How America is Seduced into War

[illinoisprogressive]

Agonist explores a book about the causes of Americans getting seduced into wars and the rise of the solider and military as hero.
He points out several causes but this excerpt is from the last two causes, the religious right and the neocons.
But, ultimately we, the consumer, is just as reponsible.::


"The other two groups, the religious right and the neo-conservatives, are masterfully analyzed. Aghast at the social changes of the 60s, many of which seemed to stem from the antiwar movement, the religious right organized and asserted itself politically. They idealized the military as a fortress of moral and civic virtue, the basis of regenerating the nation and stemming communism. A global evangelical mission pervaded their thinking, too. Unlike other creators of our militarism, fundamentalists are not just sideline cheerleaders. They serve in the military in large numbers, to strengthen it and lead it onward, bringing evangelicalism to previously upper-crust Protestant cadres.

Perhaps Bacevich’s most interesting exposition concerns neo-conservatism, the mysterious brotherhood largely unknown until recently. For neo-cons, WWII and the failures leading to it taught many hard lessons. The moral relativism, self-gratification, and retreat from world affairs of 1920s-Europe allowed Nazism to wreak havoc in the world; the decadence of 1970s-America might allow communism to do the same. Accordingly, neo-cons espoused respect for American values and institutions from the commanding heights of the intellectual world. In newspapers, magazines, and professional journals, they spoke of evil in the world, the inadequacies of diplomacy, and the need of American activism to avert another global disaster. The collapse of the USSR was a major victory, but neo-cons envisioned another mission: to spread democracy around the world, through force if necessary.

Our present wars, Bacevich contends, are not due to greedy oil barons but to greedy consumers, who refused to cut their use of oil despite price shocks and President Carter’s pleading. Strategic planners elevated the Persian Gulf’s importance and markedly raised our military presence there. Though couched in geopolitics and idealism, our policy there is to guarantee comfortable lifestyles at home. However, growing military presence in the Gulf set into motion deep resentments and terrorist attacks, in the region as well as elsewhere, ultimately in New York and Washington – “blowback,” as it’s called.

Bacevich likens militarism to pollution, which, through decades of political bargaining between businesses and the public, has been contained. Neither will be eliminated, only controlled through dialogue. Bacevich proposes an agenda: respect for founding fathers on world affairs, greater Congressional control of war, reduction of oil consumption, reordering armed forces toward national defense (not global policing), linking defense spending to foreign expenditures, more emphasis on diplomacy, altering the military’s caste-like nature, and greater reliance on citizen-soldiers in reserves. Perhaps this powerful book will start, and become part of, that dialogue.

The cover features a young soldier, conveying unmistakable strength and determination. No doubt he will honor his end of the bargain, to fight and even die for us. He looks at us searchingly, perhaps wondering if we are honoring our end or if we even know we have one – to risk soldiers’ lives only when assessment of America’s security deems it necessary, not when swirling myths and orations make it "

http://agonist.org/brian_downing/20070515/how_we_are_seduced_by_war

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

1. The son of this book's author was just killed in Iraq.

http://www.thewashingtonnote.com/archives/002129.php

[Viva_La_Revolution]

2. Kick! nt