We are not a good and virtuous nation. God does not bless us above other nations. Victory is not assured. War is not noble and uplifting. The clash between the reality of combat and the Disneyfied version of combat consumed by the public, one that propels many young men and women into war, creates not only dissonance and moral injury, but an existential crisis, an existential crisis combat veterans, at least those who are self-reflective, must cope with for the rest of their lives.

Andrew Bacevich, a retired Army colonel who fought in Vietnam, and Danny Sjursen, a retired Army major who did tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, have just published Paths of Dissent: Soldiers Speak Out Against America’s Misguided Wars. Bacevich and Sjursen, West Point graduates like many writers in the book, come out of the military culture. They began as true believers, embracing the myths of American goodness and virtue, and the military honor code pounded into them as young cadets at the military academy. The reality of combat, as it has for generations, exposed the lies told by the generals and politicians.

Andrew Bacevich is a West Point graduate, retired Army Colonel, and Vietnam war veteran. He is also an emeritus professor of history and international relations at Boston University and the co-founder and president of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft. His books include The Limits of Power: The End of American Exceptionalism and After the Apocalypse: America’s Role in a World Transformed. He is the editor of the book Paths of Dissent: Soldiers Speak Out Against America’s Misguided Wars.

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49 thoughts on “The Chris Hedges Report: Soldiers speak out against America’s misguided wars”
  1. Smedley Butler said it most succinctly–"War's a racket." He went on to say that he was a capo much like those rooking and crooking for AL Capone in the burroughs of Chicago the only difference that he stole and killed on three continents for corporate America rather than just three or four burroughs of an US city.

  2. CHRIS I KNEW JESSICA LYNCH BEFORE THE WAR,, WE WERE LOVERS AT FORT BLISS, SHE WAS A FUELER AND I A TANK COMMANDER, SHE WOULD PURPOSELY GET LOST IN THE DESERT AND HAVE ..YOU KNOW..I WAS IN GERMANY WHEN SHE WAS CAPTURE, AFTER HER TRUCK ""GOT LOST?"" IN THE DESERT…NO JOKING.

  3. ALL WAR'S ARE ABOUT PROFIT FOR THE MILITARY INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX, NOT NATIONAL SECURITY!!!🌺🌺🌺🙏🙏🙏🇨🇦🇮🇱♾️🇺🇲🇺🇲🇺🇲🦅🗽‼️

  4. The best example of trying to summarize the Vietnam war is., that it was fought by draftees one year at a time link to that 12 months or 13 if your Marine. The war in 65 was a different war than the war in 1971 so the war stories are going to differ greatly. 😢❤

  5. Putting our soldiers in an undeclared war is Treason against our Constitution. This is how our coward politicians get away with killing innocent sheep soldiers and sailors. Innocent lambs intentionally put in harm’s way for instant slaughter! No more Democracy for We are only a REPUBLIC! 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸

  6. Don’t forget Gulf War Syndrome caused by vax damage. Hedges needs to get up to speed with US military connection to big pharma and the plandemic too

  7. I suffer severe PTSD from sexual abuse , I am 70 , academic engineer , but utterly incapable do co exist with anyone else than my children ,was 65 when i got my first due to my social inability ….I was never capable to do anything creative , in society , just barely scraping by , as I refused all drugs never experienced any ……kind of relief….

  8. 911 is the US government's doing to cover up 71 trillion dollars that the FBI was investigating and the treasury was missing from a deal between politicians and a foreign government.
    This is exactly why we will be at war with Russia and China using Ukraine as the false trojan horse. This $200B plus that can't be accounted for is going to be wiped away when war ensues. It's the US military complex, NATO. and all those in the depopulation agenda using you, me, and the general public for entertainment, funding, support, and the outlet for the tragedy and travesty of their actions.
    See what they direct you from seeing

  9. Wow, only 13 likes (13 after adding my 👍🏾) after a year and hundreds of thousands of views? 🤔

  10. America has been the bad guys in almost all their wars, even WW2 because the atomic bomb killed civilians so it doesn't matter if more people would have died because those people would've been soldiers and soldiers are supposed to be the ones to die for their country.

  11. If America, rather than pouring in billions of dollars worth of armoury into Ukraine, instead dismantled NATO and pull out of the countries surrounding Ukraine. Do you not think Russia agree to withdraw out of Ukraine?

  12. Disabled veteran violently attacked and railroaded seeking justice. Attacked by the son of a Memphis fire chief with a weapon with no serial numbers retrieved by cops and courts then railroaded Shelby County Tennessee vs Eric Green 15-00233 local news half and falsely reported on the issue . CONGRESSIONAL INVOLMENT AND OBSTRUCTION documented. Message representatives in support of this veteran's constitutional and civil rights. Steve Cohen Marsha Blackburn Lamar Alexander John Grassley Tammy Duckworth and Sherrod Brown are aware and denied veteran representation OBSTRUCTING justice. The politician who knows needs to be exposed. Enjoy your rights. Thanks Patriots.

