As President Obama visits still-communist Vietnam, a former American rival,
in his “pivot to Asia” to recruit more countries to shelter against
a rising China, the trip only serves to illustrate the global American Empire’s
overextension. At the same time, he is opening missile defenses in Europe, quadrupling
U.S. military spending there, and deploying more military forces near Russia
– all of which will have the effect of continuing to provoke that already
insecure country. Also, Obama has failed to withdraw US ground forces from Afghanistan,
inserted them into Iraq and Syria to battle the terror group ISIS, and continued
his accelerated air wars over Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen,
and Libya. Finally, the president sent the top general in the Army to Africa
to showcase US efforts to train 38 countries to battle terror groups that could
attack Europe, including affiliates of ISIS and al Qaeda. These US military
forces may be valiantly battling threats to the Empire, but most of them pose
very little threat to America.
In fact, in many cases – especially vis-à-vis terrorists –
US military action may be making the largely local problems worse. For example,
in Yemen, journalists have documented that the number of fighters of the al
Qaeda affiliate there actually increased after US forces, seen as “foreign
infidels,” started bombing. Also, retaining non-Muslim US and Western occupation
forces on Muslim soil in Afghanistan and Iraq after initial invasions respectively
led to a resurgent Islamist Taliban and the creation of al Qaeda in Iraq, which
morphed into ISIS. Furthermore, US interventions in Iraq and Afghanistan destabilized
surrounding areas, such as Syria and the nuclear-armed state of Pakistan, respectively.
Similarly, the US and Western overthrow of Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi in
Libya destabilized not only Libya (allowing chaos to reign and an ISIS affiliate
to arise), but many of Libya’s weapons and fighters migrated to Mali and other
parts of Africa. Hence contributing to the alleged need to send the Army’s top
general to coordinate with 38 countries in battling Islamist terror groups in
Africa.
All of these post-9/11 brushfire wars led that general – Gen. Mark A.
Milley – to make an astounding statement: “Today, a major in the Army
knows nothing but fighting terrorists and guerillas, because he came into the
Army after 9/11. But as we get into the higher-end threats, our skills have
atrophied over 15 years.” MIlley continued that the US Army has forgotten
how to fight more sophisticated enemies, such as Russia or China. So instead
of being capable of deterring potentially larger threats to the United States
(even this requires some imagination), the US military has become bogged down
in never-ending, faraway brushfire wars,…