(Not) dying in defense of freedom

By Charley Reese
Commentary

Published in The Orlando Sentinel on October 22, 2000

Every time American military personnel are killed, someone inevitably trots out the cliché: "They died in defense of freedom."

If we are ever to construct a peaceful world and to save the lives of our military personnel, then we are going to have to stop lying.

The 17 young Americans killed by a bomb in the harbor of Yemen were brave and loyal Americans. We mourn their loss. But they did not die in defense of freedom. They died to protect contracts British and American oil companies have in the Persian Gulf. They died to maintain a cruel embargo against the people of Iraq. They most likely died because of America's one-sided support of Israel.

What country in the Persian Gulf is a threat to American freedom?

Not one. The very idea is absurd on its face.

The Americans who lost their lives in Somalia did not die in defense of freedom. Somalia was in a state of anarchy. They died trying to enforce the meddling by the United Nations in the internal affairs of Somalia. They died because some jerk of an admiral decided he would play sheriff and arrest one of the very competent warlords in Somalia. They died because the Clinton Administration refused to send the backup America's military men on the ground had requested.

But they did not die in defense of freedom. There was no freedom in Somalia. Somalia's competing warlords were not a threat to anyone but their own people.

You have to go back to the Vietnam War to find Americans who died in defense of freedom, and even in that war, they died in defense of someone else's freedom, not Americans'.

It is interesting to note that the American left bitterly opposed that war and never hesitated to slander American soldiers and even harass their families. Apparently the left, which now occupies Washington, doesn't like wars against communists. Oddly enough, as long as it doesn't have to fight them, the left seems eager to make war on non-communist countries.

Since Vietnam, no American serviceman has died in defense of freedom. They have died to carry out the imperialistic policies of the central government in Washington. Often soldiers have died to protect or advance economic interests of which they were not even aware. The U.S. government has worked hard to turn the American armed forces into a mercenary force.

And that is something that the American people should not tolerate. One area where I part company with libertarians is that I believe that all American males should take a turn in the military. An army of citizen-soldiers is the best protection against political leaders turning the army against its own citizens.

No American fighting man should ever die except in defense of his own country. No American force should ever attack any country that is not attacking or preparing to attack the United States. And no American serviceman should ever, under any circumstances, serve under the command of foreigners.

Wars and acts of terrorism are born out of America's unjust foreign policy. Unless we change that policy, Americans will face a new century of wars, large scale and small scale. Unless we change that policy, Americans will continue to die in places where they have no legitimate reason to be and killed by people who, were it not for American injustice, would have no reason to wish us harm.

We owe it to the men and women of the armed forces to give them a government and policy worthy of their sacrifice.