Dying for the Empire Is Not Heroic
Predictably, the news media spent most of the week examining words Donald Trump may or may not have spoken to the widow of an American Green Beret killed in Niger, in northwest Africa, in early October. Not only was this coverage tedious, it was largely pointless. We know Trump is a clumsy boor, and we also know that lots of people are ready to pounce on him for any sort of gaffe, real or imagined. Who cares? It’s not news. But it was useful to those who wish to distract Americans from what really needs attention: the U.S. government’s perpetual war.
The media’s efforts should have been devoted to exploring – really exploring – why Green Berets (and drones) are in Niger at all. (This is typical of the establishment media’s explanation.)
That subject is apparently of little interest to media companies that see themselves merely as cheerleaders for the American Empire. For them, it’s all so simple: a US president (even one they despise) has put or left military forces in a foreign country – no justification required; therefore, those forces are serving their country; and that in turn means that if they die, they die as heroes who were protecting our way of life. End of story.
Thus the establishment media see no need to present a dissenting view, say, from an analyst who would question the dogma that inserting American warriors into faraway conflicts whenever a warlord proclaims his allegiance to ISIS is in the “national interest.” Patriotic media companies have no wish to expose their audiences to the idea that jihadists would be no threat to Americans who were left to mind their own business.
Apparently the American people also must be shielded from anyone who might point out that the jihadist activity in Niger and neighboring Mali is directly related to the US and NATO bombing of Libya, which enabled al-Qaeda and other Muslim militants to overthrow the secular regime of Col. Muammar Qaddafi. That Obama-Clinton operation in 2011, besides producing Qaddafi’s grisly murder and turning Libya into a nightmare, facilitated the transfer of weapons and fanatical guerrillas from Libya to nearby countries in the Sahel – as well as Syria. Since then the US government has been helping the French to “stabilize” its former colony Mali with surveillance drones and Green Berets based in Niger. Nice work, Nobel Peace Prize winner Obama and Secretary of State Clinton. (Citizen Trump was an early advocate of US intervention in Libya.) Need I remind you that the US/NATO regime-change operation in Libya was based on a lie? Obama later said his failure to foresee the consequences of the Libya intervention was the biggest mistake of his presidency. (For more on the unintended consequences for the Sahel, see articles here, here, and here.)
So the media, which pretends to play a role in keeping Americans informed, have decided the people need not hear the truth behind the events in Niger. Instead, “reporters” and “analysts” perform their role as cheerleaders for the American Empire by declaring the dead men “heroes” and focusing on the tragedy that has befallen their families. Public scrutiny of the military operation is discouraged because it thought to detract from the Green Berets’ heroism.
What makes them heroes? They were killed by non-Americans in a foreign land while wearing military uniforms. That’s all it takes, according to the gospel of what Andrew Bacevich calls the Church of America the Redeemerand its media choir.
But are they really heroes? We can question this while feeling sorrow for the people who will never see their husbands, sons, brothers, and fathers again. Reporters and analysts who emote over alleged heroism base their claim on the dubious proposition that the men were “serving their country” and “protecting our freedom.” A brief examination, however, is enough to show this is not so, although the troops, their families, and many others believe it.
First, their “country,” if by this term we mean the American people, did not call them to “service,” which itself a question-begging word. The source of the call was a collection of politicians and bureaucrats (including generals) who wouldn’t know the public interest from a hole in the ground.
Second, US intervention in the Muslim world, which predates 9/11 and the creation of al-Qaeda and ISIS, has not made Americans safe. On the contrary, it has put them at risk, as the attacks on the World Trade Center demonstrated. Is it hard to believe that people will seek vengeance against those whose government bombs them and starves their children, as the US government did in Iraq all through the 1990s (to take just one example)?
Dying (and killing) for the Empire is not heroic. Allowing yourself to be ordered to intervene in distant conflicts you surely don’t understand is not worthy of admiration. What’s heroic is resisting the Empire.
