[Peace-discuss] No Wonder US Forces In Morale Crisis

Sun Aug 27 15:22:46 UTC 2017

No Wonder US Forces In Morale Crisis

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 <https://popularresistance.org/category/educate/> Educate!
<https://popularresistance.org/tag/crisis/> Crisis,
<https://popularresistance.org/tag/us-imperialism/> US Imperialism,
<https://popularresistance.org/tag/us-military/> US military 
By Finian Cunningham,  <http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/47678.htm>
www.informationclearinghouse.info
August 26th, 2017

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Above Photo: From CreativeResistance.org. Eyes Wide Open: US Military
Personnel Killed In Iraq.

August 24, 2017 " <http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/> Information
Clearing House" -The spate of deadly US Navy collisions is a symptom of a
wider morale crisis among American military forces. Part of the reason is
that American troops are simply exhausted from being abused by political
masters in Washington.

"Over-stretch" is one way of putting it. American forces continue to be
assigned in overseas wars and operations around the globe with no end in
sight. And for no credible purpose either.

This is not just a Navy problem. It affects all other branches of the US
military: Army, Air Force, the Marines and National Guard.

When President Donald Trump
<http://edition.cnn.com/2017/08/21/politics/trump-afghanistan-speech/index.h
tml?utm_source=CNN+Five+Things&utm_campaign=9f1604d9db-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2017_0
8_23&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_6da287d761-9f1604d9db-82067877> announced
his brazen U-turn sending more American troops back to Afghanistan, the move
had the backing of the Pentagon's top brass. No doubt stock prices for US
arms manufacturers spiked.

But what about ordinary American soldiers? One can imagine renewed Afghan
missions are not welcome, given that the US has been fighting its longest
war - 16 years - in that country known as the "Graveyard of Empires."

Any army is only as good as the morale among soldiers. Morale depends on
having a respected leadership and a credible just cause. In America's case,
there are neither of these attributes, therefore it is no surprise that
morale diminishes, as does fighting effectiveness. Look at the appalling
record of US military defeats or failures.

The fatal collision of a US Navy guided-missile destroyer this week with an
oil tanker near Singapore - in which 10 missing American crew are feared
dead - was the fourth major accident involving the Pacific 7th Fleet this
year alone. The admiral of the fleet has been dismissed from his command
post.

Several military commentators are pointing to low morale among rank-and-file
Navy members, from being forced to spend longer periods at sea on
deployment, with little training and demanding work hours.

As a report in
<https://www.google.ru/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&ved=0ahUKEwj
n6fnwgvDVAhWHXRoKHcULBxkQqOcBCCgwAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.military.com%2Fdail
y-news%2F2017%2F08%2F23%2Fwhy-navy-ships-colliding-pacific-experts-weigh-in.
html&usg=AFQjCNHD7ogpxZqd6NSB_CgDLZ9XacQWbQ> military.com noted:
"Operational demand around the globe. means less time at home for rest and
training; crews are therefore operating with greater stress and exhaustion
levels."

The report quotes Congressman Rob Wittman, of the House Armed Services
Committee, saying: "I believe that there are even more basic causes for this
systematic operational failure of our fleet including a demanding
operational tempo, limited training opportunities and inadequate funding to
support basic needs."

But here's the paramount issue that is not mentioned. Why are US forces
being increasingly despatched to Asia-Pacific?

Of course, it is to do with US imperial objectives of confronting China over
its alleged expanding influence in that region. The ramped-up tensions with
North Korea are also connected to the US aim of curtailing China.

When we say the "US aim" we mean precisely the ruling class and their
imperial designs. What ordinary Americans get out of this strategic "Asian
Pivot" is far from certain. Combine dubious mission with dubious leadership,
long months away from home under wearying conditions, and is it any wonder
that morale of crew members sinks?

The problem is much bigger than the US Navy and the Asia-Pacific. The
American military must be the most internally conflicted force there is. The
surge in wars ever since the September 11 terror incidents in 2001 was
supposed to be about "defeating terrorism."

All too often, however, that official purpose has been distorted to serve
ulterior objectives, such as regime change. How must American troops, navy
and air men feel when they realize that their own commanders and
intelligence agencies are supporting the same terrorists that the
rank-and-file soldiers are supposed to be combating?

