[Reapin]

Originally Posted by Ephirith [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Both of the wars were really no more or less legitimate than any other war we've ever been in, except possibly the Civil War.

How you look at it really depends on how you feel about globalization. Do you think one country has the right to brutalize, oppress, or swindle another for their own gain? Are you a cultural relativist or do you think some cultures are just better than others?

Neither of the wars were isolated incidents that occurred in a geopolitical vacuum, they were both part of long tangents in US foreign policy and it's disingenuous to try and isolate them from the system and evaluate them piecemeal.

Yes, the defense industry is out of control, yes Iraq was fairly pointless, and yes Afghanistan was poorly executed.

You blame Bush for this, but you have an electorate who refuses to elect candidates looking to make significant military cuts because of "soft on terror" rhetoric. You elect congressmen and senators who bring home pork-barrel deals for military bases and local defense dollars. Criticizing support for Israel is political suicide.

And collectively, at least among the conservative a middle-aged moderate side, you idolize Ronald Reagan who was responsible for militarization on a scale that makes Bush look like Ron Paul.

Americans fucking love war. We're one of the most martial, militaristic societies on Earth. You can't scapegoat Bush for this... you've gotta accept that when you've got a nation pumped up with a $664 billion defense budget and a highly war-tolerant populace, you're going to fly off the handle and smash some people even when it may not make sense to do so.

Anyway, you shouldn't be surprised there were greedy corporate whores in the Bush administration when there is nothing more American than being a greedy whore, buying as much shit as possible, working as many hours as possible, to make as much money as possible to feed your affluenza.

I agree with everything you said. I focus on the current atrocities committed by America because the youth of today care little of history. History to them is what was on TV in the 90's when they were pre-teens. Every war since WW2 has been an illegitimate war. Bush put us in 2 wars to make up for the losses the defense industry had in the 90's When Clinton refused to have a War.