Cost of Empire: Study Says US Military Intervention Making Americans Less Safe

Empirical data demonstrates that, although US warmongering may fatten the pockets of military contractors, the consequences for citizens around the world have been dire.

Former Congressman Ron Paul was met with a decidedly mixed reaction in 2007 when, during the height of the so-called “War on Terror,” he lambasted the pernicious influence of US-backed militarism around the globe.

But since then his analysis has gone mainstream, and now a new study from Brown University provides empirical backing for the claim the US war machine is making Americans – and the world – less safe.

“There are more militant groups than there were when we started the so-called ‘War on Terror’ in 2001,” said Stephanie Savell, a senior researcher with the university’s Costs of War project. “There are more recruits to those groups, there's a ton of blowback to all of this military action around the world,” she added.

“And we're seeing in Iraq and Syria right now that the US presence in these places in the name of counterterrorism actually… makes it more likely that [US troops] engage in aggressive actions abroad,” the researcher emphasized.

In other words, war and violence only beget more war and violence.

The United States military currently has a “footprint” in 78 countries according to Savell’s research, a full 40% of the world’s nations. Her study also pinpoints 800 US military bases around the globe (controversy over what constitutes a “base” provides some uncertainty to this count – some have placed the number of military installations at over 900).

Meanwhile, US and allied troops have been attacked some 82 times in Iraq and Syria since October 17 as American support for Israel’s ground incursion into Gaza has fueled rage throughout the Arab world.

Savell’s research has also found that at least 4.5 million deaths have occurred as a direct or indirect result of US-led wars since September 11, 2001.

“We've gotten extremely far in the direction of using the military as the primary tool of US foreign policy,” said Savell. “And arguably, that's not keeping Americans or anyone else in the world any safer.”

“A lot of times what's happening is that the US is providing funding, weapons and training for regimes that are very far from democratic. They're using those tools to crack down on political dissidents and political opponents. And it's really creating and fueling a cycle of blowback in which those targeted groups are then joining militant movements,” the researcher stressed.

Contrary to America’s oft-stated goal of promoting democracy and “freedom,” another study demonstrated the United States militarily backs 73% of countries deemed “dictatorships” throughout the world. US belligerence has damaged the country’s global reputation in recent years, especially in the Middle East, where Russian President Vladimir Putin has forged diplomatic relations on the principles of sovereignty and mutual respect.

Recently the late Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden’s “Letter to America” went viral on the TikTok platform. The missive cast opposition to the United States throughout the Arab world as a function of resistance to the country’s militarism, contradicting the oft-repeated “they hate us for our freedom” mantra of the post-9/11 era.

US lawmakers responded by renewing calls for the banning of the TikTok platform, and British newspaper The Guardian removed the letter from their website lest Americans be encouraged to further engage in wrongthink.