Interview with Andrew Bacevich August 28th, 2010

By Andrew Feldman, August 26, 2010 – Foreign Policy in Focus

Andrew BacevichAndrew Bacevich is a professor of international relations and history at Boston University and the author of the new book, Washington Rules: America’s Path to Permanent War. You can read a review of this book here. Bacevich talks with FPIF’s Andrew Feldman about current U.S. military policy and the ethics of intervention.

ANDREW FELDMAN: One of the main premises of your new book is that our current military policies are not working for the United States. You don’t really address the question of if it did work for the United States, would it be a kind of policy that we could or should use?

ANDREW BACEVICH: My previous book, The Limits of Power, argues that there was a time when an expansionist policy served to enhance American power and American prosperity. And so, setting aside moral considerations, during the Mexican war, we took Texas and California. And guess what? It benefited the United States of America tremendously, whether the war was just or not.

But my argument is, roughly since the 1960s and very much so since 9/11, expansionism has an opposite effect. We’re not enhancing our power; we’re squandering it. We’re not building our prosperity; we’re going bankrupt.

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Air base expansion plans reflect long-term investment in Afghanistan August 23rd, 2010

By Walter Pincus
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, August 23, 2010; A06

Three $100 million air base expansions in southern and northern Afghanistan illustrate Pentagon plans to continue building multimillion-dollar facilities in that country to support increased U.S. military operations well into the future.

Despite growing public unhappiness with the Afghan war — and President Obama‘s pledge that he will begin withdrawing troops in July 2011 — many of the installations being built in Afghanistan have extended time horizons. None of the three projects in southern and northern Afghanistan is expected to be completed until the latter half of 2011. All of them are for use by U.S. forces rather than their Afghan counterparts.
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US Troop “Withdrawal” from Iraq – Facts and Fiction August 23rd, 2010
When: Wednesday, August 25, 2010, 8:30 pm
Where: Conference Call • Call: 218-339-4300 Code: 082510#

Speakers:   Raed Jarrar, AFSC and Peace Action;  Phyllis Bennis, Institute for Policy Studies

Join our call to find out from Raed Jarrar and Phyllis Bennis the facts and fiction surrounding US troop “withdrawal” from Iraq. Also, scroll down to see what you can do to continue pressure for a total US military withdrawal. 
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Brown Bag Lunch Vigil: Stop the Afghanistan War! August 16th, 2010

Healthcare Not Warfare
Mass. Peace Action co-sponsors a monthly vigil at Sen. Kerry’s office calling for an end to the Afghanistan War. The next vigil is Wednesday, August 18, from noon to 1:30 p.m., at One Bowdoin Square, Boston (Bowdoin T, blue line).

 
US deaths in Afghanistan reached 1,217 in July, and 6,773 have been wounded. Expenditures on the Afghanistan war have reached $324 billion. WikiLeaks made clear that the war is going even worse than the government admits, but Congress approved another $38 billion to escalate troop levels in Afghanistan with the support of Senators Kerry and Brown.
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Mass. Enacts “Iran Divestment” Law August 16th, 2010

by Jeff KleinJeff Klein

 
So-called “IRAN DIVESTMENT” passed in the final days of Massachusetts state legislature and has been signed by Governor Patrick. We opposed this measure not out of support for the Iranian government, but because it was one local aspect of a national (and international) campaign to raise tensions with Iran and promote a new military confrontation. Israel’s purported interests are at the center of this campaign.

 
In theory, an investment policy that promotes the values of peace and human rights is desirable. But, despite the protestations of its supporters, that is not what the Iran Divestment bill is about. Although Iran’s record is far from perfect, there are worse human rights abusers who are US allies and which have threatened to attack or actually attacked their neighbors, as Iran has not. Israel, unlike Iran, is not a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and is believed to have as many as 200 nuclear weapons — but receives upwards of $3 billion in annual US aid.
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