In the Gulf war, the U.S. and her allies intervened to stop and then reverse the aggression of Saddam Hussein. He’s the guy who ordered the ivasion of Kuwait, and then allowed his troops to be all they could be by killing, raping, and robbing innocent Kuwaiti civilians. Unfortunatel, many Iraqui soldiers were killed in the liberation of Kuwait. That is the price of violent aggression.

Since then, the U.S. has intervened in Somalia and Haiti in an attempt to stop the local s from killing each other. Before that, we intervened in Panama and Grenada (to overthrow corrupt dictators) and in Lebanon (again to prevent the locals from killing each other). It is difficult to see how, in the last 20 years, these missions benefited large U.S. corporations or rich whites.

The purpose of a city fire department is not so much to put out fires as to prevent them from spreading and destroying the entire city. Similarly with our military. By fighting small wars over there, and intervening in humanitarian and peacekeeping missions, they strive to prevent the spread of wars. Just as waiting until a fire breaks out to organize and train a fire department means the city burns down, waiting until you’re directly attacked to build a military means longer and bloodier wars. That is what is meant by the phrase to secure the ideals of democracy. By preventing wars, or keeping them small, controllable, and over there, our people are free to do as they like. Even if it means writing letters critical of the government or the military, an activity considered suicidal in many countries.

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Chris Gerrib, Grad Student, COBA