DO you get tax breaks when you make horrendous mistakes with your savings? Do you want the United States government to give more tax breaks to corporations who ship jobs overseas? The Republican "alternative" is a bill that was written by and for corporate lobbyists.

[piul05]

Part II

Common to all of them is the fact that they happened miles away. US cities didn't get reduced to rubble; its national heritage didn't get looted; its leaders weren’t threatened by aliens in their own home; generations weren't lost or maimed; Americans weren’t haunted by the screams, the fratricide, the stench of despair and death that become part of a violated landscape; the economy didn’t collapse; the national sense of sovereign and self-worth wasn't affected by having foreign agents systematically trying to shape domestic politics. US foreign policy is, for most of its population, like a game of X-box 360; vivid, almost real, but not quite.

The present economic crisis brings out a reaction simply because it touches people's pocket; it's on their doorstep - it's not a sudden case of seeing the light, or even seeing the wide picture. Therefore, until US interventionism finally becomes too large AND fails - bursting the economic insulating bubble in the process - gargantuan military budgets will continue to be passed with barely a footnote in the news.

[poisonpen2u]

US has employed war at home since conception. As a child of the South, I was raised with a healthy respect for what can happen if one chooses dissent. Land was confisticated as US taxes weren't paid during succession. (Taxes which had been paid to the South). Union Troops were ruthless and everywhere. Southern currency was worthless and exchange was not an option. My Native American friends would also take issue with the idea that 'national heritage didn't get looted; its leaders weren"t threatened by aliens in their own home; generations weren't lost or maimed; Americans weren"t haunted by the screams, the fratricide, the stench of despair and death that become part of a violated landscape'. Their national treasuers are on display in museums, including bones of their dead. They continue to live each day with the results of defeat. .

[piul05]

Part I

Excellent article. The truth is, the Iraq invasion was never going to change America's perception of its role in world conflicts for the simple fact that it wasn't played out in US territory.

Since the Monroe doctrine, it's become ingrained in the national psyche that it's is this country's prerogative to meddle in other countries affairs - from Iran in 1953, helping to stage a coup d'etat against the democratically elected Mossadegh, to Brazil in 1964, placing US submarines in the Guanabara Bay in support of the military coup; through Chile, Granada, Nicaragua; Vietnam, Cambodia; DR Congo, Angola, Somalia; and now Central Asia and the Middle East.

There's not a continent left untouched; it's a history of attempted assassination of political leaders (Fidel Castro - over 600 attempts, Lumumba), of supporting tyrannical but US friendly regimes (Saudi Arabia, Egypt); of backing undemocratic practices (Georgia's recent attacks and Venezuela's oligarchy’s attempted coup against Hugo Chavez); of turning a blind eye to the suffering of ordinary people (Israel's policies against the Palestinians and the 1,000 eyes-for-an-eye attack on Lebanon); of provocation; of divide and conquer.

.

[kapo]

Piul, the Clinton doctrine was to create a global system of alliances with the US as the first among equals. American economic power in relative terms is slowly declining, but the country needs to create a new world order so we can live in peace for the next generation or two. The collapse of the Soviet Union created an opening in which some patriotic fools sought to grab absolute global dominance for the country. It was stupid because America would have to become a police state in order to become the global policeman. Americans will not cut their living standards and have their sons and daughters killing innocent people in godforsaken places for the next hundred years so that some people in Washington get to have monuments built for them. The Iraq war was lost before a single shot was fired because the strategists did not focus on Iraq but on their wider global strategy. That is why the war was so poorly handled. The people who are doing this believe they are serving America but are unaware of the contradictions and ultimate foolishness of their actions.

[floraposte]

Just watched Obama's speech from Tuesday in Reno Nevada posted on this site, in which he mentions how the massive amount of money spent monthly in Iraq by the US could just as well be spent monthly in the US to regenerate the domestic economy (largest cheer of speech, pretty much). So he gets it.
Also Palin - have become addicted to this site partly because of its rich vein of horribly compelling Palin videos. Her gift to satire is SO GREAT, and you would laugh if you weren't so angry. It's kind of awful that her vanity is so clearly her downfall - presumably she could have said no to the handlers? And kind of awful that the handlers clearly think that the American people can be sold just about anyone as long as they get their hair done and buy a better jacket. Hard to pick a favourite - but maybe the one where she can't name a newspaper wins it.
How anyone in their right mind could vote for McCain/Palin and not Obama I have no idea. Mouldy bread or croissants? Ooh my brain hurts...