  13. AMERICAN EMPIRE MUST BE DESTROYED

    WE THOUGHT THE NAZIS HAD LOST THE WAR. WELL NO. GERMANY LOST THE WAR BUT THE NAZIS SIMPLY IMIGRATED TO THE UNITED STATES, INTEGRATED THE MILITARY-INDUSTRIAL-FINANCIAL COMPLEX AND DENTED THE GOVERNMENT. FOR 30 YEARS THEY ARE THE WHO RUN THE AMERICAN EMPIRE. NOW THEY WANT TO TAKE OVER THE ENTIRE WORLD.

    THE AMERICAN EMPIRE MUST BE DESTROYED BEFORE IT DESTROYS THE WORLD. FIRST BY THE DESTRUCTION OF THE AMERICAN DOLLAR AS A RESERVE CURRENCY AND FOR INTERNATIONAL TRADE, THEN BY THE DISSOLUTION OF NATO IN ORDER TO FREE EUROPE FROM US GUARDIANSHIP. AFTER THESE WEAKNESSES OF THE EVIL EMPIRE, PEACE WILL BE POSSIBLE.

  14. RUSSIAN VICTORY IN UKRAINE MUST BE TOTAL. UKRAINE MUST BE DISMEMBERED. THE EAST OF THE RIVER DNIEPR AND THE SOUTHERN HALF OF THE COUNTRY SHOULD BE INCORPORATED INTO THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION. AS FOR THE NORTH-WEST PART, IT MUST BE DEMILITARIZED AND BECOME A NEUTRAL STATE UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF RUSSIA. THE REMAINING UKRAINE SHOULD NEVER BE PART OF THE EUROPEAN UNION OR NATO.

    THIS DEFEAT OF NATO AND THE USA WILL ENSURE THE FUTURE OF PEACE BY CLEARLY DEMONSTRATING THAT DIRECT AMERICAN AGGRESSION AS IN AFGHANISTAN OR BY PROXI AS IN UKRAINE CAN ONLY LEAD TO DEFEAT. SINCE THE FOLLOW-UP OF THE AMERICAN PLAN TO DOMINATE THE WORLD IS TO INVOLVE NATO IN A WAR AGAINST CHINA BY TAKING TAIWAN AS BAIT, THE CRIMINALS WHO RUN THE USA WILL HAVE TO REDRAW THEIR CALCULATIONS AS CHINA COULD THIS TIME WEAR THE WAR ON THE AMERICAN TERRITORY. THE USA IS NO LONGER SAFE FROM DESTRUCTION.

    AFTER RUSSIA'S TOTAL VICTORY OVER NATO AND UKRAINE, RUSSIA WILL HAVE TO HOMOGENEIZE THE POPULATIONS, WHICH WILL IMPLY THE DISPLACEMENT OF MILLIONS OF PEOPLE. THE EAST AND SOUTH HALF WILL BE ALLOCATED TO RUSSIAN SPEAKER AND THOSE WHO WANT TO LIVE IN RUSSIAN. THE ANTI-RUSSIAN UKRAINIANS WILL HAVE TO BE DEPORTED TO THE NORTH-WEST PART WHICH WILL BE EQUAL TO APPROXIMATELY ONE-FIFTH OF CURRENT TERRITORY WHICH WILL REMAIN UNDER RUSSIAN INFLUENCE. AS FOR UKRAINIANS WHO HAVE FLED THE COUNTRY, THEY MUST BE PREVENTED FROM RETURNING.

  15. NATO IS ALREADY AT WAR WITH RUSSIA. IT SUPPLIED ARMS, AMMUNITION AND SOLDIERS AND YET UKRAINE LOST THE WAR. IT IS IN RUSSIA'S INTEREST TO OPENLY AND COMPLETELY CONFRONT NATO AND INFLUE IT A DEADLY DEFEAT SO THAT THIS CRIMINAL ORGANIZATION IS DEFINITELY DISAPPEARED AND THAT EUROPEAN COUNTRIES UNDERSTAND THAT THEIR SECURITY CAN ONLY BE BASED ON A MUTUAL AGREEMENT WITH RUSSIA. THE UNITED STATES MUST LEAVE THE EUROPEAN CONTINENT VOLUNTARILY OR FORCED.

