I Ain’t Gonna Study War No More

I ain't gonna study war no more
Study war no more
Ain't gonna study war no more

                I will begin by acknowledging that I am not a pacifist. There are times and places where armed resistance to tyranny is necessary. But war should be rare. Our goal should be to move toward a time, as Isaiah prophesied concerning the judgment of God concerning the nations, a passage that is reflected in the chorus of the spiritual above:

He shall judge between the nations

    and shall arbitrate for many peoples;

they shall beat their swords into plowshares

    and their spears into pruning hooks;

nation shall not lift up sword against nation;

    neither shall they learn war any more.   (Isaiah 2:4)

That is the hope that should guide us as we navigate our times.

                I open with this reflection on God’s vision of a time when nations will not lift sword against nations, and when there will no longer be a need to study war, because the President of the United States and the Secretary of Defense are seeking to change the name of the Department of Defense back to the War Department. Whether they can do this is uncertain since the cabinet office was created by Congress in 1947. Part of the creation of the Department of Defense after World War II involved splitting off the Air Force from the Army and merging the Navy Department with the War Department, that is, the Army. But all of that is technical stuff that neither President Trump nor Secretary Hegseth seems to care about.

                So, why am I writing this today? I am suspicious of motivations. Pete Hegseth does seem to value a “warrior spirit.” He constantly speaks of lethality and war-fighting, as if that is all the military does. As for President Trump, it appears that he thinks the term “defense” is a sign of weakness. Trump declared: “It used to be called the Department of War, and it had a stronger sound.” Returning to the War Department will signal that we are ready to go on offense.  In arguing for the name change, he declared, “Defense is too defensive. We want to be defensive, but we want to be offensive, too.”  

                With all of this saber-rattling from a President who ran on a claim that he would keep us out of foreign wars, what are his intentions? Is he thinking of going on “offense” and invading other nations? He keeps on talking about annexing Canada, Greenland, the Panama Canal, and even the Gaza Strip. Are invasions of these places on the table? It seems that at least with Greenland and Panama, it is possible. Then there is the naval buildup around Venezuela, which included blowing up a boat allegedly carrying narco-terrorists. Normally, the Coast Guard would interdict something like this, but we seem to be flexing our muscles there.

                President Truman and Congress chose the name Department of Defense for a reason. And it hasn’t stopped us from getting involved in wars. We’ve gone to Korea, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Afghanistan, Iraq, the Balkans, and don’t forget the invasion of Grenada. Perhaps the fact that none of these conflicts, besides perhaps Grenada, ended in absolute victory has Trump and Hegseth feeling the need to flex muscles and blow up a few countries, especially after the bombing of nuclear sites in Iran seems to have been less than successful. As I listen to the bluster from Hegseth and Trump, what I hear is the sound of bullies feeling the need to beat up on some weaker folks. So, the question is, is this what the United States stands for? Where we once claimed to stand on the side of the defenseless, now we seem to be making a very different claim, especially in light of the excising of those forms of soft power that include feeding the hungry and caring for the sick.