by Ted Sherman

Created on: May 12, 2008   Last Updated: September 09, 2008

Not just no, but hell no! This is finally an awakening of an old guy, a veteran of two wars, who always considered himself a patriot and humanitarian. Let's go back a century or so ago to look at the roots of when Uncle Sam became Uncle Sucker, an endless source of money and young lives to be wasted on foreign wars.

When the battleship USS Maine blew up in Havana harbor in 1898, politicians loudly proclaimed the Spanish government had planted a bomb. True or not, that brought on the Spanish-American war, fortunately a short one with few casualties. Egged on by lurid newspaper stories and political opportunists, there was a rush of patriotism that eventually sent war hero Teddy Roosevelt to the White House.

Although battle deaths were few, the war and subsequent occupation of Cuba and the Philippines cost American taxpayers billions. U.S. forces colonized the Philippines, sewing the seeds of the anger in Japan that exploded in Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. Before that, in 1917, President Wilson bowed to political and war industry pressure and brought the U.S. into World War I. The intent was primarily to save England and France from losing the war with Germany. After billions were spent, a million GIs killed or maimed, and more than ten million European WWI deaths, Germany surrendered, "the war to end all wars" ended and peace was restored.

Did the U.S. then take its troops home, close its checkbook and let the rest of the world settle its differences? Of course not. More taxpayer billions were spent to help Europe, including Germany, recover from the devastation of WWI. Then, after most nations suffered devastating poverty and the Great Depression, Germany emerged as a military threat again by the late 1930s. By 1939, the massive killings of World War II were underway. Teddy's cousin, Franklin D. Roosevelt, promised this time America would stay out of it. The President declared, "No American boy will die in a foreign war!" And he meant it, at least until U.S. industry and Army recruiting could gear up to get America into the war. He didn't have long to wait. The angry Japanese launched its sneak attack, and we were once more in the middle of a world war.

This one was the most devastating in history, costing some 30 million lives, including a million U.S. military, and untold billions in resources and taxpayer dollars. However, this war was finally won in 1945. Did America then bring its troops home and let the rest of the world settle its own affairs and murders?

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