Repost as OP: All this talk of "right to retaliate" and "insurgents" is just legalistic twaddle

[Lydia Leftcoast]

97. "The U.S. has more military firepower than the next five nations world wide combined. "

And THAT is exactly the problem. Using it in situations where we have no business intervening is an overwhelming temptation.

The U.S. was there because Clinton wanted to be there, not because Britain and France, two of the other nations with a military out of proportion to their size, couldn't have overcome Serbia (Serbia!) on their own. How many fighter jets does Serbia have? How many do Britain and France have?

I think the world as a whole would be better off if the U.S. military (and every other overgrown military) were cut back to strictly defensive needs.

You may disagree. So what? The entire Washington Establishment (most of whose children will never go to war) agrees with YOU. The U.S. government will keep launching global military interventions while our domestic infrastructure rots and an unconscionably large percentage of our population lives below the poverty line.

But what's it to the Beltway Establishment? They don't care.