Shamelessly Pre-Emptive On All Counts

In 1953, Eisenhower’s America was facing its most daunting foe ever in the Soviet Union. Even so he insisted on a restrained and disciplined response to this threat. A two term president, Eisenhower surprised the nation by using the occasion of his farewell radio broadcast to warn of the dangers of the “military industrial complex,”- a term coined by his speech writers. Eisenhower, a five-star general and Supreme Allied Commander in WWII, was acutely aware that the military, charged with security of the nation, could, left unchecked, make the nation captive to its needs and self-interest. He felt it the duty of an “alert and knowledgeable citizenry” to ensure that the military-industrial complex was always servant and never allowed to become master: In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist. The acuity of Eisenhower’s prophesy is profoundly striking as he went on to state: Any failure traceable to arrogance or lack of comprehension or readiness to sacrifice would inflict upon us grievous hurt both at home and abroad. For now with its belligerent unilateralism, its illegal war on Iraq, America has shown “failure traceable to arrogance” and a “lack of comprehension.” It has hurt itself, both at home and abroad as it becomes the reviled international pariah. Eisenhower, like Truman before him, felt it was the obligation of great nations to use “our power in the interests of world peace and human betterment”. Now, words like peace, freedom and democracy are but the sloganeering of avaricious Washington ideologues. In his time US military spending exceeded the income of all American corporations. Now the US spends as much on its military as all other countries combined. These massive expenditures come at a time when the US has an overwhelming military capability; yet it continues to arm itself to the teeth. To justify this monstrous redundancy the present administration has gone into the business of manufacturing enemies and exaggerating the capabilities of those that do actually exist. At a time when a peace dividend should be harvested research into new and more formidable weapons goes on, the nuclear arsenal is being renewed and expanded, the weaponization of space is being advanced and government programs are being slashed to accommodate ever increasing military budgets. Eisenhower, though every inch a military man, hated war and was contemptuous of the concept of pre-emptive war. His worst nightmare has come to fruition. The citizenry has allowed the military-industrial complex to become a monster racing out of control. Eisenhower, insisted “security and liberty” must prosper together. Yet liberty has been hijacked by the self-serving corporatists of the military-industrial complex. National security in the USA has insidiously become the politics of deceit and corporate profiteering. Under present circumstances for any president to adopt the concept of pre-emptive warfare can only be regarded as ludicrous and a scam for exercising ulterior motives. At the time of the Cold War-MAD-Mutually Assured Destruction- proved to be the great deterrent. Both superpowers realized that in spite of their awesome military capabilities neither could afford a major confrontation. Each operated within their spheres of influence occasionally jousting in regional conflicts like- Korea, Vietnam, and Afghanistan. The Cold War might also be termed The Grand Stalemate, as it imposed an era, largely peaceful. One way to pre-empt war is a balance of power among contenders. The Cold war was proof of this. The super powers blunted or pre-empted each others ambitions. Now in an era where there is a singular superpower a dangerous imbalance of power exists. There is a power vacuum and the US is ruthlessly rushing in to full it. If the current incumbent of the White House had more candor he would speak not in terms of pre-emptive warfare but serial warfare as he lines up his ducks in his neo-imperialist shooting gallery. He cannot wage simultaneous regional wars, threaten another, continue to arm his country to the teeth, flout anything resembling genuine multilateralism and claim to be the agent of peace, democracy and liberty. Pre-emption is a malevolent word; not only a phony rationale for war it permeates the attitudes of government and the media. Pre-empt also means to “pre-purchase.” By this definition it becomes interesting speculation as to whose silence has been bought, coerced, suffers insipid indifference, or simply willful ignorance. Canada, a bit player in the global scheme of things, has by a political sleight of hand committed Canadians troops to a combat role with the Afghan mission. Our political elites, however, are less than willing to submit this commitment to parliamentary debate. For Canada, the Afghan mission has a much larger dimension that our elites are even less willing to talk about. This mission marks the merger of Canada’s military into that of the US. It is a process that has been ongoing for decades, but it has been accelerated by events such as the Gulf War and the war in Iraq. Even though we did not send ground troops into Iraq our navy and air force and many senior officers are integrated into American forces serving there. By going into Afghanistan we are not only making a commitment to that mission but also the larger commitment to America’s serial warfare, and there will be pressure to expand our commitment. America’s wars now become our wars. It is all part of very deep integration. If worthless politicians have lost their voices and integrity, so too have the media. Chris Hedges, Pulitzer Prize winning, Foreign Correspondent with the New York Times states: "Our whole civil society is being torn apart. Once again, as is true in every war, the media parrots back the clichés and jingos of the state. Imbibes and promotes the myth. In wartime, the press is always part of the problem." As Eisenhower wisely observed, liberty and security must prosper together. In this post-modern era we are losing the ability to manage these imperatives, allowing them to become dangerously corrupted. The 20th century was surely the age of progress; now the 21st is emerging as the age of degeneration. Then too, there is the nasty little taunt from WWII Italian fascist dictator Benito Mussolini: The truth is that men are tired of liberty. Robert Billyard © 3 24 06 [Proofreader's note: this article was edited for spelling and typos on March 27, 2006]