Skip Nav | Home | Mobile | Editorial Guidelines | Mission Statement | About Us | Contact | Help | Security | Support Us

World

"War without borders": Obama's "Long War"

Michel Chossudovsky | 20.05.2010 20:39 | Analysis | Anti-militarism | Globalisation | World

The Obama administration's objective is to give a humanitarian image to the "long war" and "global war on terror," labels, which were presented to public opinion in the immediate wake of the 2001 9/11 attacks.

In March of last year, the Defense Department's office of security review stated that that "this administration prefers to avoid using the term 'Long War' or 'Global War on Terror'. Please use 'Overseas Contingency Operation.' "

The surge in troop deployment is part of a long war scenario, which is by no means limited to the Middle East and Central Asia. While the US and NATO are directly threatening Russia, China and Iran, the Obama doctrine tacitly denies the very existence of a war. What is increasingly presented to public opinion is a Worldwide counter-terrorism crusade against Al Qaeda.

A change of words and labels does not modify the nature of America's global military design. What were dealing with is an intractable war, which in a very real sense threatens the future of humanity.



The concept of the "long war" has characterised military doctrine since the end of World War II. The broader objective of global military dominance in support of an imperial project was first formulated under the Truman administration in the late 1940s at the outset of the Cold War.

The 2000 Project for the New American Century (PNAC), which was the backbone of the NeoCon's agenda was predicated on "waging a war without borders". The PNAC's declared objectives was to "fight and decisively win multiple, simultaneous major theater wars" in different regions of the World as well perform the so-called military "constabulary" duties "associated with shaping the security environment in critical regions". Global constabulary implies a Worldwide process of military policing and interventionism. (Project for a New American Century, Rebuilding Americas Defenses.pdf, September 2000)

The diabolical nature of this military project was adopted and implemented from the very outset of the Obama administration. With a new team of military and foreign policy advisers, Obama has been far more effective in fostering military escalation than his predecessor in the White House.

Under the Obama presidency, this global military project has become increasingly pervasive. Military escalation as well as the Worldwide deployment of US military might are an integral part of America's "long war" military doctrine, to which the current administration is firmly committed. The nature of the long war was recently reaffirmed by the Vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Marine Corps General James Cartwright:

"[For the next] “five to 10 years.... the military likely will remain engaged in the same kinds of conflicts it has been fighting since 2001 ... [N]o one I know thinks we’ll be out of” these kinds of conflicts any time soon. There is nothing out there that tells us we won’t be wrapped up in these conflicts for as far as the eye can see.. " quoted in John T. Bennett, Cartwright: Expect war for 5-10 more years - MarineCorpsTimes.com, May 14, 2010)

Cartwright in his presentation to the Washington based Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) also confirmed the global nature of America's military adventure, stating unequivocally that the US military will be involved "in different places and at different levels,” (Ibid).

Cartwright's statements are consistent with the overall military doctrine of waging a global war under the US-NATO banner. Escalation of the Middle East Central Asian is part of a carefully planned scenario. According to The Army Times report:

"He [Cartwright] did not point to specific nations into which U.S. forces or assets might be deployed over the next decade beyond Iraq and the Afghanistan-Pakistan region." (Ibid)

Establishing a Military Assembly Line

Cartwright also called for a significant increase in the production of advanced weapons systems. The underlying emphasis is on sheer quantity, namely the establishment of a military assembly line as opposed to the commissioning of new "expensive" weapons systems: “We need quantity more than quality”, namely the mass production of military hardware.

Cartwright also called for a massive increase in the number of US troops.

Cartwright's speech at CSIS was part of the Military Strategy Forum (MSF) focusing on the Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR), which is sponsored by Rolls Royce, which together with GE has developed the F136 advanced fighter engine designed for the Joint Strike Fighter. (Listen to audio of Cartwright's speech at CSIS, Military Strategy Forum with General James Cartwright, Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff | Center for Strategic and International Studies, May 13, 2010)

"Humanitarian" Mandate: When War Becomes Peace

The Obama administration's objective is to give a humanitarian image to the "long war" and "global war on terror," labels, which were presented to public opinion in the immediate wake of the 2001 9/11 attacks.

