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Protect Our Freedom
The US military supposedly has the honorable mission to 'protect our freedom' but that behavior is very rarely what it actually does.
Notable deployments of the Marines :
1770's
There were frequent attacks on British. At this time, America was not yet independent so our 'freedom's were still undefined, until after the Constitution was ratified.
1801-1805
Marines battle with the Barbury_ Pirates
The cause of the U.S. participation was pirates from the Barbary States seizing American merchant ships and holding the crews for ransom, demanding the U.S. pay tribute to the Barbary rulers. President Thomas Jefferson refused to pay this tribute.
The pirates were a threat to international commerce, not American freedom.
War of_1812
Americans were inordinately optimistic in 1812. William Eustis, the U.S. secretary of war, stated, "We can take the Canadas without soldiers, we have only to send officers into the province and the people…will rally round our standard." Henry Clay said that "the militia of Kentucky are alone competent to place Montreal and Upper Canada at your feet." And Thomas Jefferson famously wrote
"The acquisition of Canada this year, as far as the neighborhood of Quebec, will be a mere matter of marching, and will give us experience for the attack of Halifax the next, and the final expulsion of England from the American continent."
This war was not about American freedom but instead an attack on the British to get them to leave and so America could conquer Canada. That invasion failed.
1816-1858 Seminole Wars
This military action followed the Indian_Removal_Act_of_1830
which later in the century became a campaign of genocide against the Native Americans.
This military action intended to take the land from the natives and was not about American freedom.
World War II
This war was truly a conflict between aspiring global empires.
England was competing with Germany both in Europe and near their remote colonies or those of their allies (France on one side, Italy on the other, many in Africa. Both had large navies to maintain their control over vast distances.
In 1941 America had only the beginning of its global empire, with the Philippines and various naval bases in the Pacific.
America was competing with Japan for supremacy of the Pacific and its resources. Both had large navies to maintain their control over vast distances.
In 1941 Japan initiated military attacks on American military naval bases and colonies but not America's mainland so at no time was the freedom of Americans ever threatened by these distant foes. Unfortunately for Japanese Americans, they had their freedom taken away by the American government when unjustly imprisoned only because of their ethnicity.
The end of the Pacific theater clearly illustrates what this part of the war was about. Japan offered to surrender in early 1945 but America chose to wait (at the cost of many thousands of lives between those dates, both American and Japanese, until after America could deploy at least one nuclear bomb. American leaders used the opportunity to demonstrate to the world the ruthless commitment to be a global empire, one willing to use such a lethal weapon.
After WWII all military actions were the consequence of this enforcing our global empire.
Latin America interventions
In 1904: When European governments began to use force to pressure Latin American countries to repay their debts, Theodore Roosevelt announced his "Corollary" to the Monroe Doctrine, stating that the United States would intervene in the Western Hemisphere should Latin American governments prove incapable or unstable.
1909: U.S.-backed rebels in Nicaragua depose President José Santos Zelaya.
1912 to 1933 United States occupation of Nicaragua: Marines occupied main cities. Their purpose was to provide stabilization to the government. There was a period of a few months between 1925 and 1926 when the Marines left but were back for the same reason.
1914 to 1917: Mexico conflict and Pancho Villa Expedition, U.S. troops entering northern portion of Mexico. The invasion from Mexico is unique as it is the only actual attack on America but it did not really pose a threat to America freedom; Pacho Villa was just a revolutionary in Mexico and did not intend to occupy America.
1915 to 1934: United States occupation of Haiti
1916 to 1924: U.S. occupation of the (former Spanish colony) Dominican Republic
United States intervention in Chile began in 1811 and would eventually lead to the US-backed overthrow of Allende in 1973; he was a socialist so he posed a threat to the global empire not to American freedom.
Korean_War
When the Marines invaded Korea at Inchon, neither Korea nor China posed a threat to American's freedom. The Korean War was part of America's competition (cold war) with Russia for the role of the top super power.
Vietnam_War
The Marines arrived in Vietnam in 1954. Vietnam posed no threat to American freedom. The French military had just been defeated and they would leave, so America could and did replace France as the colonial master in Southeast Asia.
According to this reference :
In July 1959, a vote was taken to link the establishment of socialism in the North to the cause of unification with the South.
Vietnam could pose an obstacle to the expansion of the American empire based on capitalism. Whether Vietnam was socialist or communist, it could never pose a threat to American freedom.
Afghanistan
Afghanistan is a critical place in the global chessboard. America had its invasion plan ready before 911, an event that allowed the invasion to be justified very quickly, even though Afghanistan had nothing to do with 911. The country Afghanistan had for opposition to the invasion only the Taliban who were only seeking internal control of the country after America instigated the removal of the previous government, using Al Qaeda. In 2001 Afghanistan certainly posed no threat to America's freedom.
Libya
In 2007, Genera General Wesley Clark revealed the plans within the Bush administration to 'take out' 7 countries in 5 years: Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Iran. This list must have been influenced by the publication in September, 2000, of the Plan for a New American Century, a plan for a global empire.
In Libya posed no threat (also it had no WMD) to America's freedom. Libya was an obstacle to America's geopolitical goals in Africa.
Iraq
Iraq had nothing to with 911, and it posed no threat to America's freedom; it had no weapons of mass destruction but a concerted propaganda campaign allowed the invasion to occur with minimal public or Congressional protest.
Syria
Under the aegis of operation Timber Sycamore and other clandestine activities, CIA operatives and US special operations troops trained and armed nearly 10,000 Syrian rebel fighters since 2012 at a cost of $1 billion a year, supposedly phased out in 2017. ISIS was also introduced into Syria by America and NATO with the goal of regime change in Syria. The White Helmets were trained at NATO bases in Turkey for the purpose of generating anti-Syria propaganda with staged pictures and videos in coordination with ISIS.
Syria posed no threat (also it had no WMD) to America's freedom. Ironically Syria had helped the Bush administration with its rendition and torture activities where America violated the freedom of these victims.
Many_interventions
A 2016 study by Carnegie Mellon University professor Dov Levin found that the United States intervened in 81 foreign elections between 1946 and 2000, with the majority of those being through covert, rather than overt, actions.
Please note the speech by Smedley Butler in 1933: War is a racket.
After reviewing American history I find no instance when the military was truly deployed to protect American freedom.
I cannot accept the audacious line of propaganda: America's military protects America's freedom.
The historically (and current) accurate slogan or mission for the American military is: Protect our Empire.
created - August 2018
last change - 08/27/2018
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