American troops no doubt know what's going down on the ground. They will
know that the Pentagon and CIA are arming and training terrorist death
squads in Syria, Iraq, and, yes, Afghanistan.

Russia's foreign ministry
<http://www.mid.ru/en/foreign_policy/news/-/asset_publisher/cKNonkJE02Bw/con
tent/id/2838153> reported this month that foreign jihadist fighters are
being flown by "unidentified" helicopters to various parts of Afghanistan.
Some Taliban units have been identified driving US Humvee military vehicles.
This covert duplicity all sounds like a repeat of America's dirty wars in
Syria and Iraq, where thousands of American troops were killed or maimed for
life.

Over the past century, American forces have been involved in dozens of wars
around the world. A case can be made that the First and Second World Wars
were a just cause for the Americans. But all the other conflicts have been
simply wars of aggression, carried out for some ulterior nefarious purpose.
The official pretexts for these wars are always shown eventually to be
fraudulent, whether it was fighting Soviet expansionism as in Korea and
Vietnam, or fighting terrorism as in Iraq and Afghanistan. Or, the biggest
fraud of all, to protect human rights as in Libya and Syria.

The history of crimes and lies is catching up with American imperialism. Its
never-ending need for wars around the world is no longer tenable. The US is
not pursuing some noble crusade. It never has been. It is a warmongering
state that is addicted to wars of conquest in order to satisfy the economic
lust of its elites.

It's easy for armchair generals like Donald Trump and his Joint Chiefs of
Staff to threaten nuclear war against North Korea. But nobody of a sane mind
could possibly accept this criminal recklessness.

"Nuking another country just because it seeks to acquire nuclear weapons
enjoys virtually zero support from US nuclear troops," wrote the former
missile launch officer.In a recent media
<https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/aug/23/ex-intelligence-chief-trump
s-access-to-nuclear-codes-is-pretty-damn-scary?utm_source=esp&utm_medium=Ema
il&utm_campaign=GU+Today+main+NEW+H+categories&utm_term=240736&subid=5356906
&CMP=EMCNEWEML6619I2> commentary, a former US nuclear missile launch
officer, Bruce Blair, said that no-one among serving officers believes that
Trump has any right to launch a pre-emptive strike on North Korea.

The inference is that there is widespread distrust of the American
leadership and its motives. That again leads back to the issue of morale
crisis among America's military forces, across all sectors.

A military force is only capable if it has the will to fight a clearly
identified enemy, whom it views as a threat to their country and
compatriots.

For decades the American military has been abused with official lies and
debased to conduct heinous crimes against humanity. But increasingly it
seems the only enemy the US armed forces are up against are the rulers in
Washington, with their imperialist schemes of world domination.

More than 80 years ago, the most decorated American soldier, Marine Corps
Major
<https://cse.google.com/cse?cx=010732926337524982427%3Ava4-o-6opiq&ie=UTF-8&
siteurl=www.google.com%2Fcse%2Fhome%3Fcx%3D010732926337524982427%3Ava4-o-6op
iq&q=General+Smedley+Butler&sa=Search&siteurl=%2FE%3A%2FICH%2520Website%2Fin
dex.html&ref=&ss=#gsc.tab=0&gsc.q=General%20Smedley%20Butler&gsc.page=1>
General Smedley Butler (1881-1940), came to the stark
<https://ratical.org/ratville/CAH/warisaracket.html#c1> conclusion that "war
is a racket" - at least American wars are. Butler described his 34 years of
service fighting wars in the Philippines, South America, the Caribbean, and
China as being "a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism."

One might conjecture that this realization is dawning on more and more
serving US personnel. Their operations, sacrifices and violence against
others is not for any just cause. This realization inevitably leads to
flagging morale among ordinary servicemen, whether they are riding in a
Humvee in the Middle East, installing missile systems in NATO countries on
Russia's border, or sailing ships that threaten nuclear war with North Korea
and China.

Sooner or later, the lousy paycheck and missing family at home no longer
makes sense or morality. To hell with it, as Smedley Butler declared.

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