Because We Can

“We live in a world in which you can talk about international niceties and everything else, but we live in the real world … that is governed by strength, that is governed by force, that is governed by power. These are the iron laws of the world since the beginning of time.” —Stephen Miller

However, the above quote sadly rings true. There is much handwringing about the collapse of the rule-based international order. There are those who contend that President Trump is demolishing it. Maybe. It’s far more likely that the order has been on the verge of collapse for decades, and he is just giving it one last nudge.

Miller’s quote specifically concerns Trump’s recent attack on Venezuela. That was not the first time that a great power has used force against a smaller country, nor will it be the last. Just since WWII, both the United States and Russia/Soviet Union have had their way with a number of weaker nations.

On Russia’s scorecard we have the attack on Hungary in 1956, the assault on Czechoslovakia in 1968, the invasion of Afghanistan in 1979, and of course the current slaughter in Ukraine. As for America, we have the attack on Grenada in 1983, the intervention in Panama in 1989, and the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq in the 2000s.

This list does not even count the U.S. covert operations to overthrow governments in Iran in 1953, Guatemala in 1954, and Chile in 1973. I’m sure that I am forgetting some of the acts of aggression, but you get the idea.

Both my eldest son and I served in the U.S. military. I was an Army aviator in West Germany during the 1980s, in the Cold War. The reason for me being there was to keep the Red hordes from invading Western Europe. I guess that was at least somewhat true.

Many years after I served in Germany, long after the Berlin Wall fell, I met a couple people who had served in the Soviet Army. Oddly enough, their perspective was radically different from my own. They thought they were protecting Mother Russia from the Yankee imperialists. Maybe we were both right.

After I was deployed to Germany, I spent my remaining time in the Army stationed at Fort Ord with the 7th Infantry Division. Our mission was to be a rapid deployment force if things went bad in Central America. We were training to go to Honduras as a staging point for an invasion of Nicaragua. This was back when Reagan really wanted to get rid of the Sandinistas. Fortunately, we never went to Honduras, but that was the plan.

My oldest son was deployed to Iraq in 2011. He was not as lucky as I was. He killed people, and he got wounded over there. He told me once that when he was in Iraq his goal, and those of his comrades, had nothing to do with democracy or oil. They just wanted to get out of there alive, and they did.

Over the years, the United States and other countries have tried to justify their acts of aggression. We have always been claiming to be defending America and/or democracy. It was both shocking and refreshing when Trump said that we were going after Venezuela’s oil. That at least was an honest answer.

When it comes right down to it, the real reason why the United States or Russia or anyone else invades another country is:

“Because we can.”

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Frank (Francis) Pauc is a graduate of West Point, Class of 1980. He completed the Military Intelligence Basic Course at Fort Huachuca and then went to Flight School at Fort Rucker. Frank was stationed with the 3rd Armor Division in West Germany at Fliegerhorst Airfield from December 1981 to January 1985. He flew Hueys and Black Hawks and was next assigned to the 7th Infantry Division at Fort Ord, CA. He got the hell out of the Army in August 1986.

As the Voice of the Veteran Community, The Havok Journal seeks to publish a variety of perspectives on a number of sensitive subjects. Unless specifically noted otherwise, nothing we publish is an official point of view of The Havok Journal or any part of the U.S. government.