Is the US a warlike country?

[Heresson]

Americans killing each other

[GePap]

Originally posted by DanS
My first page post didn't touch half a world away from what you paraphrased, meathead.

Oh Danny boy, stick to mishandling economic data for fleeting political trolls, which is what you do best.

[GePap]

Originally posted by Heresson
Stop insulting yourself, please.

US is a war-like country compared to most of western Europe, but it's sometimes better than blind pacifism of many in Europe.
Also, it comes out of that USA actually can be successful in war, while Europe.... uh...

The US has been around for 228 years- the last 30, in which this said European pacifism" manifested itself, hardly explains America.

As was already said, Western European Pacifism is a modern change by Europeans. Lets just look at simple numbers:

NUmber of Americans soldiers killed in the last 100 years:
about 650,000 for WW1,WW2, Korea, Vietnam, Both Iraq's and miscellanous
Number of British soldiers killed, about 1.2 million
French: 1.4 million
German: at least 5 million
Russian: at least 7 million

Europeans are WAY ahead in the whole killing business.

[The Mad Monk]

Nah, just the whole dying business.

[chequita guevara]

Originally posted by Tuberski
50?

ACK!

Yeah, fifty. Go pick up Killing Hope and just broswe through it sometime.

[chequita guevara]

Originally posted by GePap
Europeans are WAY ahead in the whole killing business.

We've either directly participated in or arranged the deaths of over ten million peple in the last sixty years. It's not the dying part that makes you warlike. It's the killing part.

[GePap]

Originally posted by chegitz guevara


We've either directly participated in or arranged the deaths of over ten million peple in the last sixty years. It's not the dying part that makes you warlike. It's the killing part.

Last sixty? Well, make it seventy and the Germans, Russians and Chinese beat us in that regard. The Japanese as well.

I would of course dispute hjow you figure those numbers, but then, I doubt the US government is any MORE warlike than your typical imperialist capitalist state, now is it? Which would go against the notion that the US is somehow out of line aggressionwise.

[GePap]

Originally posted by The Mad Monk
Nah, just the whole dying business.

Europeans are responsible for the vast mayority of those numbers.

[chequita guevara]

Originally posted by GePap
I would of course dispute hjow you figure those numbers, but then,

You don't even know how I have them, and you dispute the method by which I got them!?!

John Stockwell, former CIA head of station for Angola, came up with the figures in the late 80s. When you add up all the people we've killed directly through our own military or by those to whom we outsourced the job, that figure came to 10,000,000 human beings. That doesn't include the invasion of Panama or anything afterwards.

Last sixty? Well, make it seventy and the Germans, Russians and Chinese beat us in that regard. The Japanese as well.

The point, as I've mentioned before, is that it was the experience of WWII that has made Europeans decide war is a very bad thing.

[DanS]

Oh Danny boy, stick to mishandling economic data for fleeting political trolls, which is what you do best.

Are you drunk?

[techumseh]

Not me!

But I'll take a stab at answering my own questions.

1) Overall size, composition and mission of the US armed forces:

The US military doctrine is offensive in nature, based on rapid deployment of offensive force (air, naval and ground) anywhere in the world. The US has the largest airforce and navy and the most modern army in the world. The US maintains the largest and most modern nuclear arsenal in the world. The Bush administration has recently revised US nuclear doctrine from deterence to an extension of conventional military operations.

2) Total % of GNP spent on military expenditures relative to other countries:

Canada - 1.1% of GDP, or $10B
UK - 2.4% of GDP, or $43B
France - 2.6% of GDP, or $45B
Germany - 1.5% of GDP, or $35B
Russia - 2.6% of GDP, or $14B
China - 3.5% of GDP or $60B
US - 3.3% of GDP or $370B

Essentially, the US spends more on it's military than all the rest of the world combined. It spends a greater percent of it's GDP on the military than any other country, except China or Israel (not shown).

3) Number of times US armed forces have been deployed outside it's own boundaries in conflict situations:

The US armed forces have been involved in more interventions in foreign countries since the Second World War than the combined attacks of Germany, Japan and Italy on other countries from 1930 to 1945. This doesn't include CIA operations, coups or other clandestine operations, such as the attempted (or successful) assasinations of foriegn leaders. Since the end of the Second World War, the US has been involved in more wars and military attacks than all the rest of the world combined.

Here are the facts. You be the judge.

[Heresson]

GePap, we are talking about present situation...

[Giancarlo]

Facts? Someone with "No blood for oil" is not one that speaks facts. Think again.

[Sandman]

Who ever said anything about swift, total victories? Vietnam was arguably a long, tortuous defeat. Indeed, you could argue that the Cold War was one of the longest in history and ended in a victory. Both were decisive. Even with insurgencies, the US fought a decisive victory from the Phillipines over the span of some 30 years at the beginning of the 20th century.

Claiming that messy imperialist adventures were decisive wars underlines my point even more. Tell me, was Korea a decisive stalemate?

We did fight a war with the Brits in the 19th Century. The War of 1812 is often called the 2nd American Revolution, because it took that war for Britain to treat us seriously.

Aside from the considerable turmoil of reconstruction and the polarizing fight over segregation and civil rights, you might want to look in a history book under the year 1812. It's just fascinating.

Whoops. Should have said late 19th Century.

1812 was a small war that ended in a status quo peace. I can't really see how it was a war that made Britain take America seriously, especially compared to the far bloodier American Revolution.

2. The Civil War- come on, do we not remember the endless threads? if that war was so damned decisive, whats with all the Confederate flags???

Tell me, what's the ratio of American flags to Confederate flags in the South? 10 to 1? 20 to 1? 50 to 1?

3. WW2- yes, this is THE war Americans like tot hink about- a nice, clearcut, obvious good vs Evil war, no gray. US as shinningh knight, plus the end and our actions afterwards make us feel nice and warm. BUt a few realities- the US went in 2 years late, ONLY after direct attack- while the US was most concerned about Germany, we were most acitve in the Pacific trying to pressure Japan to stop threatening our interests in China.

These realities aren't apparent to most Americans.

[Jon Miller]

I think we have been in our past

I don't think we are particularly now, although the corporations do try (And succeed at times) to subvert us for their own desires

JM