RIP GORE VIDAL

gore OTM on that one, obv.

can't wait for that book!

He did write – repeatedly – that lles années d'après-guerre up to 1950 were the golden age.

not surprising that it was his age 20-25, but also the last time the US war machine was (somewhat) idling.

what war were we fighting between '92 and '00 I forget

1992 – Sierra Leone. Operation Silver Anvil: Following the April 29 coup that overthrew President Joseph Saidu Momoh, a United States European Command (USEUCOM) Joint Special Operations Task Force evacuated 438 people (including 42 third-country nationals) on May 3 .Two Air Mobility Command (AMC) C-141s flew 136 people from Freetown, Sierra Leone, to the Rhein-Main Air Base in Germany and nine C-130 sorties carried another 302 people to Dakar, Senegal.[RL30172]

1992–1996 – Bosnia and Herzegovina: Operation Provide Promise was a humanitarian relief operation in Bosnia and Herzegovina during the Yugoslav Wars, from July 2, 1992, to January 9, 1996, which made it the longest running humanitarian airlift in history.[6]

1992 – Kuwait: On August 3, 1992, the United States began a series of military exercises in Kuwait, following Iraqi refusal to recognize a new border drawn up by the United Nations and refusal to cooperate with UN inspection teams.[RL30172]

1992–2003 – Iraq. Iraqi no-fly zones: The U.S., United Kingdom, and it's Gulf War allies declared and enforced "no-fly zones" over the majority of sovereign Iraqi airspace, prohibiting Iraqi flights in zones in southern Iraq and northern Iraq, and conducting aerial reconnaissance and bombings. Oftentimes, Iraqi forces continued throughout a decade by firing on U.S. and British aircraft patrolling no-fly zones.(See also Operation Northern Watch, Operation Southern Watch) [RL30172]

1992–1995 – Somalia. Operation Restore Hope. Somali Civil War: On December 10, 1992, President Bush reported that he had deployed U.S. armed forces to Somalia in response to a humanitarian crisis and a UN Security Council Resolution in support for UNITAF. The operation came to an end on May 4, 1993. U.S. forces continued to participate in the successor United Nations Operation in Somalia (UNOSOM II).(See also Battle of Mogadishu)[RL30172]

1993-1995 - Bosnia. Operation Deny Flight: On April 12, 1993, in response to a United Nations Security Council passage of Resolution 816, U.S. and NATO enforced the no-fly zone over the Bosnian airspace, prohibited all unauthorized flights and allowed to "take all necessary measures to ensure compliance with [the no-fly zone restrictions]."

1993 – Macedonia: On July 9, 1993, President Clinton reported the deployment of 350 U.S. soldiers to the Republic of Macedonia to participate in the UN Protection Force to help maintain stability in the area of former Yugoslavia.[RL30172]

1994: Bosnia. Banja Luka incident: NATO become involved in the first combat situation when NATO U.S. Air Force F-16 jets shot down four of the six Bosnian Serb J-21 Jastreb single-seat light attack jets for violating UN mandated no-fly zone.

1994–1995 – Haiti. Operation Uphold Democracy: U.S. ships had begun embargo against Haiti. Up to 20,000 U.S. military troops were later deployed to Haiti to restore democratically-elected Haiti President Jean-Bertrand Aristide from a military regime which came into power in 1991 after a major coup.[RL30172]

1994 – Macedonia: On April 19, 1994, President Clinton reported that the U.S. contingent in Macedonia had been increased by a reinforced company of 200 personnel.[RL30172]

1995 – Bosnia. Operation Deliberate Force: In August 30, 1995, U.S. and NATO aircraft began a major bombing campaign of Bosnian Serb Army in response to a Bosnian Serb mortar attack on a Sarajevo market that killed 37 people in August 28, 1995. This operation lasted until September 20, 1995. The air campaign along with a combined allied ground force of Muslim and Croatian Army against Serb positions led to a Dayton agreement in December 1995 with the signing of warring factions of the war. As part of Operation Joint Endeavor, U.S. and NATO dispatched the Implementation Force (IFOR) peacekeepers to Bosnia to uphold the Dayton agreement.[RL30172]

1996 – Liberia. Operation Assured Response: On April 11, 1996, President Clinton reported that on April 9, 1996 due to the "deterioration of the security situation and the resulting threat to American citizens" in Liberia he had ordered U.S. military forces to evacuate from that country "private U.S. citizens and certain third-country nationals who had taken refuge in the U.S. Embassy compound...."[RL30172]

1996 – Central African Republic. Operation Quick Response: On May 23, 1996, President Clinton reported the deployment of U.S. military personnel to Bangui, Central African Republic, to conduct the evacuation from that country of "private U.S. citizens and certain U.S. government employees", and to provide "enhanced security for the American Embassy in Bangui."[RL30172] United States Marine Corps elements of Joint Task Force Assured Response, responding in nearby Liberia, provided security to the embassy and evacuated 448 people, including between 190 and 208 Americans. The last Marines left Bangui on June 22.

