Funding War is Societal Suicide
The Lesson We Need to Take from the Iran War
As Trump boasts about his new Iran “deal,” which is more accurately described as a memorandum of terms of surrender for the United States to hopefully exit what has been a debacle of a war, it’s a good moment to reflect on what we, as a country, really need to learn.
I believe that lesson is that United States needs to become a beacon of peace and dismantle the infrastructure of war, leaving only a reasonable and moderate defensive force to protect our country.
The demise of our ability to project global power militarily at will is an opportune moment to shift the paradigm from American domination and control to one of synergy and peace, something that will benefit 99% of Americans immediately and 1% eventually.
To understand why, the Iran War offers perhaps the best example we’ve ever had: we lost many lives, spent in the range of hundreds of billions in taxpayer dollars, damaged the economy of America and the world, depleted half of our defensive missile stocks, catalyzed future food shortages for millions (due to blocked fertilizer shipments), destroyed at least hundreds of billions of Iranian and Gulf infrastructure, empowered Russia, boosted the rising power of China, squandered global goodwill and trust, and made life on planet Earth more expensive and harder for virtually everyone.
For the average American, we are stuck with the short-term bill (from increases in gas, commodities and the pending surge in inflation), the medium-term bill (from paying the war debt on top of an already sky high national debt), and the long-term bill (from the decline of American power and economic strength).
The only winners in this war were the energy oligarchs who harvested billions in extra profits (a transfer from us to them), the defense contractors who got to increase their sales (which we pay for down the line), and the people whose knowledge led to insider trading on war foreknowledge (basically, a form of theft). Basically, 99% lost, 1% win.
That formula has been at the heart of most wars: big money financiers, industrialists, and opportunists score big, the rest foot the bill with lost lives, incomes, and resources. The daily headlines focus on the “cage match” of countries and the tactics of who is going to win and how. But, like Vegas, the people who own the game are the ones who ultimately profit from the chaos and destruction.
Peace and broad prosperity go hand in hand because societal productivity can flow to what enhances life rather than destroys it.
War and oligarchic control go hand in hand because nations at war spend in ways that benefit the few to the detriment of the many.
So the argument for peace as the operating principle for the United States is a practical one and not just a moral or spiritual one. Peace makes your life better. War makes it worse. That means we have to see through the propaganda that is used to induce public support for war and get at the underlying forces that benefit from war.
This is one area where the commitment of MAGA to no new foreign wars (a core promise of candidate Trump) was correct: benefiting Americans first means ending the war machine that has permeated almost every administration. The fact that Trump broke his campaign promise and got us into the most devastating war loss yet, which advanced no real objectives and damaged the entire planet, is leading MAGA is splintering in some substantial ways. I encourage you to watch a bit of Tucker Carlson’s show to understand the depth of the disillusionment.
To extract America from the war game, we have to accept that the phase of American empire is over. Having hundreds of foreign military bases is not sustainable or desirable. Iran has showed an easy, cheap way to restrain the projection of American power: inexpensive drones that lead to 10-100x more in costs to defend against with expensive missiles.
Expect the every country that can will have fleets of such drones in the future, which will mean we cannot simply use superior airpower to coerce other countries into submission to our will. Domination is not only going to be too expensive, it’s not going to be effective. If nations can defend against American aggression for 5% of the price paid by the aggressor, they can reclaim their sovereignty fairly easily. As more countries re-arm, our ability to project our will globally will keep going down. Iran taught the world a lesson about the limits of American military power that is not going away.
Once we accept that American empire is over, it becomes vital to radically reduce the size of our military to become a defensive force primarily. We have the most powerful military already, so it’s simply a matter of focusing on the most cost effective defensive parts of that arsenal. We’re currently spending almost $1 trillion per year on the military, which Trump aims to increase substantially. That’s 33% of global military expenditures. We could drop that to $400 billion/year fairly quickly and still be the top spender in the world. We could then de-escalate from there more gradually. $600 billion dollars of “new” budget will give us a chance to pay down debts, invest in American health, education, and well-being, and rebuild global trust in our intentions.
