Reply #3: it's interesting that we've become so numb to the notion of war as foreign policy...

[mike_c]

...that we don't even seriously talk about the one undisputable reason for going to war any longer-- defense against foreign aggression. And by that I mean foreign military aggression against the U.S. or, when there are treaty obligations demanding it, our allies. But otherwise, no. Every war the U.S. has engaged in since world war two has been a war in which the U.S. was partly or wholly the aggressor. It is a shameful legacy.

I listened to a program on public radio today in which army and marine officers were interviewed about war, and every one of them stated outright that the U.S. has NEVER fought a war except in direct self defense. That is apparently a matter of policy, if not of veracity. It's appalling.