| Reports that the U.S. military has stopped tracking the amount of territory controlled or influenced in war-torn Afghanistan by the encroaching Afghan insurgencies is only the latest sign of just how badly the U.S. is losing control of Afghanistan. The other is an eighteen-year war that has saw little if any benefits for national security or the American people. That is, unless, you’re part of the permanent war economy and upper echelons of the Pentagon’s war-making system. Either way, one has to only look at Afghanistan to see that Americans are at war with their war-making leaders. Given that the Pentagon is planning various military operations for an invasion of Venezuela, Americans may want to finally take notice. Contradicting Sun Tzu At Their Peril Americans may also want to take notice of how U.S. foreign policy advisers and war-making leaders have contradicted the war-fighting doctrines of China’s greatest military strategist Sun Tzu. Two thousand five hundred years ago, he literally wrote the book on how to wage war. Not only did he maintain that a quick and decisive action in war was more advantageous than an advantage in capabilities, but that resources and men mobilized to fight should be sufficient for a short campaign that does not require reinforcements and multiple deployments or significant additional provisions from home. The provision of private goods as a necessary means to motivate soldiers and the public and war as a last resort were important as well. Breaking American’s Resistance Starting towards the end of World War II, most Defense Secretaries have prescribed a doctrine of when and how the U.S. should fight. Differing radically from Sun Tzu, most have maintained a war-fighting emphasis that has favored private wealth over public welfare. In other words, only the economic elites have long enjoyed the spoils of war. This includes keepers of more than 1,000 military bases across more than 150 nations and an weapons industry which supplies most of the world’s armaments. Considering the many provocations and foreign entanglements that such a vast network provides, it’s no wonder that income inequality has risen sharply. And it’s a brutal inequality, on that breaks many Americans’ resistance of that of America’s enemies. The Longer the War, The More They Profit Meanwhile, the working classes and economically disadvantaged provide most of the sons and daughters who die in these foreign provocations and entanglements. With the help of a military-corporatized propaganda machine, economic elites and war-making leaders can deflect popular attention away from the nation’s internal disparities, domestic injustices, underfunded schools, ruined infrastructures, underpaid service sectors, and a healthcare system which is on the brink of mass suicide. Meanwhile, the permanent war economy marches on. Mainly benefiting the economic elites and political officials who profit from the many wars and their low-intensity conflicts that they commit. What’s more, the longer the war, the more they profit. Do Not Load Wagons More Than Twice Sun Tzu warned about this to his king, Ho Lu of Wu. He said: “The skillful general does not load his supply wagons more than twice.” Sun Tzu also believed that once war is declared, “The king should not waste precious time in waiting for reinforcements, nor will he turn his army back for fresh supplies but crosses the enemy’s frontier without the delay.” Consequently, the value of time in defeating your enemy quickly and decisively counts for more than numerical superiority or the nicest calculations of a large standing army that drains the national treasury. Sun Tzu would be shocked to know that the U.S. has fought an eighteen-year war in Afghanistan. This includes spending trillions on empire, war, and preparations of war which trickles to the top One Percent. Patriotism Equals Mega-Profits from Mega-Wars Sun Tzu would also be shocked to learn that the U.S. still spends more on its military than the top twenty-five countries combined. The same goes for how the U.S. commits to overseas wars that aren’t deemed vital to its national interests, or how it decides to commit forces to combat overseas without a clearly defined strategy-which includes both political and military goals. In the end, American wars and its permanent preparation for wars are sources of corporate mega-profits as they provide a cloak national unity behind which elites concentrate wealth and power, shaming those who question that upward distribution as somehow unpatriotic. The Real Enemy Isn’t Overseas As for committing U.S. combat troops as a last resort, once again one has only to look at Afghanistan to see that Americans are at war with their war-making leaders. If this isn’t proof enough, just look at Yemen, Syria, Iraq, Somalia, and the more than one-hundred military wars and armed interventions since World War II. Is Venezuela next? Sun Tzu said: “If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.” As a result, his advice to Americans would be to know the real enemy, the very elites and governing leaders which cloak their permanent war against the people as permanent wars oversees. Dallas Darling is the author of Politics 501: An A-Z Reading on Conscientious Political Thought and Action, Some Nations Above God: 52 Weekly Reflections On Modern-Day Imperialism, Militarism, And Consumerism in the Context of John’s Apocalyptic Vision, and The Other Side Of Christianity: Reflections on Faith, Politics, Spirituality, History, and Peace. He is a correspondent for www.WN.com. You can read more of Dallas’ writings at www.beverlydarling.com and www.WN.com/dallasdarling. |