March 4, 2014 | Robert Mitchell Evans

invasion bullshit

This particularly idiotic piece of tripe has been floating around on facebook and has been shared by people who really ought to know better. Clearly the crux of the idea is that there is no difference between US military interventions and Russian ones.

But even if you set aside the moronic call for equivalence this thing is still one of the most rock stupid things I have seen on facebook and mind you that take a level of stupid not usually seen outside of a Michael Bay movie.

So, 22 invasions in 20 years for an average of 1.1 invasion per year. That’s some busy armies, but of course these yokels can’t even do basic arithmetic. 20 years ago was 1994, yup we’re all well into the 21^st century now. Below is the list of invasions given to support the idiocy.

(1) Grenada (1983-1984), (2) Bolivia (1986; ), (3) Virgin Islands (1989), (4) Liberia (1990; 1997; 2003), (5) Saudi Arabia (1990-1991), (6) Kuwait (1991), (7) Somalia (1992-1994; 2006), (8) Bosnia (1993-), (9) Zaire (Congo) (1996-1997), (10) Albania (1997), (11) Sudan (1998), (12) Afghanistan (1998; 2001-), (13) Yemen (2000; 2002-), (14) Macedonia (2001), (15) Colombia (2002-), (16) Pakistan (2005-), (17) Syria (2008; 2011-), (18) Uganda (2011), (18) Mali (2013), (19) Niger (2013), (20) Yugoslavia (1919; 1946; 1992-1994; 1999), (21) Iraq (1958; 1963; 1990-1991; 1990-2003; 1998; 2003-2011) (22) Angola (1976-1992)

Now let’s strike out everything that is before 1994.

Wow we’re already down to 12, just because the people who made the meme can not count. Then there is the concept that any US force on foreign soil constitute an ‘invasion.’ That itself is a horrible twisting of the language, by that metric they missed the US Invasion of Great Briton in 1942. Also included here are not simply military invasion but joint policing actions done in concert and with the cooperation of the host government. Again ignoring if these action are wise or foolish, I pretty think a core concept to ‘invade’ is being opposed by local government. So let’s strike out those where we partnered with the regional government.

Let’s also cross off where there has been principally air power used. Invade does mean attack; the two are not synonyms. I would argue invade means a ground effort to control territory.

As you can see the list grows thin. This listing also also conflates the purposes for invasion. The Balkan campaign, whether waged well or badly, was in response to genocide.

Yes we invaded Afghanistan after they refused to surrender the murderous criminals who killed thousands of civilians in an act of terrorism.

Iraq? A stupid, war of offensive we had no business starting that I never supported. It was a colossal blunder and forever stained how nation’s honor. More than anything else that act lead to my decision to turn against the GOP.

Also let us not forget that the international community pretty much flipped out over the invasion of Iraq. It was not sanctioned by the United Nations, it was condemned by foe and ally alike, and it created diplomatic rifts that still have not been healed. So the very premise, along with the facts, of this pice of garbage is wrong,

That said, I am saddened that people with smarts enough to read could fall for this poorly constructed, one sided, incompetent propaganda. If you shared this on your wall you have really lost points for pointing at anyone else and calling them ignorant,

Robert Mitchell Evans

Literary Saboteur

Daily Archives: March 4, 2014

Political Rant Ahead – You are warned.