Anyone who thought Trump would bring the troops back should now know better. He, of all people, is not about to give up imperial power. The Guardianquotes a former military officer saying, “Since [President] Trump took power, US forces deployed around the world have had a lot more room to maneuver. Decisions about when and what to engage have been devolved right down to unit level. Any soldier knows that if you give guys on the ground more independence, then they will be that much more aggressive and will take more risks.”
At this point we can’t expect the corporate media to quit propagandizing on behalf of the war state and start informing the public of the harm “their” government has inflicted abroad and at home. Fortunately, we have virtually costless access to alternative sources of information about the politicians’ and military’s mischief. The conundrum is that most people, having been fed a steady diet of pro-war propaganda, won’t turn to those sources until they become suspicious of power.
Sheldon Richman is the executive editor of The Libertarian Institute, senior fellow and chair of the trustees of the Center for a Stateless Society, and a contributing editor at Antiwar.com. He is the former senior editor at the Cato Institute and Institute for Humane Studies, former editor of The Freeman, published by theFoundation for Economic Education, and former vice president at the Future of Freedom Foundation. His latest book is America’s Counter-Revolution: The Constitution Revisited. Reprinted with permission from The Libertarian Institute.
It seems like the US military is everywhere except the one place they actually need to be- on OUR Southern border.
Niger???? WTF!
https://uncensoredopinion.co.za/west-eyes-recolonization-africa-endless-war-removing-gaddafi-just-first-step/
kokoda,that was a good article you posted–
I started reading this expecting that the declaration of their non-hero status might be too strong – that it’s still possible that some soldiers somewhere sometimes might warrant hero status. With as much of a track record as we have, though, “allowing oneself to be ordered” might actually preclude hero status. We certainly couldn’t commence stupid foreign entanglements if we had no standing army.
Spot on Zarathustra.
The mother and wife of the fallen thug are completely deluded and think he was fighting for US and freedom. He was retarded and could find no honest, upright job – so he sold his soul for thirty dirty pieces of guvment silver to become a mercenary, a government thug and invade, kill and destroy the lives of millions for the rent boy politicians and their banker pimps.
Pity? leave it out Zara. He deserves no sympathy, at the most a medal for stupidity.
just to clarify–the post was authored by Sheldon Richman. But your sentiment is correct
Liberal dicksucking Hillary voters like richman need to get over it. You lost, bitch. Trump is your President. Sit back and watch. Let’s see if things calm down over time. “We know Trump is a clumsy boor.” Who’s this we, faggot?
Richman is a libertarian and I can guarantee that he did not vote for Hillary. He still believes in freedom and liberty and that is why he has ALWAYS spoken out against EVERY president and their destruction of both. Taking a principled stand isn’t uncommon. Sad that you think that hating Trump means loving Hillary. Sad that you automatically assume that given the blog you are posting on and the everyday comments you read.
And libertarian and liberal differ how? Same worthless shit.
Will someone please tell retarded Starfcker that Clinton and Trump take their orders from the same satanic cabal. Two sides of the same coin. Everyone knows that USA is Israel’s bitch. Starfcker has been conned. Starfcker should realise that Trump with his whore wives (yes plural) and daughters have sold their soul to the Synagogue of Satan just like the Hag Clinton.
Well fuck Trump, Clinton and USA. Welfare nignogs breeding at your expense are gonna shaft you all big time – and you deserve it. Fucking bully thugs. USA and NATO thought they could bully Serbia- well fuck you – they are letting through millions of nignogs from Africa and middle East to Europe ruin the NATO countries. Don’t think USA is gonna be left out. Look at that Suleman sandnigger octomum bitch with her 14 kids on welfare. She is sucking the life out of you fuckers and you don’t fight that welfare theft shit – but you fight innocent countries – like Libya:
Fuck you Starfcker and your balding whoremongering God Trump
“We came, we saw, he died”, she cackled.
When can we begin to show solidarity with the Iranians since they’re next on the GWO hitlist? Oh wait, the 1979 hostage crisis and muh patriotism.
