Permanent war

Vietnam was the last war we fought with draftees. It was an unnecessary war, fought in a country that posed no threat to America. It lacked any definitive purpose. We lost more than 58,000 Americans, and public support waned as it lasted much too long.

Following Vietnam, the Army decided to transform itself into a permanent, professional army, rather than the small, regular cadre. But, the significant expense of a large, new standing army had to be justified.

The two wars in the Middle East are similarly unnecessary. Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Arizona, recently said that when he voted for the War on Terrorism following the 9/11 attacks, he didn’t know that he would still be authorizing wars some 15 years later. Today, a mere 1 percent of America has any connection to these wars.

Congress has ceded its constitutional authority to permit war. Today’s troops are being deployed for the third, forth or fifth time; some of them have mental problems because of previous deployments.

We are squandering our treasure and our future. Is this the military that America wants? Needs?

This story was originally published July 13, 2017 at 2:51 PM with the headline "Permanent war."