War in Afghanistan: A $28 Billion Racket. Old story, but nice mention of Smedley Butler among other things:
In 1919 Joseph Schumpteter described ancient Rome in a way that sounds eerily like the United States in 2002.
“There was no corner of the known world where some interest was not alleged to be in danger or under actual attack. If the interests were not Roman, they were those of Rome’s allies; and if Rome had no allies, the allies would be invented. When it was utterly impossible to contrive such an interest — why, then it was the national honor that had been insulted. The fight was always invested with an aura of legality. Rome was always being attacked by evil-minded neighbours…The whole world was pervaded by a host of enemies, it was manifestly Rome’s duty to guard against their indubitably aggressive designs.”
Ring any bells?
“There was no corner of the known world where some interest was not alleged to be in danger or under actual attack.” Is there any known corner of the world the United States does not claim to have a vital strategic interest in, which it must aggressively safeguard?
“Rome was always being attacked by evil-minded neighbours.” And the United States, Washington assures us, is always under threat from evil-minded countries. Today, the threat is said to come from “the axis of evil.”