In his final address as the president of the United States in 1961, Dwight D Eisenhower warned of a looming peril that could have devastating consequences if left unchecked.
The following is the most significant part of that address:
“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 US military-industrial complex is an unholy alliance of the myriad branches of its government, arms dealers, mercenaries. This wealthy and powerful coalition and their cronies profiteer from wars, so they persuade US governments to enter optional wars and then to protract the conflicts in perpetuity.
The current mess in Afghanistan and an examination of the history of recent US wars proves Eisenhower’s words prophetic.
The US waged a war in Vietnam from 1954 to1975, and in the Dominican Republic in 1965. In the 1980s, it was engaged in conflicts in Lebanon, Grenada, Panama. In the 1990s it launched wars in Kuwait and Iraq, and was involved in conflicts in Somalia, Haiti, Bosnia, and Kosovo.
In 2001, the US invaded Afghanistan, ostensibly to avenge the 9/11 attacks and stayed put for nearly 20 years. It also went to war in Iraq from 2003 to 2010, and in the last decade has been involved in conflicts in Libya and Syria.
Then there are its arms sales to warring factions and covert operations elsewhere.
Most of these conflicts were unnecessary and could have been resolved by surgical strikes and diplomacy. The United Nations usually was a helpless spectator to these wars.
The following is an attempt to decode the lifecycle of a US invasion. The entire lifecycle is only followed for audacious prolonged interventions. For relatively minor conflicts, there’s an abbreviated version of this lifecycle applied.
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