SMH
Good video catfish, thanx
Thanks Philip. Hey – can you imagine a US president puppet in an open car like that, cruising through the streets?
JFK comes to mind.
Catfish, Damn you are so half right and half wrong!
maybe RHS Jr
Thanks for the clarification Philbert
Terrific post. I’ve been hoping for a worthy assessment of the conditions that pointlessly sacrificed the lives of these 4 military victims, “protecting our freedoms”. What’s always left out are the events that preceded and caused this blasphemy. The u.s. forces led a raid that killed 10 people, including 3 children prior to this killing (http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/08/3-children-dead-joint-attack-somalia-170825163321824.html). Those soldiers were killed most likely in revenge of this and the other horrific preceding events. And so it goes: The cycle of murder and destruction for profit lumbers on unabated as the american people show respect for these 4 dead (not fucking ‘fallen’) soldiers by standing bolt upright during the national anthem and choosing sides between a clueless president and a dipshit congresswoman.
Actually US military involvement in Sub saharan Africa grew out of the horribly embarrassing video made by Boko Haram after they abducted 200 Nigerian school girls. In this video the warlord laughingly said he might sell into SLAVERY the young girls he had captured.
Since this was tangible evidence that the entire modern narrative on the origins of the African slave trade was not only wrong but backwards and personally humiliating to the first black POTUS and his wife they presented Boko Haram as the foremost terrorist threat to the United States and Michelle Obama led a campaign to ‘Save Our Girls’. Meanwhile the “Junior Varsity’ terrorist group ISIS was overrunning large areas of Syria and Iraq.
Obama dispatched US troops to Nigeria to assist the largest black nation in the world to hunt down the ridiculously small and poorly equipped Boko Haram ‘terrorists’ just as they swore their ‘allegiance’ to the vastly more powerful ISIS. Much the same happened in the rest of Africa as every local terrorist group became, in the mind of Obama and Brennan’s CIA part of ISIS as ISIS became the ‘new’ al Qaeda and its flag the most copied banner since the Jolly Roger on 17th century pirate ships.
Hopefully Trump will refocus our military away from swatting savages with multi million dollar Predator drones and let the French and British, to the extent they still care, sort out the problems of their former colonies. We might even let China, which now has its first military base in Djibouti, dip its chopsticks into the ‘imperial’ quagmire that is Africa!
Niger and Nigeria are different countries.
yes–but he was talking abut Nigeria and Boko Haram.
*** It is worth noting that Hillary’s state department refused to add Boko Haram as a terrorist group primarily because of the fact that Nigeria is predominantly Christian and refused to allow the Gay Agenda there.
The world is nuts–Hillary promotes Islam which practices genital mutilation on millions of baby girls, refused to denounce Boko Haram who kidnapped and enslaved 200 Christian schoolgirls, takes gobs of money from the Saudis who treat women as second class citizens…..yet a 12 year old audio of Trump explaining how to handle harlot groupies who throw themselves at fame and money is “anti-woman.”
The dedication to their oath of service and dying in the performance of their duties may or may not qualify as hero status . The dedication and honor to their assigned task is enough to praise their efforts but not the cause . Those in the finincal ohlagarchy are advertising the hero status at a sickening pace to get volunteers with the constant bullshit lie “You will be fighting for our freedom . Freedom from what and who $$$?
Fuck you, cuck. Hide and spout your vile behind walls built with their blood. You think the operators of your anachro-Marxism will not have enforcers?
So you shit on homeboy? Or you shit on them all? Drifting close to open rebellion huh? I got no issue you spewing anger and resentment at the architects of policy, calling out the help, sitting on your fuckin couch is another matter.
I hope you get up close and personal with them when you and the rest of the commies make your move, but you wont. You are all talk, spineless little fuckin maggot gorging yourself on the limelight of a dead man. His fuckin wife could bitch slap the shit out of you, and she fuckin should.
