The Cost of War

World War I (The dumb war)

World War I started with the assassination of the heir to the Austria Hungary throne by a Serbian citizen.  Today, that would have brought the arrest and prosecution of the murderer. But in 1914, it started World War I. Germany and Austria Hungary had a mutual defense pact, so when Austria Hungary declared war on Serbia, it entangled Germany.

Russia had a treaty with Serbia and France had a treaty with Russia. Britton was allied to France.  So the Russians, Brits and French were at war with Germany and Austria Hungary.  The US was neutral when it started, but sold armaments to the Brits and the French.  The Germans sank our boats, so we entered the war in 1917.

World War II  (The vendetta war)

World War II was made possible by the draconian treaty that ended World War I.  We will never learn.

Germany invaded Poland in 1939.  The UK and France declared war on Germany.  Like before in World War I, the US provided arms to the UK and France. The US entered the war in 1941 with the bombing of Pearl Harbor.  It ended in 1945.

Cold War (The Ideological wars)

The Cold War was a series of proxy wars between communists in China and the Soviet Union vs the US and Western Allies.

Korea was annexed by Japan in 1910. North and South Korea were split in 1945.  In 1950 Communist North Korea invaded South Korea.  The US led a multi-country force and ended the invasion in 1953.

Viet Nam was originally invaded by France in the 1850s and became part of Colonial French Indochina.  Japan invaded and held Viet Nam in 1940.  In 1945, Viet Nam was split in North and South, like Korea. (not a good model to follow).  Communist North Viet Nam invaded the South in 1954.  The US began to aid South Viet Nam in 1961. This turned into a war that lasted until 1975.  The US withdrew and the North took over the South. (Not good) Viet Nam is now united as a communist country.

The US tried to save countries in South America and Africa from communism, but eventually failed and many of these countries now find themselves under communist regimes.

The Muslim Wars

Iranian Hostage Taking

In 1979 the pro-western Iranian government was overthrown by Iranian Muslims to establish an Islamic state.  US hostages from our Embassy were kept for a year before their release.

Iran Iraq War

In 1980, Iraq attacked Iran. The war resulted in a stalemate and ended in 1988. The US provided weapons to Iraq.

The Falklands War

The Falklands Island, part of the UK were invaded by communists from Argentina in 1982. The US aided the UK in recovering the Falklands. It was short.

End of the Cold War

The Cold War between the USSR and the West ended in 1989 with the break-up of the Soviet Union. It was bankrupt. Russia allowed satellite states to become independent. It makes you wonder what we will give up when the US is bankrupt. 

Despite US efforts to save the world from communism, most undeveloped nations have elected communist governments.  And so did we… and how we need to get rid of it.

The Middle East Wars

This series of wars were driven by attempted oil and land grabs, and Muslim terrorists.

The Gulf War

The Gulf War in 1990 was a war to remove Iraq from Kuwait. Iraq invaded Kuwait to seize their oil resources and were removed by US led coalition forces within 5 months.

The Serbian War

Bosnia was absorbed by Yugoslavia after World War I and was absorbed into the USSR.  Yugoslavia was given independence after 1989. Like most post-war mergers it broke into Serbia, Croatia and Bosnia in 1992. Serbia wanted to annex Bosnia and they resisted. The US sent troops to aid Bosnia from 1992 to 1995 and defeated the Serbs.

The Afghan War

Al-Qaeda terrorists hijacked 4 commercial airliners and crashed two of them into the Twin Towers in NY and one into the Pentagon in Washington DC.  The fourth was taken over by passengers and crashed in Pennsylvania. The Afghan War 2001 to 2014 was a war to remove al-Qaeda terrorist training camps.

The Iraq War

The Iraq War began in 2003 when the US and coalition forces invaded Iraq because they feared that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. The Iraq government collapsed, but Al-Qaeda forces entered Iraq to attack US forces.  It ended in 2011.   

The Arab Spring

It started with regime changes in 2010 in Tunesia, then Lebanon, Egypt and Libya, followed by Syria and Yemen. Muslim terrorists are also attacking Nigeria and its neighbors.

The Syrian War

Syria was attacked by rebels and terrorists in 2012. ISIS terrorists also invaded Iraq.  Fighting continues through 2015.

Lessons Learned ? 

Before defense alliances are made, the voters need to know what it will cost them. Voters should also be able to vote on it themselves.  I bet there wouldn’t be many treaties after that. 

Would you trust a group like the US Senate to declare war ? They haven’t even admitted that global warming was a hoax or taken any steps to cut federal spending.

Wisdom is Required

We need some sage advice from the past, like…

 ‘If you keep picking at it, it won’t heal.’ – Grandma..or..

“You can have a welfare state or open borders, but you can’t have both” - Milton Friedman ….also….

“When dealing with third-world countries, it’s good to take a lesson from our missionaries: A missionary traveled to a third-world country to show the natives that he had a good heart.  Upon deciding his heart was good, they ate it.” -Koroai mission.

The US has been involved in one war or another for most of the last 100 years from 1917 to 2015.  Wars need to be funded. Central Banks have provided the cash and the debts have piled up for citizens to pay, usually with inflation. The cost of these wars along with poorly planned welfare and government retirement plans have resulted most countries becoming insolvent. Most governments are broke and in deep debt.

Norb Leahy, Dunwoody GA Tea Party Leader