Let's Stop Trying to be the World's Policeman, Stay Away from New Wars

There seems to be a crescendo of pressure on the U.S. to take part in military actions against the governments of Syria and Iran. It seems there are always those eager to get us involved in new wars, even as we do the right thing by getting out of Iraq and Afghanistan, where American lives and dollars were spent with little return.

I thought that our staying out of the Libyan revolution was the correct thing to do.

Those who urge new military actions are often those who haven’t served in the military, or if they did, didn’t participate in combat – didn’t see friends and foe alike shot up, maimed, crippled for life, or dead. Add to that the increasing civilian casualties (including children) as wars more and more don’t distinguish between soldiers and civilians.

And now, during an election season of course, there’s the cry to “take care of Iran before they build an atomic weapon.”

Can we remember back a few years when the cry was, “Take care of Iraq before they build weapons of mass destruction”? Did we ever find any there?

The U.S. continues to try to play the role of the world’s policeman, even though we no longer can afford to do so, deeply in debt as we are.

And so, even as we allowed North Korea to build atomic weapons, now we are assuming that Iran intends to build one too. No one has come forward with any proof of this. It is a guess, a supposition. But so what if they do develop an atomic weapon? We have lived so far with Russia, China, Pakistan (an unstable country), Israel, India and others having A-bombs. Which is the only country to ever use an A-bomb in war? We did, of course.

So what business do we have telling another country what weapons it can and can't have?

Some will say that Iran has pledged to erase Israel. Say that Iran did choose to send a missile armed with an atomic bomb against Israel. Iran knows that repercussions of doing such an act. It would be bombed into dust.  

There is a lot of support for Israel in the U.S. – and this has resulted in us too often favoring Israel over its neighbors, and the Palestinians. This doesn’t make us many friends among the Arabs. I believe that Israel is fully capable of defending itself, as it has proved in many wars. Yet we pour millions in foreign aid into the country even though it’s economically healthy. This same Israel lobby (along with the powerful military-industrial lobby) has to be one of the strident voices urging us to attack Iran.

We need to become a less warlike society, and quit assuming that wars solve problems. We need to stop trying to be the world’s policeman, realizing, like Great Britain had to do, that our days of empire are waning. We do best when we work cooperatively with the other western nations to take actions that avoid wars, and lead by example, not by force.

Resist the temptation to jump on the war wagon. Resist the temptation to vote for those who think military posturing makes them look virile and patriotic.