Letter: Big question is the use of US military might

IslandPacket newsroom@islandpacket.com

November 15, 2015 8:59 PM

Bluffton"The world is a stronger and better place when the United States is the strongest military power in the world." So says Sen. Marco Rubio, who wants to spend another trillion dollars to further beef it up, as if it weren't already the strongest in the world.

Sen. Rand Paul admonished his colleague in the Nov. 10 debate that an expenditure of such magnitude is hardly consistent with the Republican Party's conservative principles.

Even so, how has our military might been used to make the world a better place?

Well, for openers, since the beginning of the George W. Bush administration's grandiose military adventure in Iraq in 2003, the Iraqi Christian population has declined from roughly 1.4 million to an estimated 275,000, almost half of whom are internally displaced. So states the English charity, Aid to the Church in Need, in its recent report, "Persecuted and Forgotten."

The point is not that expanded military might is inherently bad. It really depends on who we nominate to decide how to use that military might, doesn't it?

Paul A. Becker

This story was originally published November 15, 2015 at 8:59 PM with the headline "Letter: Big question is the use of US military might."

Get unlimited digital access

#ReadLocal