In March of last year, the Defense Department's office of security review stated that that "this administration prefers to avoid using the term 'Long War' or 'Global War on Terror' [GWOT.] Please use 'Overseas Contingency Operation.' " (quoted by Scott Wilson and Al Kamen, 'Global War On Terror' Is Given New Name - washingtonpost.com, 25 March 2009)

The surge in troop deployment is part of a long war scenario, which is by no means limited to the Middle East and Central Asia. While the US and NATO are directly threatening Russia, China and Iran, the Obama doctrine tacitly denies the very existence of a war. What is increasingly presented to public opinion is a Worldwide counter-terrorism crusade against Al Qaeda.

A change of words and labels does not modify the nature of America's global military design. What were dealing with is an intractable war, which in a very real sense threatens the future of humanity.

Michel Chossudovsky
- Homepage: http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=19175

Publish

Publish your news

Do you need help with publishing?

/regional publish include --> /regional search include -->

World Topics

Afghanistan
Analysis
Animal Liberation
Anti-Nuclear
Anti-militarism
Anti-racism
Bio-technology
Climate Chaos
Culture
Ecology
Education
Energy Crisis
Fracking
Free Spaces
Gender
Globalisation
Health
History
Indymedia
Iraq
Migration
Ocean Defence
Other Press
Palestine
Policing
Public sector cuts
Repression
Social Struggles
Technology
Terror War
Workers' Movements
Zapatista

Kollektives

Birmingham
Cambridge
Liverpool
London
Oxford
Sheffield
South Coast
Wales
World

Other UK IMCs
Bristol/South West
London
Northern Indymedia
Scotland

Server Appeal Radio Page Video Page Indymedia Cinema Offline Newsheet

secure Encrypted Page

You are viewing this page using an encrypted connection. If you bookmark this page or send its address in an email you might want to use the un-encrypted address of this page.

If you recieved a warning about an untrusted root certificate please install the CAcert root certificate, for more information see the security page.

IMCs


www.indymedia.org

Projects
print
radio
satellite tv
video

Africa

Europe
antwerpen
armenia
athens
austria
barcelona
belarus
belgium
belgrade
brussels
bulgaria
calabria
croatia
cyprus
emilia-romagna
estrecho / madiaq
galiza
germany
grenoble
hungary
ireland
istanbul
italy
la plana
liege
liguria
lille
linksunten
lombardia
madrid
malta
marseille
nantes
napoli
netherlands
northern england
nottingham imc
paris/île-de-france
patras
piemonte
poland
portugal
roma
romania
russia
sardegna
scotland
sverige
switzerland
torun
toscana
ukraine
united kingdom
valencia

Latin America
argentina
bolivia
chiapas
chile
chile sur
cmi brasil
cmi sucre
colombia
ecuador
mexico
peru
puerto rico
qollasuyu
rosario
santiago
tijuana
uruguay
valparaiso
venezuela

Oceania
aotearoa
brisbane
burma
darwin
jakarta
manila
melbourne
perth
qc
sydney

South Asia
india


United States
arizona
arkansas
asheville
atlanta
Austin
binghamton
boston
buffalo
chicago
cleveland
colorado
columbus
dc
hawaii
houston
hudson mohawk
kansas city
la
madison
maine
miami
michigan
milwaukee
minneapolis/st. paul
new hampshire
new jersey
new mexico
new orleans
north carolina
north texas
nyc
oklahoma
philadelphia
pittsburgh
portland
richmond
rochester
rogue valley
saint louis
san diego
san francisco
san francisco bay area
santa barbara
santa cruz, ca
sarasota
seattle
tampa bay
united states
urbana-champaign
vermont
western mass
worcester

West Asia
Armenia
Beirut
Israel
Palestine

Topics
biotech

Process
fbi/legal updates
mailing lists
process & imc docs
tech