I ask because any reference to history, be it this or the last century or the one before that and so on, is and was always about the prevailing super power invading otherwise unstable local disputes or even peaceful places for control of profit or gain for the invading super power.

Any glance at military history reveals who was the super power of that period.I mean hey you guys now have bases in Cuba as did the Spanish before you(but the Cubans don’t want either of you there) and Japan as did the British and Chinese before them (strange and ungrateful lot they have become towards the US) and the Philippines as did the Spanish before you and Iraq (the British had their turn(enough said as to what the ‘locals’ believe is in their interests).

The US even has a whole lot of spy bases in friendly countries like Australia, Turkey and Italy.

Places where if you ask the ordinary citizen of these countries if they feel safer or even want the USA military to be there, most would say resolutely: No!

The history of the USA in this and certainly the last century is that of the aggressor and the invader.

So I guess I’m with Melanie on how war is a perpetual expression of (useless) human activity (if you remove the nationalistic bias) that impacts upon families through time.

War is perpetuated by the nation who has the most military might at any given time in history. A national process that predestines the poor (either in education or money) to die for the super rich and the power welding elites of any nation.

It is an imperfect world made less imperfect by calls to false notions of righteousness and honor. As the dead, wounded and maned in body and mind attest, war by any nation is a messy, painful and very unintelligent form of foreign policy. So be sentimental towards the dead soldiers conned by the inequalities of their respective nations. But please keep the factual context in its proper place.

Oh and for the record, I am not anti-war per se. But I am most definitely pro-life and mindful of super power ruthlessness in the pursuit of some higher order of ‘at all costs’ imperative!

Another one of those “blame America first” types, trapped in the discernment gap, apparently accepting without question the faux progressive meme which holds that anyone who dares to disagree with the anti-war left somehow must “love war.”

The first war you chose not to fight will likely be your last one.

Melanie,

As a veteran, and one whose relatives have fought for this Country since World War I, after immigrating from Europe at the turn of the previous century, I must admit that that is the most ignorant statement I have come across in years.

As Rick pointedly wrote, one cannot ascertain what the future holds…having served from 1980 until 1990, I could not have predicted the conflict in Lebanon, Panama, Grenada, or the beginning of the Persian Gulf War for that matter.

Regrettably, you are looking at this through the knowledge of hindsight, which is a very dangerous thing to do. By doing so, you do not honor those who have served in the past, and also through a perceived foresight on your part, you denigrate those who may serve in the future.

Both perceptions are abhorrent.

Wha?

That may be the most idiotic statement ever left on this site.

Are you saying that the soldier’s family were soothsayers? That they could divine the future?

I guess so since they had nothing “to look forward to” except war. Do you believe that the grandfather who may have fought in the revolution could see the day when his great, great grandson fought in the Spanish American war?

You’re trying to make a very dumb point about America and war by attempting to show the frequency of conflict reflecting badly on our history.

Try again…

Kinda sad to think that there was nothing to look forward to for future generations but war.

Senator Zell Miller, who I quoted Friday, said it best at the 2004 Republican National Convention:
“Never in the history of the world has any soldier sacrificed more for the freedom and liberty of total strangers than the American soldier. And, o…