Fuck you asshole. The military are parasites as much as the Israelis are. You turds sit around eating free meals and sleeping rent free and expect to be respected for putting your worthless lives in danger? That is your job, and for the great majority it carries very little risk. You are mercenaries and nobody should give a fuck whether you live or die. Fighting for freedom…what a joke. For the tiny minority that actually put their lives in danger, it is because you are paid to do so and the result of it is a lot of innocent people being killed, nations destroyed and anyone with any sense hating the US because of you and that you had no courage or discipline to make anything of yourself as normal person doing productive things but rather joined the military to live off of others and get free shit. Fuck you. You are the problem; you are to blame.
Z – that is pretty fuckedup ight there.
There are many in the military that are patriots. They are not in it for the money, but for the love of country.
That may be misplaced. But you do them a great disservice to call them mercenaries. Many are not that.
“There are many in the military that are patriots.”
Yeah sure Llpoh – right – and King George’s redcoats were patriots – they were not mercenaries – they were fighting for the love of country.
You really do spout bullshit at times.
Redcoats were subjects of the king. They would have been poor, uneducated, and unknowing of most anything save that they had to do what they were told. What a dick you are, catfish.
Yeah sure they were – a bit like thugs in the US military. What a retard you are.
I don’t understand the outrage at criticizing Kelly just because he’s a general. Powell was a general, he should have been above reproach after he sold America that bill of goods, the WMD.
Politicos want to have it both ways, dispense with the maudlin spiel and declare that the dude knew what he signed up for. Then turn around and criticize folks who don’t support our military.
Which is it?
It’s neither. The fuckers use whichever line is useful to their ends at them moment. Someday, Americans will realize that supporting the military os a bugaboo, a religious totem intended to stop them in their tracks and cease from questioning the mission, the purpose of wars. Then, big brother can continue with endless wars, endless money printing, endless taxes.
That’s good preachin’ Panglossian.
How many here who were former military would sign up now? How many here would talk their children or grandchildren out of military service and take the time to explain this situation to them?
Was this a wasted life? Yes. Was he a hero or a sucker for the ruling cabal, well my Idea of hero may be very different from yours.
Africa was carved up long ago, China has poured vast amounts of money into Africa and I spend many hours watching youtubes relating to their increasing colonization globally. You may be shocked that indeed China is the real future colonial empire. Just spend a evening watching youtubes of Jamaicans mourning the loss of their country to the Chinese. They understand completely that their days are numbered. Same for Brazil and many other countries.
America is NOT the only conquering empire, America is the lesser empire in many ways.
https://qz.com/142551/brazil-thinks-its-being-colonized-by-china-and-wants-its-economy-back/
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/02/magazine/is-china-the-worlds-new-colonial-power.html
http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/latestnews/Bunting_insists_Chinese_taking_over_Jamaica?profile=0
I would not sign up now and i actively discourage my children and grandchildren from considering the military. I do encourage them to go in to nursing and so far one of my granddaughters is doing so. It was all a lie back in my war and is even more so now.
All empires are evil, but decaying empires are the worst…
Jamaicans ruined their country long before the Chinese started coming there…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nk8-lLJEeQw
I would have thought –
..’jihadists would be no threat to Americans who were left to mind their own business.’
– should read:
..’jihadists who were left to mind their own business would be no threat to Americans.’
But that’s just me.
P.S. It’s the Caitlyn Marie William Bruce Jenners who are the real heroes of this world.
Diversity is our strength.
When you are a GI and you get orders to Bumfuck, you don’t have any say except yes sir. When you are 10,000 miles from home in Bumfuck, you pray that when things go wrong, stupid assholes like Harpy and Obama don’t have your back. I’ve been there and there were times I wanted to empty a mag into some stupid Politician or covert Flag enemy just as into an overt enemy. As long as a GI is in compliance with his Lawful Orders, the UCMJ and Geneva Convention, he is a hero.
No RHS Jr – no he aint no hero – he is a whore and a thug!
Ok, but, we have not had a draft in many decades. You VOLUNTEER to work for these asshole politicians. When you sign up, you must know that the orders you cannot say boo about are coming from these ignorant assholes. Is this the first generation that this country has been run by ignorant assholes? No. This country has been run by the lowest common denominator of politicians for a good long time. Now, it should be a given that when you go to volunteer for the military, you are giving away your soul to a band of thieves and liars.