1996 - Bosnia. Operation Joint Guard: In December 21, 1996, U.S. and NATO established the SFOR peacekeepers to replace the IFOR in enforcing the peace under the Dayton agreement.

1997 – Albania. Operation Silver Wake: On March 13, 1997, U.S. military forces were used to evacuate certain U.S. government employees and private U.S. citizens from Tirana, Albania.[RL30172]

1997 – Congo and Gabon: On March 27, 1997, President Clinton reported on March 25, 1997, a standby evacuation force of U.S. military personnel had been deployed to Congo and Gabon to provide enhanced security and to be available for any necessary evacuation operation.[RL30172]

1997 – Sierra Leone: On May 29 and May 30, 1997, U.S. military personnel were deployed to Freetown, Sierra Leone, to prepare for and undertake the evacuation of certain U.S. government employees and private U.S. citizens.[RL30172]

1997 – Cambodia: On July 11, 1997, In an effort to ensure the security of American citizens in Cambodia during a period of domestic conflict there, a Task Force of about 550 U.S. military personnel were deployed at Utapao Air Base in Thailand for possible evacuations. [RL30172]

1998 – Iraq. Operation Desert Fox: U.S. and British forces conduct a major four-day bombing campaign from December 16–19, 1998 on Iraqi targets.[RL30172]

1998 – Guinea-Bissau. Operation Shepherd Venture: On June 10, 1998, in response to an army mutiny in Guinea-Bissau endangering the U.S. Embassy, President Clinton deployed a standby evacuation force of U.S. military personnel to Dakar, Senegal, to evacuate from the city of Bissau.[RL30172]

1998–1999 – Kenya and Tanzania: U.S. military personnel were deployed to Nairobi, Kenya, to coordinate the medical and disaster assistance related to the bombing of the U.S. Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.[RL30172]

1998 – Afghanistan and Sudan. Operation Infinite Reach: On August 20, President Clinton ordered a cruise missile attack against two suspected terrorist training camps in Afghanistan and a suspected chemical factory in Sudan.[RL30172]

1998 – Liberia: On September 27, 1998, America deployed a stand-by response and evacuation force of 30 U.S. military personnel to increase the security force at the U.S. Embassy in Monrovia. [1] [RL30172]

1999–2001 - East Timor: Limited number of U.S. military forces deployed with the United Nations-mandated International Force for East Timor restore peace to East Timor.[RL30172]

1999 – Serbia. Operation Allied Force: U.S. and NATO aircraft began a major bombing of Serbia and Serb positions in Kosovo in March 24, 1999, during the Kosovo War due to the refusal by Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic to end repression against ethnic Albanians in Kosovo. This operation ended in June 10, 1999, when Milosevic agreed to pull out his troops out of Kosovo. In response to the situation in Kosovo, NATO dispatched the KFOR peacekeepers to secure the peace under UNSC Resolution 1244.[RL30172]

2000 – Sierra Leone. On May 12, 2000 a US Navy patrol craft deployed to Sierra Leone to support evacuation operations from that country if needed.[RL30172]

2000 - Nigeria. Special Forces troops are sent to Nigeria to lead a training mission in the county.[7]

2000 – Yemen. On October 12, 2000, after the USS Cole attack in the port of Aden, Yemen, military personnel were deployed to Aden.[RL30172]

2000 – East Timor. On February 25, 2000, a small number of U.S. military personnel were deployed to support the United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET).

the Truman Doctrine debuted in '47.

kinda pwned there, Shakes, by all the Clintonian brushfires

I think you'd at least remember Bosnia, Mme Albright itching to use "this wonderful military" or Black Hawk Down

the 90s were pretty crucial as a pretext to our current misadventures and, don't forget, 9/11. or have you already forgotten.

