Objectives and Agendas

Until now my format has been to introduce you to a historical document and some days later post my opinion and analysis. This post, however, is strictly my thoughts. I am not abandoning the other format, just doing something a little different.

I was ruminating the other day about conflicts the United States has been in, our reasons for being in them, and the ultimate outcome. Consider:

•                     We entered WWI in 1917, with the goal of stopping Germany and its allies. Once we had accomplished that, removed the kaiser from power, and secured the Treaty of Versailles, we came home.

•                     In 1941, we went to war with Germany, again. Once again, we stopped the Germans, along with their new allies, and removed the German leader. Those goals secured, we came home.

•                     In 1990, Saddam Hussein ordered his Iraqi army into Kuwait. We led an overwhelming coalition against him, liberated Kuwait, and restored order in the region (relatively speaking). Then, we packed up our tanks, planes, and guns, and came home.

In each case, the United States achieved its military objectives (which in each case was essentially to liberate a group of people from some sort of tyrannical situation), and left. We left each of these places, the first two we saw to it that they democratically elected new leadership, and in the case of Kuwait, we restored their former leadership. In each case we left them to determine their own future, to chart their own course, as they each saw fit. We did not annex, occupy, or colonize.

If, IF, we are to believe that the War of Northern Aggression truly was fought to free the slaves, why did the United States military continue to occupy the South, even to this very day? Now, before somebody wants to point out that I am comparing 20^th century policy to 19^th century policy, I understand that I am indeed doing that very thing. The point is that once the Confederacy came to the peace table, the slaves were free. Mission accomplished. Occupation was not required. Unless, of course, freeing the slaves was not the objective.

Which, indeed, it was not. The objective was preservation of the Union. There was also a more sinister goal, one not talked about. With the re-absorbtion of the Confederate states, the United States went from being a Union of free, autonomous states, to being a nation of subject states subservient to a strong central government. That was the beginning of a movement that ultimately culminated in a virtually all-powerful United States president unilaterally declaring war against a country that had never attacked us and posed no appreciable threat to us. It was the opening volley against our system of checks and balances and the departmentalization of our government. It all started in April of 1865 with the death of states' rights. The hidden agenda, the secret objective, of the War of Northern Aggression.