L. Neil Smith's THE LIBERTARIAN ENTERPRISE Number 277, June 27, 2004 "...the traffic jam at the spaceport..." A Survey of History Exclusive to TLE Many people claim that Iraq is an undeclared war, and that therefore it is an illegitimate one. They are correct. There are other people who claim that the American people will not stand for an indefinite state of war. Bullsh*t!!!! Doesn't anyone study history anymore? Anyone who studies either American or European history will soon come to realize that the primary occupation of the human race is war, conflict, and chaos! Think I'm exaggerating? Let's just take a look at some of the wars throughout history. Does anyone remember the Hundred Years War? Actually lasted 116 years, from 1337 to 1453. Thirty Years War? 1618 to 1638, fought over religion. Crusades? Off and on from the 11th century to the 14th century. Reconquista? began about 718 AD, and went on to the end of the 15th century. Albigensian crusade? 1209 to about 1255, depending on which ending point you choose. The British and the Scots fought an almost constant series of wars from about 1290 to 1746, finally culminating in the Battle of Culloden Moor, which led to the destruction of the military power of the Scottish clans. As far as our own history, there were Americans fighting in Russia from about 1918 to 1920, the constant banana republic wars in Central America, the Indian Wars which went on from even before our country was officially formed all the way to the 1900's. (The last documented US raid by Indians was in the 1880's, but holdouts kept raiding in Mexico until 1912.) World War II ended in 1945? Well, what about the communist insurgency in Greece from about 1946 to 50? There were American troops there, too. American troops have engaged in combat operations in Korea (twice), Haiti (three times), the Dominican Republic (at least twice), Nicaragua (at least twice), the Philippines, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Cuba, Russia, Greece, Grenada, Panama, Somalia, Iraq, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbia, China, Afghanistan, and countless others, and none of these was a declared war. The United States has been operating under a state of emergency since the 1930's, a state which has been constantly renewed by congress every time it comes up for renewal. This is the justification for the most egregious offenses against the Constitution and Bill of Rights, as well as for the Emergency War Powers Act, which allows the president to use our troops in ways that are totally unConstitutional. No, anyone who says the American people will not stand for an indefinite state of war is living in a dreamworld. Most of the people will believe whatever they are told or brainwashed to believe, with few of them, as a result of public education, even having the capacity to research and evaluate data in order to convert it to information, information useful in making an informed opinion. My challenge to you, my readers, is simple. Look up the information I have presented above. Verify it for yourselves. Prove to yourselves that I am speaking the truth. Then follow along in the next of this series of articles as we discuss more lies and fallacies from American History.
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