Why Does America Go to War?

In the last decades, America has gone to war as supposed defenders of democracy. The War on Terror was waged to protect the west from the dangers of Islamists. US Solders are stationed in over 800 locations across the world to act as the righteous arbiters of the rule of law. In What The Spoils of War Andrew Cockburn brilliantly dissects the intentions behind Washington's martial appetites.

The American war machine can only be understood in terms of the "private passions" and "interests" of those who control it - principally a passionate interest in money. Thus, as he witheringly reports, Washington expanded NATO to satisfy an arms manufacturer's urgent financial requirements; the U.S. Navy's Pacific fleet deployments were for years dictated by a corrupt contractor who bribed high-ranking officers with cash and prostitutes; senior marine commanders agreed to a troop surge in Afghanistan in 2017 "because it will do us good at budget time."

Based on years of wide-ranging research, Cockburn lays bare the ugly reality of the largest military machine in history: squalid, and at the same time terrifyingly dangerous.

美国为什么要打仗？

在过去的几十年里，美国作为所谓的民主的捍卫者参加了战争。发动反恐战争是为了保护西方免受伊斯兰教徒的危害。美国军人驻扎在世界各地的800多个地方，充当法治的正义仲裁者。在《战利品》一书中，安德鲁-考克本出色地剖析了华盛顿的武术欲望背后的意图。

美国的战争机器只能从控制它的人的 "私人激情 "和 "利益 "方面来理解--主要是对金钱的热情。因此，正如他尖锐地报告的那样，华盛顿扩大了北约，以满足一个军火制造商的紧急财政需求；美国海军的太平洋舰队部署多年来一直由一个腐败的承包商支配，该承包商用现金和妓女贿赂高级官员；高级海军陆战队指挥官同意2017年在阿富汗增兵，"因为这对我们的预算时间有好处。"

基于多年的广泛研究，考克本将历史上最大的军事机器的丑陋现实暴露无遗：肮脏，同时也是可怕的危险。