Cityscape
of Qayyarah town on fire.The Mosul District, Northern Iraq, Western
Asia. 09 November, 2016
by George Marlowe
“It’s
been hell for the world”
The United States
Army did not get the response it intended when it asked in a tweet
last week, “How has serving impacted you?” Instead of paeans to
the military, the horrific reality of war on a world scale broke
through the annual celebration of American militarism over the
Memorial Day weekend.
By Monday night,
there were over 11,000 comments in response to the US Army’s
question. The official lies and platitudes employed by the ruling
elite and the media to exalt war were shattered by stories detailing
the living hell that has been imposed on millions of lives.
So massive was the
outpouring of sentiment on social media that the
response was covered by the mainstream news Monday night, a
singular rarity on a day usually devoted to mindless jingoism. The
incident even made headlines around the world, an expression of the
vast global impact of US militarism.
Veteran suicides,
depression, violence, recurring nightmares, post-traumatic stress
disorder, drug abuse, addiction, alcoholism, rape and sexual assault
by commanding officers, inadequate health care, generational trauma,
exposure to chemical agents, war crimes. These were just some of the
nightmarish tales that emerged.
Heartbreaking
stories of veteran suicides were all too common. Shane Burley’s
story was repeated in various forms by numerous people. “My best
friend from high school was denied his mental health treatment and
forced to return to a third tour in Iraq, despite having such deep
trauma that he could barely function,” Shane wrote. “He took a
handful of sleeping pills and shot himself in the head two weeks
before deploying.”
Sean described what
he called “the ‘Combat Cocktail’: PTSD, severe depression,
anxiety. Isolation. Suicide attempts. Never ending rage. It cost me
my relationship with my eldest son and my grandson. It cost some of
my men so much more. How did serving impact me? Ask my family.”
Lies used to
manufacture public consent for war were also opposed. “Don’t
fabricate enemies and shove innocent Americans into wars that kill
innocent civilians,” wrote one person. “You’ve gained nothing
from all the wars combined. It’s been hell for the world.”
For all the
nauseating glorification of the military by the media and the
political establishment, those that serve in the military as cannon
fodder are generally economic conscripts looking for a way out of
poverty and the chance for a college degree. The reality is that they
end up maimed, broken and scarred, with generations of families and
friends affected by the trauma.
More than 5,500
veterans killed themselves last year, and active-duty military
suicides were at an all-time high in 2018. More than 321 of those in
active duty in the military killed themselves in 2018, with 138 in
the US Army alone.
A 2018 study by the
Council on Foreign Relations found that recruits from families with
annual incomes less than $38,400 a year made up 19 percent of
soldiers. Over 60 percent of recruits come from families with annual
incomes less than $61,403, and over 80 percent come from families who
make less than $80,912. The study did not show the levels at which
the top 5 percent or the top 1 percent participated in the wars, but
they no doubt constitute a tiny minority.
Numerous commenters
on the US Army Twitter thread referred to the statements of
Major-General Smedley Butler, who famously confessed in 1933, “War
is just a racket. Only a small inside group knows what it is about.
It is conducted for the benefit of the very few at the expense of the
masses.”
There is deep
opposition to war in the working class in the United States and
internationally. As with every other political issue, however, the
real interests of the vast majority of the population are excluded
from official political life.
In the run-up to the
2003 invasion of Iraq, this sentiment found expression in mass
demonstrations of millions of people throughout the world. Opposition
to the Iraq war was channeled behind the Democratic Party,
culminating in the election of Barack Obama in 2008. Extending the
Bush administration’s “war on terror” in Iraq and Afghanistan,
Obama attacked more than seven countries, including Libya and Syria,
and killed thousands of innocent civilians through drone warfare.
The Trump
administration now plans to dispatch 1,500 new troops to the Middle
East and has threatened to “end” Iran. His administration also
announced the doctrine of “great power” conflict, preparing even
bigger military conflagrations against Russia and China that hurtle
the world towards a third world war.
In 2017, the
Department of Veterans Affairs under the Trump administration
proposed to close more than 1,100 facilities in an effort to
privatize health care. While only $220 billion was allotted to
Veterans Affairs for the 2020 budget, more than $718 billion was
requested by the Pentagon, a five percent increase over the previous
year. If the trend continues, more than $7 trillion will be spent on
war over the next decade.
With the support of
the Democratic Party, moreover, the Trump administration is
intensifying its campaign against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange
for exposing the crimes of American imperialism.
The Democrats have
waged their opposition to Trump largely on the demand that the
administration adopt a more aggressive position against Russia and
expand the war in Syria and the Middle East. The Democrats have
sought to position themselves as the party of the military and the
intelligence agencies, hailing as heroes such arch warmongers as the
late Republican Senator John McCain.
And the
organizations of the complacent and privileged upper-middle class
that surround the Democratic Party have become the most adamant
supporters of American imperialism.
The sentiments
expressed in the response to the US Army tweet must and will find
organized form. The mass opposition to war must be connected to the
growing struggles of workers, in the United States and
internationally, against inequality and exploitation. The growing
support for socialism must be connected to a conscious political
movement of the international working class against capitalism and
imperialism.
This
article first appeared on World
Socialist Web Site (WSWS)
on
28 May 2019, and was republished with permission.
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