Four years ago I had a student in my freshman composition course who focused his research on answering the question of whether the United States has been justified in its military actions over the past 20 or 30 years.
He looked into some of the major or most well known conflicts (Bosnia, Somalia, the first Gulf War, Afghanistan and Iraq) and concluded that each decision to engage was worth the cost in blood and treasure.
I didn't push back like I might have under other circumstances. In this case, he had enlisted in the military himself and wanted to be sure he was doing something he could believe in. I still wonder if I made the right choice about that.
The truth is I don't believe the U.S. has been justified in all of its military actions over the years. Of course, we should defend ourselves. But we seem to have stretched the meaning of the word defend pretty darn thin.
Preemptive war to stop Iraq from developing weapons of mass destruction. Protecting against the theoretical falling of theoretical communist dominoes. Protecting business interests in the middle east and Latin America.
Killing innocents and risking the lives of soldier surrogates to protect the profits of a small percentage of people is not even remotely the moral equivalent of protecting our homes and families.
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