65. WAR WATCH WEDNESDAYS, #65,

 

65.  WAR WATCH WEDNESDAYS, #65, MARCH 16, 2022

Tom Dispatch, William Hartung.   Costs of US Wars, Pentagon Budget       $778 Billion, , Military-Industrial Complex, One Aircraft Carrier, F-35 Jet       Fighter. Walter Hixson, Imperialism and War: The History Americans Need to Own.    William Hartung, Mission (Im)possible -- and You're Paying for It.   February 3, 2022. Whatever the U.S. military may be considered, it isn't usually thought of as a scam operation. Maybe it's time to change that way of thinking, though. After all, we're talking about a crew with a larger "defense" budget than the next 11 countries combined (and no, that's not a misprint). Mind you, I'm not even focusing here on how a military funded, supplied, and armed like no other on this planet has proven incapable of winning a war in this century, no matter the money and effort put out. No, what's on my mind is its weaponry in which American taxpayers have invested so many endless billions of dollars. For example, take the latest, most up-to-date, most expensive aircraft carrier in history, the USS Gerald Ford. (Yes, it's named after the president everyone's forgotten, the one who took over the White House when Richard Nixon fled town in disgrace.) Hey, what a bargain it was when Huntington Ingalls Industries delivered that vessel to the Navy for a mere (and no this isn't a misprint either) $13 billion -- $20 billion, if you're including the aircraft it carries. And it only represents the first of a four-ship, $57-billion program.  You might imagine that, with $13 billion invested in a single ship, you'd be getting the sort of vessel that would do Star Trek proud, a futuristic creation for at least the 21st, if not the 22nd century of war. As it happens, though, there are just a few teeny, weeny glitches with it. For one thing, it reportedly can't reliably either launch or retrieve the planes that make it an aircraft carrier. And for good measure, according to Bloomberg News, it can't defend itself effectively from incoming missiles either.  After "cannibalizing" parts from another aircraft carrier under construction, it is, however, finally being deployed, only four years late. Honestly, it would be easy enough to think that I was writing a ridiculous parody here, but no such luck. And, remarkably enough, as TomDispatch regular and Pentagon expert William Hartung points out today, that ship is anything but alone in the U.S. arsenal. Just see his comments below on the F-35 jet fighter for another obvious example. In fact, as you read Hartung, ask yourself whether this boondoggle -- and just about the only thing that Congress can agree on with remarkable unanimity -- turns out to be a "defense" version of Watergate. So, where's Gerald R. Ford when we really need him? Tom     William Hartung. “ What a Waste! $778 Billion for the Pentagon and Still Counting.” 2021 was another banner year for the military-industrial complex, as Congress signed off on a near-record $778 billion in spending for the Pentagon and related work on nuclear warheads at the Department of Energy. That was $25 billion more than the Pentagon had even asked for. It can’t be emphasized enough just how many taxpayer dollars are now being showered on the Pentagon. That department’s astronomical budget adds up, for instance, to more than four times the cost of the most recent version of President Biden’s Build Back Better plan, which sparked such horrified opposition from Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) and other alleged fiscal conservatives. Naturally, they didn't blink when it came to lavishing ever more taxpayer dollars on the military-industrial complex. Click here to read more of this dispatch.

 

Walter Hixson, Imperialism and War: The History Americans Need to Own.  Institute for Research, 2021.

Publisher's Synopsis
Transcending the mythology of "American exceptionalism," the acclaimed historian Walter Hixson unveils a long history of war and imperialism, one that is deeply embedded in the American national DNA. From Columbus to the "forever wars" of the modern Middle East, Americans have sought imperial domination over other peoples, invariably deemed inferior, and have regularly chosen to go to war with them.

The consequences of the nation's violent aggression have been severe yet not fully analyzed owing to the powerful boundaries erected by patriotic nationalism. Americans have viewed themselves as a "chosen people" and the United States as a "beacon and liberty," the champion of the "free world," but this self-serving discourse has served to enable continental and overseas imperialism and war.

Americans typically professed to go to war because they "had to" or to make the world "safe for democracy," but only rarely were these scenarios in play. Rather, Americans usually chose to go to war, and US foreign policy rarely produced or even sought to produce democratic outcomes. Instead, the United States often engaged in violent repression of other peoples and bolstered dictatorial regimes, including those engaged in mass murder.

US war and imperialism frequently proved ineffectual, as they were often grounded in dramatic misperceptions. Foreign aggression also often sowed the seeds for "blowback" attacks and the continuation or renewal of conflict and warfare. Moreover--and rarely analyzed--continental and overseas aggression also undermined democracy, civil liberties, and progressive reform on the home front.

Rooted in decades of study and delivered in crystal clear and direct language, this book is must-reading for anyone wishing to go beyond the clichés that typically structure discussions of the history and contemporary prospects of American foreign relations. In a bold conclusion Hixson outlines the desperate need for adoption of a new paradigm of "cooperative internationalism" to transcend the nation's penchant for war and imperialism fueled by national self-worship.