Though the U.S. is planning to exit Iraq, the military is still stretched trying to fight a war in two separate countries. During his presidency, George Bush was well aware that restoring the draft to continue his illegal war of aggression would have led to a massive revolt of the US citizenry. The image of young men burning their draft cards has not yet left the American memory. The unpopularity of the Iraq war would quickly have led to massive acts of civil disobedience. No parent wants to bury her child to enrich the already over privileged elite.
Obama’s promise to remove American troops from Iraq and refocus on Afghanistan was a major talking point during his campaign. Using rhetoric and bravado, he vowed to refocus on capturing Osama Bin Laden and challenging Pakistan to end their status as a haven for so-called terrorists. While this may seem at first glance as decreasing the responsibility of the military, the scale of the operation that he has planned is just as large as fighting a war on two fronts.
Afghanistan may be a challenge for the US, however. Americans are dealing with a people that have history of resisting occupation forcefully. From Alexander the Great to the Soviets, many have had to make a bitter retreat after entering and losing an extended war of attrition. Simply announcing itself as a saviour on a mission to usher in peace will not bring about submission in a region that passionately demands the right to determine its own destiny.
Even with all of the efforts poured into Afghanistan by western countries since September 11, Karzai continues to be the president of Kabul rather than the nation. Canadians, who have been largely responsible for the boots on the ground in the region since the US invasion of Iraq, recognize all too well a conflict that cannot be won by traditional means and have started to demand the withdrawal of troops.
The military is very well aware that if there is to be any hope of victory in this region, it is going to be necessary to overwhelm Afghanistan with manpower and it is to this end that they are offering immigrants accelerated U.S. citizenship for agreeing to serve in the military.
America is understood as the land of milk and honey but only because it has secured its prosperity at the cost of millions of lives. People do not flock to the United States because they have a love for all things American, but in a bid to secure housing, jobs, education, and food. Had these same opportunities been available in their country of origin, I daresay many would not choose to immigrate.
The IMF and the World Bank are not benign organizations. They work in tandem to secure American economic hegemony thus creating what has become known as neo-colonialism. The world is no longer controlled by standing armies, but through threat of economic terrorism. Third world countries are purposefully impoverished so that Americans can maintain their cheap consumer lifestyle. Consider that the debts that these nations owe have been repaid several times and yet due to an increase in interest rates they still continue to owe billions of dollars. These spurious debts are no different than the debts that were incurred that created the mortgage crises and yet a nation cannot declare bankruptcy, or fail to service its debt at any time.
To ensure continued instability the U.S. supplies weapons and encourages feuds between factions. By involving groups in internal strife the U.S. has managed to take the focus off of its global exploitation thus maintaining a unipolar world. It is not an accident that the US is the world’s largest arms supplier. War between nation states has reduced, however global violence certainly has not.
At each turn the U.S. has sought to exploit third world bodies and this latest offer of citizenship is only the newest extension of power. American sons and daughters are deemed far too precious to die on foreign soil. It is far better to watch as brown bodies slaughter other brown bodies. Already the news focuses on American deaths and largely ignores the deaths of Afghanis and Iraqis.
Ironically, even if these new recruits do manage to serve and attain citizenship, they will not necessarily achieve a life of success in their new homes. The INS has on several occasions raided homes of American citizens with no evidence that they were illegal based solely on the colour of skin. It has further detained individuals of Middle Eastern descent, who were in full compliance with the law. America is still largely understood to be a white nation even though the current birth rate indicates that whites will soon become a minority.
The ruling elite can safely manage to put aside their xenophobia and fear of the brown hordes with the knowledge that these new citizens will not all live long enough to achieve their dreams. The cycle will continue and third world citizens will continue to pay with their lives to maintain our unipolar world. At the end of the Cold War, global citizens were told that we had moved into a new unprecedented era of peace, only to have the shadow of communism replaced by the threat of global jihad. One enemy replaced another and we continue to live in an imbalance because a constant state of fear is necessary to justify the exploitation that enriches the ruling elite.
Obama uses the rhetoric of empire to justify an escalation of U.S. activities in Afghanistan and just as in all conflicts since the end of world war two; it is third world citizens that will pay. It is their blood that will flow as propaganda about bringing democracy is repeated over and over until it is internalized.
Security at the end of a rifle is can never be maintained indefinitely. Whether through corruption or over extension, all empires have met their end, and one day Americans will find themselves joining the Ottomans, and the Romans as a footnote in history.