
Pfc. Paul Landenberger, a soldier in Viper Company, on patrol in the Korengal Valley in April 2009. Credit Tyler Hicks/The New York Times
According to the bullhorns and depending on the year, America’s military campaigns abroad would satisfy justice, displace tyrants, keep violence away from Western soil, spread democracy, foster development, prevent sectarian war, protect populations, reduce corruption, bolster women’s rights, decrease the international heroin trade, check the influence of extreme religious ideology, create Iraqi and Afghan security forces that would be law-abiding and competent and finally build nations that might peacefully
stand on their own in a global world, all while discouraging other would-be despots and terrorists.
(C.J. Chivers, “War Without End,” NYTimes, 8-8-18.)
[Copyright (c) 2018 James Mansfield Nichols. All rights reserved.]