"pretext" isn't correct there, but anyway

yeah those weren't wars sorry guys

he did. he forgot. crank up that darryl worley

at least, not any moreso than whatever hijinks we were up to between the end of WWII and the beginning of the Korean War

xp

presaging of events is what i meant. but really all of that was collectively a vast collection of military actions that may as well have been a "real" war, for how it led to what we're up to now and for how it affected the world's view of us.

like all of us Gore Vidal isn't immune to mythologizing his past

'we weren't at WAR, we just bombed a bunch of other countries. how could you possibly confuse the two?'

i think sometimes what we don't view as war, what we view as a minor action and something we can just go and forget, is viewed by our adversary as war. which is maybe more important to take into consideration than whether or not we viewed it as such.

the serbia thing was pretty crucial in re-legitimizing the idea of 'humanitarian intervention,' and hence played a fairly important role in the leadup to the iraq war.

people not thinking that list constitutes "war" (it's an unnatural thought for 90s-kid me, too!) is the only piece of evidence future anthropologists will need to come to a working understanding of post-ww2 american life

otm. that older definition of war as event has changed its utility has diminished but it's still war and there's more of it than ever. xxp

as its utility

you guys are nuts

the military evacuating some diplomats from Albania /= firebombing of Dresden

let's keep some perspective here

it would be excessive to say that everything there counts as 'war' but come on, a 'four-day bombing campaign'?

barely got their hair mussed, those pissant little countries!

SMC finally comes out as a neolib/neocon whatever warpig-enabler label you wanna use

didn't Billy Blythe ejaculate some bombs immediately after his dress-stain indictment?

I don't deny that you can clearly see the US military "war machine" (as Morbz puts it) in action behind all of those actions when you take them all together, primarily because the scope and scale that they encompass (ie, globe-spanning) requires a functioning military industry. The only distinction I was trying to make was that the US has not been on the unbroken, unending mission of imperialist genocide that Morbz' rhetoric implies. There are gaps, there are peaks and valleys, and they weren't all encapsulated within Gore Vidal's halcyon days of youth.

xp

the least violent episode on that list is indeed /= one of the most violent from the largest war in human history

didn't Billy Blythe ejaculate some bombs immediately after his dress-stain indictment?

yeah and I thought this was disgusting in its transparent cynicism, I said so at the time, I am no fan of Clinton etc

ftr I think this was even less violent dlh:

1998 – Liberia: On September 27, 1998, America deployed a stand-by response and evacuation force of 30 U.S. military personnel to increase the security force at the U.S. Embassy in Monrovia.

yeah, Dresden, I didn't realize every NBA star hadda be Michael Jordan.

Sotosyn, what will be your book mythologizing your past be like?

thx for playing tho yes lets all keep encouraging Morbsian hysteria

xp

Billy also took the Concorde down to Little Rock to pump electricity into a retarded man.

reads like a line from some 70s AM radio country hit

that was the night the lights went out in Arkansas

My memoir will be told from multiple points of view, one of which will be an unreliable female narrator.

do we have a chart of US military spending btwn GHW Bush and Clinton? I'm pretty sure it didn't go down by any standard.

has it ever?

hmm this is not what I was expecting tbh

http://thf_media.s3.amazonaws.com/infographics/2011/11/myth-of-isolationism-defense-spending_1200.jpg

clear downward trend during Clinton's terms there btw

partially because the economy/GNP was booming during Clinton's terms

I forgot that the death of the USSR prob played its legendary "peace dividend" role there.

Also the feds have only been paying a lot for education/ infrastructure/ healthcare etc for the last 80 years, right? So arms would've been a bigger slice of a smaller pie.

(before the New Deal, that is)

and the Great Society, moreso? bcz it appears to dip under 50% for the last time just as Vietnam is revving up.

not gonna be mean to shakey about that chart being from the heritage foundation since i'm sure the numbers are fine but it's still funny

http://nationalpriorities.org/media/uploads/publications/talking-about-military-spending/chart_1.jpg

defense spending has gone down plenty of times, and they're pretty much the times you'd expect (cf the sharp rise between 1965 and 1970, and then the drop) but this graph that takes it as a straight number and not as a percentage of the budget p much lines up w vidal's narrative, right? plummets (like you'd expect) between 1945 and 1950 and gradually rises (on average) from then on. anyway i am not calling anyone a neocon i am just saying that yes indeed there was a significant change in the u.s. govt's attitude towards military spending and global military action during the cold war and yes indeed we all grew up in the country that change made, and that's why the 90s seem like peacetime to us.

It's so large a percentage of the budget in the nineteenth century because the federal government had literally no other responsibilities except making war.

which is why heritage has chosen to graph it as they have, and then filenamed it myth-of-isolationism.jpg

okay much lolz at filename

and yeah I didn't really care about the 19th century half of the graph, but it was attached to the 20th century half

Good job:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=INW6i6K1NmQ

All I've read by Vidal was his memoir, so I came to this only knowing him through his public persona. His blanket sourness about politics (I think someone in-house once internalized his every pronouncement) was persuasive, both softened and mitigated by things I don't especially feel like getting into. That aside, it's another good documentary about getting old.