American History, American War, American Empire by David Gordon

Fein raises a simple and devastating objection to the dominant thrust of our foreign policy. Why should we involve ourselves in foreign wars when victory for the party we oppose would pose no threat to us? Suppose, e.g., that the Taliban were to overthrow the Karzai government and regain power. Henry Kissinger, who evidently takes his sorry record under Nixon to qualify him to render further advice, warns of the dire danger posed by a Taliban victory. In a brilliant riposte, Fein says, "Kissinger is unable to articulate a single coherent national security interest of the United States that rides on the outcome of the Afghan war. He sermonizes that if [the] Taliban prevails, the fall-out will threaten Pakistan, India, Russia, China, and Indonesia – but the United States is omitted from the list." (p.168, emphasis in original) Fein goes on to dispute Kissinger’s assessment of the threats to these other nations, but his fundamental point is that "enemy" control of other nations does not endanger the United States. Given the manifest costs of wars in death and destruction, not to mention their tendency to aggrandize the State and assault civil liberties, the case against our reckless policy of aggression is conclusive.