The truth is that we are exceptionally well protected by oceans, have no major military rivals in our hemisphere, and can easily protect our territory and people without a global military empire. This infusion of funds would let us solve the looming Social Security crisis, pay off the Iran war debts, and rebuild our inner strength while swearing off running a global military empire. We could close or transfer ownership of virtually all of our overseas bases.
On the proactive side, we could focus our efforts on building a culture of peace from the grassroots up, becoming a leading generator of ideas and programs for how to build a non-violent culture, which would lead to reduced crime and increased well-being, as well as economic growth. By foregoing the war game, we could rebuild trust that has been squandered.
So how to make this happen?
First, in the next federal election, the Republican party needs to pay a very, very steep price. Even die-hard Republicans needs to send the message that the Iran War was a dire mistake by not voting for Republicans all the way down the ballot. Republicans in Congress refused to exert their Constitutional powers over the President and they need to feel the pain of that decision. While the case can be made against Democrats for previous wars, the most recent and most egregious example is on the Republicans, so the message has to be sent there. Tying votes to peace is essential.
Second, we need to have a bipartisan movement to remove special lobbying and election influence privileges for Israel, which has privileges no other country has. While there are beautiful things about Israel as a country, the truth is that we would not have gotten into this war without their influence and they are also the biggest force sabotaging the end. The cost to Americans of this war is vast and given that Israel is a country that does not honor borders (they keep expanding their territory), has been found by numerous international bodies to engage in war crimes, and is generally seen as an aggressor nation, we need to decouple from them. AIPAC has exerted far too much influence on our Congress, basically getting a nearly blank check for their military by purchasing influence over our politicians. If Israel has less American money and military capacity, their ability to destabilize the region and activate further wars will diminish. Their tight coupling with American power has also protected them from the full consequences of their actions on the global stage. Basically, we have to get Israeli money out of U.S. politics to avoid directly or indirectly supporting Middle East wars of the future. That is not antisemitic or ideological. It’s practical.
Third, we need to focus our foreign aid again on development as it’s simply a better investment than projecting military power. Building goodwill, good relations, and healthy societies with support, technology, medicine, development advice and financing is a far more effective way to build alliances that are founded in peace and mutually beneficial economically. China has been doing this far more effectively than the United States and harvesting the benefits for their economy.
Fourth, we need campaign financing reform to diminish the influence of big money oligarchs and companies who profit from government war expenditures. This is predicated first on the Republican party paying a heavy price for the Iran War first but it also requires pressuring the Democrats in parallel. Bipartisan legislation to eliminate corporate and dark money PACS, limit spending on elections, reduced lobbying, and ensure transparency is essential to prevent the 1% who benefit from war to pull us back towards another.
Fifth, we need to come to terms with the damage that our addiction to war has caused to the world. We need to bear witness fully to the hellscapes left behind bombing: the maimed children, the amputees, the dead, and the hungry. We need to see the horror with our hearts wide open rather than get lost in us-vs.-them cheerleading or demonizing the other. The truth is that the everyday people of the world pay the price for the military actions of the few at the top. Whether it’s in Gaza or Iran, Ukraine or Somalia, we need to bear witness to the horrors so that we can evoke the empathy that is a key part of the motivation to stop the madness.
Finally, we have to really get, in our bones, that we do not have to continue the madness of war on planet Earth. I actually believe we are within years to decades of creating peace as our bedrock operating system. We have to believe that ending war is possible before it becomes inevitable.
War is a form of societal suicide, hurting the vast majority of humanity and benefiting only a few. It’s time for a unified left and right movement that says “no more” to war. That would be the greatest blessing from the utter failure of the Iran War. It could teach America, once and for all, that war is not the answer.
Human beings who want lives of dignity, health, and peace need to take a clear, public stand and say a definitive no to those who advance, fund, and support wars.
Remove the money, the power, and the influence of the 1% who benefit and we can end this terrible feature of human existence and experience the benefits for all of humankind. Our children and grandchildren will be grateful we did.