Many would argue we are currently engaged in a neo-conservative foreign policy. In our current policital environment, many of the talking heads from the Media Right (Fox News/Rupert Murdoch) support and advocate a continuation of the current policy. Criticism of Obama, who is certainly progressive leaning, from the progressive left is the continuation of the foreign policies pursued by the Bush Administration. My point is many would argue we are following a Conservative Foreign Policy. That said I don't disagree with you and support a re-evaluation of our Foreign Policy. I don't care if you call it Conservative, Liberal or Progressive but I believe the continued nation and empire building by the United States is not only unwise but unsustainable. We simply can't afford it. It appears to me that those who profit from these activities are not U.S. citizens but coporations who profit from war and foreign interests. We the people are left with many angry people in the Middle East who wish us harm. Who can blame them if we have enough empathy to imagine how we would like to be the recipients of a hostile occupying military force. They hate us not because we are prosperous - but because we are over in their countries manipulating, killing and terrorizing their people. We are also left with the bill for paying for this. Our government, which has no money of it's own other than that which it confiscates from the citizens borrows from other nations to finance military operations in still other nations. Then they leave the American tax payer with the tab plus interest.
Hi Margot. I'm not sure I said US companies were profiting from the wars, although I belive some US Companies are profiting from the wars in the Middle East as the military now outsources many services from laundry and cooking to project management. I believe the biggest winners are arms dealers, banking and of course oil which while most of these companies have offices and operations in the United States, they are international enterprises. Also, with 14 permanent bases built throughout the Middle East I don't believe anyone from the Right or the Left, other than Ron Paul honestly plan on leaving the Middle East anytime in the near future. To reiterate, my point is I believe we do need to re-evaluate our Foreign Policy. I believe we need to bring our troops home, not just from the Middle East but from many of the 800+ other bases we maintain throughout the world. I'm all for a strong national defense and would like to see our military providing this by shutting down our borders to illegal immigration. Another use for our military could be repairing our infrastructure which is in sore need of maintenance. As for foreign policy, I believe our interests are better served as a neutral trading partner rather than a military force imposing social change.
they article asks the wrong question/ the question should be why does america need a 'foreign policy'? (whatever that means?)
Halliburton is in demand for oil services without wars.. That's the real stupid part.. Blackwater? Not so much. My childhood friend leased 30 tractor trailer rigs to haul bottled water from Kuwait to Iraq during the war and made a bloody fortune... Why is that? I guess you know that salaries like liabilities go way up in any war zone.
Yea, I'm glad your friend did well for him/herself and their family but as you point out with profit margins and war zones this is part of the problem.
This is also a double-edged sword. A company or individual may make more profit in a war zone, but along with it comes a greatly increased risk as well. To give an idea, the average salary for a bus driver in the United States is between $21,000 and $33,000 a year. However, if you are willing to work in the war zone, you can make double, triple, even much more. I met some that were making $100k driving a bus, depending on where it was. And like anything else, it is supply and demand. You need services overseas like laundry, bus drivers, medical, teachers, and a great many other fields which simply do not exist in the military. And often times the equipment does not exist either (for example, I think the only service that still has "Laundry Technicians" and their equipment is the Navy). In the long run, it is normally cheaper to contract out these short-term jobs then it is to have the military itself handle it.
Conservative anything policy is usually risky and non workable. Conservative foreign policy would have left the U.S out of WW2. Generally they are policies doomed to failure. There are exceptions of course,but they do not take into account the fickleness of human nature.
