What George Washington taught about war: We have lost sight

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

We mark George Washington's birthday today.
Washington was a military general before he became our nation's first President. He killed, and ordered killings.
Were he alive today, he would be horrified at the militarism that grips the United States.
"But ... but ... we are a peace-loving people!"
Hogwash.
What wars have we fought in the past quarter-century?
"Vietnam, Iraq twice and Afghanistan," most of us would reply.
Here is the answer of Karl Marlantes, a much-decorated Vietnam veteran, author of "What it is Like to go to War."
"Cambodia (Mayaguez) ... Iran (failed hostage rescue) ..., Lebanon ... Libya (bombing Gadhafi) ... Panama ... Grenada ... Gulf I ... Somalia ... Bosnia ... Kosovo ... Afghanistan ... Iraq and Libya, again.
And possibly, before the year is out, Iran.
In addition to killing and being killed in all those theaters, we have played major support roles in the British-Argentine war over the Falklands, in the "civil war" in El Salvador, in Afghanistan (when the Russians were there), in Angolia, Colombia and Israel/Palestine.
We claim to not want to be the world's policeman. Nor do we want to be an imperial empire.
But we act as though we are both.
President Washington counseled a separation from entangling alliances. No pacifist, Washington recognized the likelihood, even the necessity, of the young United States going to war. His support for the then-new Constitution instead of the Articles of Confederation was premised on the need for a central government stronger and financially more stable than the government under the Articles.
But Washington premised defensive wars, in which the United States itself would be directly attacked. Only our current involvement in Afghanistan remotely meets that criterion, and it is a stretch to argue that, 11 years after the 2001 terrorist attacks, we are still in Afghanistan in retaliation.
"We are a very aggressive and warlike nation," Marlantes concludes.
Yes.
That is not all bad. We can cite moral imperatives for some of the killings listed above.
But we ought to drop the pretense of being shocked when other nations regard us, not as "America the Beautiful," but as "Imperial Rome redux."
And we ought to pause on this day and reflect whether we as a nation, and as a people, ought to lessen our reliance on killing other people as a means of attaining political or national goals.
George Washington remains the greatest American in fact, but he and his message have gotten lost in the mists of time.
We need to remember.
- Denny Bonavita