That is why, to some extent, I have to agree with the mercenary comment above. While harsh, when you examine the truth of it, and the history of those that command, there is little alternative to that conclusion.
AMEN! Didn’t take this ‘Nam vet more than a month “in-country” to understand/recognize “The Big Lie” that continues to be perpetuated by the United SNAKES Corp, Sodom-on-the-Potomac, D[e]C[eit]”. I increasingly suspect that many of the foreign war vets dealing with serious psychological problems/increasing suicides is the difficulty of accepting the validity of said “Big Lie”.
I take the author’s commentary personally. And, I don’t like much of it … yet, I understand where he is coming from.
I am a Vietnam era vet, USAF 1971-1975. Although I was never deployed there, I would have gone if I received those orders …. for an enlisted man has no choice in such matters.
I suppose that makes me scum in the eyes of the author, and others, such as Zara.
But, did I sign up to kill Gooks, or even support those who did? Absolutely not. Neither did ANYONE else in my Basic Training Unit.
I was an 18 year old kid. Direction-less. Lost. Confused. Not sure what the hell to do with my life. Totally un-political. I turned to the military to get straightened out, if possible. Ultimately, I joined in hopes of saving enough money, and along with the GI Bill, to go to college, if possible. (As it turned out, it was possible.).
All my airmen buddies joined for similar reasons. If we were tools of the Deep State, we sure as hell did NOT know it. We wet-behind-the-ears kids had our own agendas.
So, pardon me if I think the author paints with waaay too broad a brush!
——-
Don’t get me wrong. If his greater point is that the MIC today is far too intrusive in our lives and in the lives of people in other nations, that it is much too powerful, that it is not to be trusted, well, …. I have no problem with that.
Right Stuckey, we weren’t running the train or blowing the whistle. We were the slaves being ordered to throw the switches or go to jail. Unless they support a military coup, they don’t know what they are talking about. They the civilian voters are what sent us any damned way!
“Throw’em out the beast! But when the bullets start to fly, it’s Tommy Tommy come save us!”
Really? Blame the taxpayers/voters?
Voters yes – they have a choice!
“Totally un-political. I turned to the military to get straightened out, if possible. Ultimately, I joined in hopes of saving enough money, and along with the GI Bill, to go to college, if possible. (As it turned out, it was possible.)”
A lot of people joined the SS for the same reason.
“A lot of people joined the SS for the same reason.”
Well, that’s because there are only so many reasons — which are few in number — as to why someone joins the military, no matter what country and whatever their politics.
Equating me with an SS soldier. Wow. What a despicable thing to say.
“Equating me with an SS soldier”
You just lost the argument – I just mentioned that the excuses for joining up are the same.
As to whether the thugs in the SS were similar to those in the US military is another discussion altogether. You are bringing up such a new discusssion/argument in the form of an outright lie to distract from the simple fact that the excuses for selling one’s soul to satanic government are always the same. You cannot invalidate that clear fact, so you change the argument and attack me. You can fool most here with your bullshit Stucky, but not me. It is clear to me that apart from deceiving people, it is you yourself you deceive the most.
You are the fucking dispicable one.
The author attacks the soldiers following orders. Instead he should attack the Government giving the orders! Where are all the anti-war protesters that were evident when GWB was President? We the people are sick and tired of the endless wars and military engagements. This was part of the reason Trump was elected. NOTHING on the war front has changed. Attack our interventionist policies, not the soldiers ordered into harms way… SGN
If noone VOLUNTEERED for it, then how do you suppose the “leaders” or the “voters” could “order” anyone?
For SmallerGovNow:
Sure Adolf Eichmann was just following orders – he was just a simple Ministry of Justice civil servant doing his duty in accordance with the law. People should be attacking the Government giving the innocent poor man such orders.