[RamonBackwards]

I trust you supported Ron Paul in the primary elections.

Goodness gracious, I hope so. I know I did.

:^)

[raiffer]

But what will you do in the general election? Punt?
It's time to take a stand. Neither Nadar nor Carr have the right stuff (excuse the borrowing of the phrase). They are just as bad as McCain when it comes to original ideas that really work.
Obama is also running on a nearly empty tank for new ideas. I hope - oh, how I hope - that he will start talking tough and make the case for better decisions and announce them soon for a re-invigorated nation and government.

[Republicrats]

Ron Paul rocks! Vote for Bob Barr, Nader, write one in, anyone but these two clowns...

[factum]

What really staggers me is that american foreign policy is left to be run by a small handful of operators..lately the neocon apparatus. There is no serious national interest in foreign policy beyond the return of bodys, dead and maimed, from the frontlines.
There seems to be no real sense of the fact that issues regarding the rest of the word also deeply affect your lifes, and of course wiceversa. The introspectiveness is apparent in your discorse, your popular culture, the newsmedia etc.
As a european im saddend by this view. I have family and friends in texas and the feeling i often have is one of beeing the "poor relative" in a cultural sence. An american "wannabe" of sorts. We are sort of similar but not quite there. You all remember the dialogue between Sam Jackson and Travolta, in Pulp fiction, discussing the "little differences" ..royal with cheese!
Me for one, do not carry a smug smile but carry the hope of a america coming to recognice the rest of us as brothers and not as jealous cousins. And that we can treat each other with love and respect dealing with common treats and challenges.

[Maxwell511]

The rest of the world was already furious with "us" (by "us" and "our" I mean the Bush Administration as the face of America to the world) for what most of the planet considers to be: (1) "our" John Wayne swagger throughout the world; (2) "our" unilateral use of a militaristic foreign policy; (3) "our" condescending attitudes toward the rest of the world in general; and (4) "our" obvious goal to suck the world's resources completely dry.

Before the latest financial crisis, America was despised abroad. Most of the world, however, thought that our unregulated "free market/everyone for themself" ecomony only hurt ourselves. Now we are poised to drag the world economy down with us.

Where does America's standing in the world go now? Do we have world support to battle terrorism from here on out? Does anyone ever invest in America again? Does anyone actually care whether we crash and burn, or are they actually going to start rooting for it? Do they think we have actually changed as a people after the election, or will they think its just more of the same?

Vote Obama/Biden, America's last chance for relevance in the world.

[RachelNorthLondon]

Vorpalmusic - that you posted link to the army times is pretty http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/09/army_homeland_090708w/_090708w/


The 3rd Infantry Division’s 1st Brigade Combat Team has spent 35 of the last 60 months in Iraq patrolling in full battle rattle, helping restore essential services and escorting supply convoys.

Now they’re training for the same mission — with a twist — at home.

Beginning Oct. 1 for 12 months, the 1st BCT will be under the day-to-day control of U.S. Army North, the Army service component of Northern Command, as an on-call federal response force for natural or manmade emergencies and disasters, including terrorist attacks....

October surprise?





They may be called upon to help with civil unrest and crowd control or to deal with potentially horrific scenarios such as massive poisoning and chaos in response to a chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear or high-yield explosive, or CBRNE, attack.

[raiffer]

Good post. My greatest fear is that this surprise will come from our own government. Call me paranoid, but also please convince me that I am wrong.

[rmreddicks]

I don't know about all that, but the government did use the regular army in 1967 to suppress the African-American rebellion and I believe it was the 82nd Airborne that the government used in 1969 in an effort to intimidate anti-war demonstrators in Washington, D.C. In '69 a great number of soldiers were in solidarity with the demonstration.

I'm not sure how all this works with the idea of "posse comitatus". But then declarations of war get couched in broad terms over the last 60+ years.

[rmreddicks]

Sorry, I left out Detroit as regards 1967.

[rmreddicks]

Here's a somewhat interesting article on the use of the regular U.S. forces domestically.

http://www.homelandsecurity.org/journal/articles/Trebilcock.htm