  16. NATO CANNOT GUARANTEE THE SAFETY OF ITS MEMBERS

    IT IS DANGEROUS AND RIDICULOUS TO HAVE AS A SECURITY OBJECTIVE TO ENTER NATO. THE NATO WAR AGAINST RUSSIA IN UKRAINE DEMONSTRATES CLEARLY THAT NEITHER NATO, NOR THE EUROPEAN UNION, NOR THE UNITED STATES HAS SUCCEEDED IN PREVENTING RUSSIA FROM IMPOSING ITS LIMITS ON REPEATED ATTACKS BY THE UNITED STATES DIRECTLY OR THROUGH NATO OR THE E.U. THE CONCLUSION IS THAT ONLY AN INDEPENDENT NATIONAL POLICY CAN ENSURE THE PEOPLE'S SECURITY THROUGH REASONABLE BILATERAL RELATIONS. IN OTHER WORDS, UKRAINE WOULD HAVE BEEN SAFE IF INSTEAD OF TRUSTING THE CRIMINALS OF THE CIA AND THE US SECRETARIAT, THE GOVERNMENT OF UKRAINE HAD ENTERED INTO AN AGREEMENT WITH RUSSIA ASSURING THE NEUTRALITY OF THE 'UKRAINE. ZELENSKI IS THEREFORE A TRAITOR WHO MUST BE SHOT WITH ALL MEMBERS OF HIS GOVERNMENT.

  17. USA PERMANENT STATE OF WAR

    The real worry comes from the fact that the United States has maintained a permanent state of war since 1945 and destroys all nations that try to escape its imperialist domination. But this cannot last forever. At some point the US will have no choice but to give up its imperialist power or maintain it through total war which involves the use of nuclear weapons. Europe could have prevented this by having an international policy independent of NATO and the USA to force the USA to accept a multipolar world, but the idiots who run the European countries did nothing in this direction. Now the world is at the mercy of error, provocation or misunderstanding. The end of humanity as we know it is near and the danger is not Putin but the US military-industrial-financial complex.

    USA ARE A TERRORIST STATE FOR A LONG TIME

  18. The only thing that the American military has done is brought worldwide hatred, even from 40% of every human in the U.S. the military reminds you of the criminally bastard hated cops in the U.S. and the whole world knows there's no greater bastard criminals on the planet than the government's police force in the imploding United States. The U.S. is so demonically evil that they can't even see how America is going down into a super poverty level in every state.

  19. 🏧🪠📱😘🔌🦸🙏👑😌🙊📟🪤🎱🕷️📀💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰🎧🥅📢👃🕶️🧤🫁🌐☎️🎩🔋💎🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🛵🛵🛵🛵🛵🛵🦻🦻🙉🎬📹🎓🪖

  20. War has to be glorified and warriors elevated to star status. How else could you get young men to go do the most counter intuitive thing. Slaughtering people they dont even know half way across the globe…and getting slaughtered for nebulous causes?

  21. I was just discussing this with a friend. I've known several ex-military people and they all have big mental issues. They can't work, they can't adapt and they can't face up to personal issues. I'm dealing with one atm and he's going off at people in the street. His family are terrified of him. He's jobless. Something happens in the training and service to screw them up.

  22. calling these colonial wars MISGUIDED is extremely misguided they are CRIMINAL pure and simple. the Vietnam war was started by the french when one of their cruisers bombarded a certain Vietnamese coastal city and killed 6000 people for no reason other then "the peasants where revolting". then they had their asses handed to them by the Vietnamese and ONLY THEN to save A COLONIAL REGIME THAT HAD STARTED BY MURDERING 6000 PEOPLE did the GREAT AND GOOD US step in and killed a further 1 million in Vietnam alone.

  23. Given the hell endured by so many as a result of 9/11, and the evidence (visual and scientific) that explosive controlled demolitions were employed, it's hard to understand why a deep study of the events has never been undertaken.
    NIST's conclusions are as implausibe today as they were 18 years ago. 9/11 fatigue and the sinister implications of controlled demolitions have drawn a veil over the most heinous crime of the 21st Century. The War On Terror was simply the latest iteration of the Forever Wars that keep the War Machine fed and fuelled.

  24. Bill Clinton had the best military response to Ahghanistan. Every time his satellites saw a group doing military training, he would send them a surprise cruise missile. Vietnam was a boondoggle. More tonnage of bombs were dropped on Vietnam than by all belligerants combined during the entirety of WW2. Boh Bros. Construction, of which LBJ was a major stockholder, built all the runways, barracks, roads, etc. bid free all during the conflict, He wasn't going to stop anything. No effort was made to actually win that 'war'. If George Bush, the Lesser, really only wanted to inspect certain sites for 'weapons of mass destruction'. A Delta force with air protection could have gone anywhere and inspected anything they wanted at any time without transporting an army half way around the world. No, they had to destroy everything and have rebuilt nothing but a lot of military equipment was buried in the desert because it was 'too expensive' to bring it home. At three milliond dollars to replace each Abrams tank they are lying. How many weapons were discarded in Afghanistan? All these wars share one thing in common. They were started, not to win but to make money for the military/industrial complex. They distrubute the construction of these weapons to states with powerful politicians and then fund those politicians' election campaigns. Greed and evil is what produces these wars. The people behind them could not care less about those they pretend to help. The most misguided of all is going head to head with Russia in a thinly-veiled proxy war. Even is Russia pulled out today, the Ukraine has lost so many healthy, young men they are damaged for generations and have lost the war because of that.

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