SmallerGovNow you are so right – you should never blame a contract killer – blame those that gave the contract – the killer is only doing his job. Like the thugs in the military, he is not responsible for his actions.
This world runs on violence, always has, always will. All of you shit talkers forget, conveniently, the power and violence used to grant you this very platform.
Do you think we can be a nation of anarchist libertarians living on farms, minding our own business, living the dream?
That is fuckin funny, how do you think ‘we’ acquired this land.
Ask Lloph, he has some answers.
How do you think ‘we’ have kept it for 242 years? You talk shit about ‘our’ troops who have stood up and fucked shit up for ‘The American Way’, while enjoying ALL of the ancillary benefits.
Hypocritical little shits, you know a good portion of your material comfort is the result of these military actions you so talk shit about.
Post up when you have given up your share of the spoils of all this violence.
Yeah, thought so.
“Hypocritical little shits, you know a good portion of your material comfort is the result of these military actions you so talk shit about.”
Riiiight. OK, I will number my questions so you can answer the ones you choose a little easier.
1) What specific “material comfort” did I gain from our adventure in Vietnam?
2) What specific “material comfort” did I gain from our adventure in Grenada?
3) What specific “material comfort” did I gain from our adventure in Iraq?
4) What specific “material comfort” did I gain from our adventure in Afghanistan?
5) What specific “material comfort” did I gain from our adventure in Libya?
6) What specific “material comfort” did I gain from our adventure in Syria?
Well, there’s more. I’ll just wait to see how you do on these first six.
Okay then, why is it after every one of your wars for freedom, we get less of it?
To be clear, I have talked shit about all of the above listed ‘wars’, and directed my spew at the upper echelons of management, the high brass and politicians, not the ground pounders doing their bidding, as is the point of this article.
Further, notice how your list is very modern, enshirining the notion we have moved away from just wars….starting with Vietnam, no matter…here goes.
1) Vietnam, without China and Russia, there would be no war in Vietnam. China and especially the USSR were vocally advocating for Global expansion of their economic systems. At the very least our presence there checked unrestrained expansion of said sytems allowing regional profits to flow to OUR economic system, also clearly providing leverage to ‘open’ China to western interest.
Do you by things from China?
2) Grenada. Admittedly I do not know much about this war, I saw Heartbreak Ridge with Clint Eastwood. I assume there were corporate interests that were satisfied with Regan’s action, but I don’t know which.
3) Iraq, this one is easy right? Softball. I mean uber fuckhead himself Rumsfeld indicated the oil would pay for the war. Did the oil go to China? Did the oil come here?
Drive much, buy stuff?
4) Afghanistan. Between Afghan and SE Asian heroin, some nasty entity controls the entire world supply of the commodity. Rumors swirled that cash from this industry helped save the entire western banking edifice from collapse in 09. Regardless the money from this flows somewhere inside the Empire.
5)Libya. What a clusterfuck, no doubt, along with Ukraine. All of the gold from both went somewhere. Also the ownership of the largest supply of fresh water in Africa went somewhere into the Empire. Also the currency that all of that gold was going to back dissapeared with the gold, further strengthening the petro-dollar. You have some of those in your pockets, No?
6) Syria. Well it is pretty obvious this was to benifit the Gulf Principalities, Saudi family and the Jews, by providing pipeline access to Euro markets for a sea of gas that is up for grabs to whomever can sell it first. Needless to say this will be a benifit to your global purchasing power with the petro-dollars in your pocket.
All of the worlds labor and commodities flow here based on centuries of war and violence.
I walk in many communities, I know folks who realize this fact and live very meager lives, poverty on principal. Accepting who we are is part of accepting the way it is.
Damn! You actually answered all the questions!? Didn’t expect that. Kudos to you!!
OK … stop the Commies! oil! gold! gas pipelines! …. perhaps you are correct.
But, I will say this; it sounds awfully neocon-ish.
I’ll just leave it at that.
Catfish sometimes I don’t know if I should buy you a beer or punch you in the mouth. However I will add, In Nam those of us in country often referred to ourselves as mercenaries.