Should The U.S. Create A 'Foreign Legion'

Photo of Army Parade in Rome, 2 june 2007, Festa della Repubblica Italiana. Wikipedia

Steven Metz, WPR: Why the United States Should Consider Creating a Foreign Legion

In 2008, then-Sen. Barack Obama campaigned for president promising to extricate the United States from its grinding wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. His administration, Obama hoped, would be known for domestic programs rather than war-fighting. Unfortunately America’s adversaries had different intentions. Obama has now been at war longer than any other U.S. president.

A case can be made that America’s ongoing military involvement in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Yemen, Syria and elsewhere does not constitute “war” in the constitutional and strategic senses of the word. But it is clear that armed strife is the new normal, not an episodic aberration as it was for most of U.S. history. Even so, Americans have not yet fully come to grips with the idea of persistent conflict, instead clinging to the hope that once al-Qaida and the self-styled Islamic State are defeated, peace will return. This will not happen.

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WNU Editor: The French Foreign legion is unique because it was created for foreign nationals willing to serve in the French Armed Forces .... but should the U.S. create its own version of an American Foreign Legion? This is an idea that I will need to think about .... but I do know one thing, it will not have a shortage of recruits. On a side note .... and this is probably the reason why I have always been interested in the French Foreign Legion .... my father did a paper recommending in the 1970s the establishment of a Soviet Foreign Legion. My father passed away years ago .... but I still do not know why his idea was turned down .... and no one is willing to tell me .... even to this day. Sighhh .... one of those mysteries that will never be answered.