What does the most decorated marine in history say about war?

What does the most decorated Marine in history say about War? Robert R. Odle, Ph.D. an aspiring good citizen of the earth

… Our Military Expanded into More Countries Under Obama ....

We now have troops stationed in more than 150 countries in the world.  We have been in war most of my life time with only small pauses to catch our breath.  We are currently bombing in Iraq and sending drones into Pakistan and Yemen.  The Military Industrial Complex and the rich people in this country are doing well.  All they need to do is to scrap off a few percent of the 500 plus billion that comes through their doors, after all, our enemies are spending together almost $200 million.

Eisenhower said that if you are not careful on how far you go with defense that you destroy from within what you are trying to protect.  I think we have long since gone past what is reasonable with our defense.  Our leaders instill fear in us and appeal to our vanity when they tell us “if we don’t stop them (ISIS today) then they will soon come after us”.   

First, our fear.  When did we become so afraid.  We Americans have always killed more Americans than anyone else.  We kill 10,000 a year with guns, in their best year the bad terrorists only killed 3000.  Compare our civil war to WWII.  We are the best at killing Americans.  Why are we not worked into a frenzy over gang killings in America.  Because there is no money in that fear.  But, look at the military equipment everyone is using in the Middle East, most of it came from us.  Lots of $$$.  And second, they appeal to our vanity, if we don’t stop them, no one can.  We are the only superpower the story goes.  Which is great if we were fighting a conventional war, the kind that does not exist anymore.  Even a conflict with Russia would not look like a conventional war.  Tanks and ground troops against a sophisticated enemy is as outdated as horses in World War II.  

The tough part is not blowing a tank or a humvee to smithereens , we can do that with aircraft or our drones, but guess what, so can a few dozen other countries in the world.  The Saudi’s have the fourth largest army in the world.  The hard part of this war is when the bad guys shoot out of the windows of buildings and torture and enslave the native populations! How is it that our military machine has an advantage over the Saudi’s or Turkey or Israel or half of Europe.  Most of them are armed by us, even ISIS is indirectly armed by us.  It is only our vanity that makes us believe we are not only the best at killing the bad guys, but that we are the only ones that can kill the bad guys in a battle more like the shootout at the O.K. Corral.  Why, because there is a lot of money to be made on the backs of Americans if we in our fear believe we are the only ones that can save the world.  

Smedley Butler, a big bad tough marine, said we are being duped.  His message is that war makes the rich elite a lot of money, which also buys them a lot of power these days since they can buy elections.  He thought our military defense should ONLY defend our borders.  Which brings us back to Obama increasing the number of foreign military bases in the world to over 150.  

If we were driven by compassion instead of fear, where would we focus our energies?  What would America look like if we could focus on something other than our fears and our endless wars?