Believe it or not, yes. Many of our operations, like in Somalia, or Haiti, had absolutely NO economic or security benefit to us. The DoD falls under civilian authority. The People in the US do believe in using their forces for humanitarian, peacekeeping, or even peace enforcement operations that have absolutely no benefit to them. What did we get from the Balkans? What do they have there for us? Rocks? We have those in the US too. You’re the ones dealing with refugees, you were the ones threatened by the regional instability, and you’re the ones that even have economic interests in Croatia, NOT us. Why did we go to war? And even here it’s possible to create a self interest and minimize, which indeed was done.
Applying your reasoning I could say Mother Theresa was a heartless selfish bitch just trying to “buy her ticket” to heaven. You can take anything and minimize it. But at some point you have to ask yourself if you’re just being an idiot and @sshole for doing so.
If we wanted the fastest, cheapest, and easiest answer in Iraq, we would have chopped off the monsters head, left the IIS and Iraqi Army in tacked, and said we’re the new sheriff in town. That would have worked too. And even there you see the German minimizing us and even attacking an effort to democratize and pacify a nation, a route that isn’t the easiest. Think about that one! You might not perceive it as such, but your Volk is more or less hoping for failure, stood in opposition too liberation, and does nothing for a process to bring Iraq up as a republic, a free nation, und man ist man noch Stolz mit diese Haltung.
Wars, how they are fought, what the desired end states are, are largely influenced by the ideology, morals, and prevailing attitudes and values of the society fighting them. I don’t think the Wehrmacht had the same approach we do. I don’t think the Russians have the same approach or end state in mind in Chechnya. I don’t think it was a good thing to be conquered by the Ottomans or Persian empires years past....... ***Yes, the US has a commitment to certain principals when it goes to war, and HAVE (as in I can give examples) fought numerous wars that have had no benefit to us as a nation whatsoever, other than appease a society that has deep rooted Christian and democratic values.***
As I said, you give a lot of insight into yourself with your statements, and there is a reason why Germany can’t be expected to be dependable when we’re attacked. You have no friends, only interests, as in Iran or Russia…….. Who does Schroeder work for today? It’s only “interests” my friend. If I were you, I’d be demanding he’d get hung!
"Sundays, one's tenderized by Maischberger (influential ARD political talkshow anchor) and Mondays, one gets crumbed by the SPIEGEL."
I know that while all information provided by FR are excessively positive, often to a degree where objectivity is lost, the SPIEGEL's just doing the opposite. The SPIEGEL has once been a comparably objective and investigative magazine, even if it has always been leftist in its paradigma to some degree. This objectivity and quality is rarely the case anymore, and you don't need to convince me of that, I found that out years ago when SPIEGEL changed its direction after Augstein died.
But even the SPIEGEL (and various other rather leftist magazines and newspapers, for example the TAZ) have argumented with the Allies' perception of World War 2: If the World does not stand up against agressors, how is our way of life to prevail?
Where you are wrong IMO is that Germans want to see the US fail. It is simply that Germans see the US fail, which is caused by facts, but also caused by the prediominant media bias in Germany. You from your standpoint are convinced that the bias is playing a much bigger part than the actual facts. I think both are pretty even, because I don't see myself influenced by the German bias a lot ( yeh I know, different standards) and I still think that many of the main problems like the Kurd question have not yet been solved, have barely been touched up to now. However, most Germans are convinced that the conflict in Iraq is bound to fail, and they condemn the US for destroying the lives of Iraqi civilians. But while many of them, as you pointed out, think that the ruling class of the USA is 'evil' and greedy and whatnot (which is the same they think of their own ruling class), they actually have a pretty high opinion of US democracy and the US people. Apart from that there's the fact that the USA rule the world nowadays, and of course a special set of rules applies for our rulers. These are the reasons why they consistently hold all of what the US are doing to such a high standard.
These people would like to believe in cutting out the cancer, but due to German history they judge everything that's happening to such a ridiculously high standard that everybody, even the USA, is bound to fail. They do not want the omelette without breaking the eggs, they just can't stomach breaking the eggs and they would rather starve, because Germany's identity crisis is so deep that it has clouded people's judgement regarding the world they want for a long time. There are Germans who question Germany's right to exist after what happened in World War 2. While they are a radical minority, the question whether we can somehow assume a position of judgement toward anyone is burned deep into every German's mind. That is probably the most important reason why many Germans almost enjoy wailing over US decisions and their bad sides: Because it justifies staying in Limbo, because it eases the pain of considering yourself not worthy of judgement and responsibility if you realize that no one is. Funny how the lesson learned from one conflict can be so different depending what side you're on.
The situation that a major part of the German population will support ANY war that is not obviously defensive (in the sense that we are attacked - militarily - directly) will not happen soon. Germans are fed up with projecting military influence and they are convinced that no good can come out of it. How do you imagine an administration to rule against that? How do you expect them to justify a higher military budget? Even then it is changing, in small steps. It has already started with restructuring the military from a defensive to a mobile force against the will of a majority of the population. It could only be done in the context of the European Union, in that "wasn't our decision" kind of way. I just hope that you understand how few options any German administration actually has in this regard, if it wants to stay in power for some time.
In the interest of my own country, I would really like to see us ready and willing to project military force. The UN is mostly just a tool to delay decisions of people who matter, which is as useful as it is problematic, like it or not. And no one wants the UN as a political player on its own.
Europe may one day be able to decide on military issues, which is something that Germany definitely hoped for, so we could play with the big boys again. No one likes a military that doesn't do anything. No one likes a military that is not allowed to fight. But chances for that happening any time soon are looking increasingly dark.
Germany, on its own, will still need a long time to get to a point where conscious and decisive projection of power can happen outside of an international defensive context. However you judge that, it's a political reality, and for it to change it is not necessary that people listen to reason. It is necessary that people act according to reason, and that they face the consequences of that, which would very probably be their political downfall.