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Vertaal:
              Het pentagoon is het Privé Leger van de Voorzitter
Woensdag, 5 November, 2008 Door Fred Reed? | Het pentagoon, methinks, is onbeheerst. Wij hebben niet meer militairen in de dienst aan de staat, maar een staat in de dienst aan de militairen. Weinigen merken (de verdachte van I) wegens twee ingewortelde gewoonten van mening op. Eerst, denken wij aan de Voorzitter zoals enkel dat, de Voorzitter, het land? s burgerlijke gouverneur die, oh ja, technisch de bevelhebber-in-Leider is. ? Technisch? omdat hij isn? t werkelijk in militair en doesn? t stut ongeveer in een uniform met linten en veren. Hij schijnt meer CEO dan algemeen. Ten tweede, neigen wij om aan militair als federale afdeling onder burgerlijke controle te denken. Het pentagoon voert beleid uit, geloven wij, maar doesn? t maakt het. Het zo was. Militair is vandaag nauwelijks onder burgerlijke controle. Merk op dat het Congres lang geleden zijn bevoegdheid opgaf om oorlog te verklaren. Dit is essentieel. Politiek is het veel veiliger om in een oorlog toe te stemmen dan te verklaren. Praktisch gezien, beperken de controles en de saldi in de Grondwet niet meer de bevelhebber-in-Leider, en zo niet soldiery. (Het Opperste Hof is mausoleum geworden. Het zou door een wasmuseum zonder iedereen kunnen worden vervangen? s dat.) het Pentagoon opmerkt is nu het privé leger van om het even welke voorzitter die zo verkiest om het te gebruiken. Ons buitenlands beleid is gemilitariseerd. Dit is niet alleen in het buitenland een kwestie van talloze allianties en basissen. Een paar dagen geleden, militaire aangevallen Syrië. Dit, een handeling van oorlog, was een resultaat niet van nationaal maar van militair beleid. Voor zover ik het weet, werd de aanval noch bevolen noch werd gemachtigd door Congres. De militairen om te doen zoals zij tevreden, en wij later over het te weten komen. Dit is geen burgerlijke controle. Dergelijk voorkomen is onvermijdelijk wanneer het militaire controlesbeleid. De militairen zijn truculent door aard, denken snel aan militaire oplossingen, en wensen vijanden om zowel hun bestaan als hun begroting te rechtvaardigen. Onder recente gevolgen: aanvallende Syrië, bezettend Irak en Afghanistan, bombarderend Pakistan, bombarderend Somalië, bedreigend Iran, bedreigend Noord-Korea, aanmoedigend Israël om Beiroet, bewapenend Georgië te bombarderen, en agressief uitbreidt NAVO om Rusland te omringen. Ominously, aanvaarden wij nu dat het gedrag van de strijdkrachten niets van onze zaken is. Neem nota van de jaren van verwachting aangezien wij wachtten om te zien of de bevelhebber-in-Leider, een de facto algemene zes-ster, Iran zou aanvallen. I suspect that few realize how militarized the United States itself has become. The transformation has been inconspicuous. The Pentagon avoids undue attention. Quietly it has expanded its reach. Abolishing the draft was an important step, since it severed any connection between the upper levels of society and the armed forces. The educated don?t much care what the army does as long as they don?t have to help do it. The economy also has been militarized. Although the United States has no national enemies, it spends phenomenally on a martial empire whose only purpose is to be a martial empire. Add up the ?defense? budget (it was last used for defense in 1945), the war bills, black programs, Veterans Administration?s budget, on and on, and you reach a trillion dollars a year. A country in decline cannot long waste so much money. Perhaps as important, the military cannot spend so much without gaining great if unnoticed political power. In particular, the production of hugely pricey weapons has been woven into the economy to such an extent that it cannot be brought under control. Cancel the F22, the JSF, and suchlike, and the economies of politically powerful states go into recession. None dare do it. Close big bases? Whole towns would shut down. The country has no need of such a military, and especially not of the formidably costly weapons. Having no plausible enemy of any sophistication, the Pentagon exercises itself by attacking primitive nations in the Third World, and usually losing. For this you do not need an F22. You could lose as well with slingshots. The spectacle of an alleged superpower struggling to beat yet another collection of ragtag guerrillas may seem darkly comical, but winning or losing isn?t the point; the endless wars keep the contracts flowing, the promotions coming, and fuel demands for a larger army. We would do well to bear in mind the dangers of excessive military influence in national life. Professional soldiers have little in common with the rest of the country. We like to think of them as Our Boys in Uniform, the brave and the true and the patriotic, defenders of democracy, and so on. It isn?t so. The officer corps is authoritarian to the roots of its soul, has little use for democracy, and prides itself on blind obedience. Soldiers do not readily distinguish between dissent and treason. Further, they regard civil society as an unworkable anarchy of weaklings who lack the will to fight. The gap between military and civilian consciousness is huge. The ideal officer goes to a service academy where, in late and impressionable adolescence, he learns to walk in squares, always obey, and regard the polish of his belt buckle with insane concern. Thereafter the only answer he knows is ?Yessir.? To a civilian, the conformism, the lack of independence and, yes, the pride in the lack are incomprehensible. Then, for thirty years, the soldier spends most of his time with similar people and comes to believe that it is not just a reasonable but the best way to live. Like cops, soldiers tend to socialize among themselves because they fit awkwardly into civil society. Watch a colonel at a civilian cocktail party. He isn?t sure whether he is ?Sir? or ?Bob.? And soldiers seek war. They will say they don?t, of course. Can you imagine Tiger Woods spending thirty years practicing his golf swing without wanting to get into a tournament? The military mindset is not American, not consonant with the ideals the country stands for and to some extent achieves. Most imperfectly, yet genuinely, America has cherished dissent and eccentricity and freedom. Yes, I know about the intolerance of small towns and I grew up in the South. But compare America at its worst to any military dictatorship. Which is where we seem to be heading. Today the Pentagon ? again, Mr. Bush is the Pentagon ? openly seeks domestic power. For example, (this from Salon) Army combat troops will now be ?assigned on a permanent basis to engage in numerous domestic functions? ? including, as the article put it, ?to help with civil unrest and crowd control.? That is, the Pentagon will be able to crush dissent. One expects this from Guatemala, which we seem bent on becoming. Recall further that the Pentagon has been calling for the power to conduct domestic surveillance of the general population, as for example in its program of Total Information Awareness. The NSA, CIA, the Commander in Chief are all military or paramilitary, and Homeland Security is very much in the vein of military dictatorships everywhere. The new rights of the FBI to spy on everything from library records to habits of travel fit the pattern well. The FBI is not military but its behavior is authorized by the Commander-in-Chief. The lines are blurring. We are going to pay for this. Have Your Say: The Pentagon Is the President’s Private Army Please read our posting guidelines before posting. Alternatively you can discuss this report here. Related News
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