U.S. Out of Germany
By David Swanson
If Germany hasn't had enough, we in the United States sure have.
Despite the supposed ending of World War II, the U.S. still keeps over 40,000 armed soldiers permanently in Germany.
Despite the ending of the Cold War, the U.S. still spies on the German government with relentless malevolence and incompetence, building on the fine tradition in which the CIA was created.
Germany has kicked out
the latest CIA "station chief" -- a job title that seems to give one's
career the longevity and utility of a Defense Against the Dark Arts
professor at Hogwarts.
Does Germany need a better CIA station chief? A reformed NSA? A properly reviewed and vetted U.S. occupation?
What does Germany get out of this deal?
Protection from Russia? If the Russian government weren't
demonstrating a level of restraint that dwarfs even that of the
Brazilian soccer team's defense there would be full-scale war in Ukraine
right now. Russia is no more threatening Germany than Iran is
preparing to nuke Washington or the U.N. is confiscating guns in
Montana.
Germany must gain something, surely? Perhaps protection from evil
Muslims dehumanized in the manner that U.S. war marketers first
developed for the dehumanization of Germans 100 years ago?
Surely
Germans are smart enough to have noticed that violent resistance to
foreign aggression targets the nations responsible, not those declining
to take part. Hosting bases of the military that gives Israel the
weapons with which it slaughters the people of Gaza, whatever else it
may be, is decidedly not a security strategy.
So what does Germany gain? The warm feeling that comes with knowing
that all those acres and facilities with which so much good could be
accomplished are being donated to the wealthiest nation on earth which
refuses to care for its own people, chip in its share for the poor of
the world, or slow its push for the destruction of the globe's climate
even as Germany leads in the other direction?
Come on. Germany is a battered wife, a victim of Stockholm syndrome, a
schizophrenic accomplice unwilling to relinquish its gang membership.
Germany should know better. Germany should throw out the rest of the
CIA and 40,000 members of the U.S. military and their families.
What does the United States get out of this codependent criminality?
A launching area closer to numerous nations it wishes to attack?
That's a desire of the Pentagon, and of Chuck Hagel who claims that ISIS
is a threat to the United States because he no doubt conceives of the
United States as existing wherever it maintains troops (which is just about everywhere). That is not a desire of the U.S. public.
An unaccountable recklessly funded institution that makes enemies of
allies, prevents cooperation across borders, destroys the rule of law
and diplomatic initiatives, and erodes the rights of people at home and
abroad in order to spy on governments, corporations, and those first to
beginning murmuring their displeasure (and for all we know, soccer
coaches as well)? Many of us are willing to forego this benefit.
The U.S. war machine does not, in fact, benefit the nations it
occupies or the nation in whose name it occupies. It endangers both,
strips away the rights of both, damages the natural environment of both,
impoverishes both, and devotes the energies of both to destructive
enterprises or mutual disagreements that distract from the necessary
work of actual defense from actual dangers, such as the industrial
destruction of our air, land, and oceans.
Pulling U.S. troops out of Germany would be the clearest signal that
the United States, which has engaged in 200 military actions during the
"post-war period," is ready at long last to actually end the war.
--
David Swanson wants you to declare peace at http://WorldBeyondWar.org His new book is War No More: The Case for Abolition. He blogs at http://davidswanson.org and http://warisacrime.org and works for http://rootsaction.org. He hosts Talk Nation Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @davidcnswanson and FaceBook.
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