By Donald E. Schmidt

This can be a aggravating publication that increases questions about how we visit struggle, how we struggle wars, and the way we ultimately lose wars. This ancient exam of yank international coverage within the twentieth century questions how we behavior wars, and the way we retain the proud confidence often called ''American exceptionalism.'' The Folly of conflict is a hard-hitting, severe research of yankee wars within the twentieth century. Drawing on a large rage of resources and conscientiously marshalling the evidence, the publication concludes that American wars some time past century were futile, pointless and silly. Rejecting the Left s competition that American overseas coverage has been pushed by way of grasping company pursuits, the writer starts off from the basis that regular american citizens have supported those wars out of a will to do stable yet have failed in that target, and within the technique performed a lot damage. Many american citizens view the army defeat in Vietnam as an aberration, interrupting a string of overseas army successes. This e-book sees that tragedy as a part of a line of politically reckless engagements that span the century. pushed through a proud self belief that's frequently termed American exceptionalism, the state palms itself to enamel and intrudes into each zone, pacing on a treadmill of perpetual battle to accomplish perpetual peace. on the finish of 7 significant wars and after a million American squaddies were killed, we're no in the direction of the best protection we search.

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The men on board the Maine recognized their precarious situation immediately upon entering the harbor. ”4 On board ship there was a heavy night watch with 25% of the crew assigned duty. Visitors were scrutinized carefully and followed on any tour of the ship. Sentries and guards were everywhere. “We are standing watches every night and are keeping a good lookout for every small 1. , p. 64. 2. , p. 71. 3. , p. 62-63. 4. , p. 72. 1 However, to avoid antagonizing the Spanish port officials or offending the citizens of Havana, some of the standard Navy safety precautions had to be modified, concealed or even disbanded.

False lessons with disastrous consequences were learned by the American in their first modern war. 1. , 1958), p. 48. 2. Musicant, The Banana Wars, p. 12. 3. , p. 14. 4. Samuels, p. 284 32 Chapter 2. The Spanish-American War: The Great Hysteria Lingering in the American heart yet today is the thrill of “doing good,” of protecting the little guy and coming to the rescue of those in distress. These lessons, learned well and applied throughout the century, spawned many unintended and tragic incidents.

The President deceived and exaggerated. President Bush distorted Saddam Hussein’s actions in 1990, rushing troops to the Persian Gulf to stop the alleged aggression against Saudi Arabia. This distortion by President Bush has been the source of profound anguish for the US, as the terrorist group, al-Qaeda, now seeks revenge for desecrating the Land of Two Shrines, the land of Mecca and Medina. The President tragically deceived. President Bush, the younger, has joined his father in the Annals of Presidential Liars with his tall tales about Saddam Hussein’s Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD more likely translates as Weapons of Mass Disappearance).

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