Lawrence Wilkerson, a former Army colonel and chief of staff for Colin Powell at the United States Department of State, expressed this week strong criticism of the US government adding more and more nations to its enemies list. Speaking with host Paul Jay at the Real News Network this week, Wilkerson, who is a professor at the College of William & Mary, concludes that, even with the large amount of money the US spends on the military, it is “utterly beyond our capacity to deal with all these enemies” that the US has generated.
In the interview, which is largely focused on some individuals’ effort to influence US foreign policy toward creating intensified animosity between the governments of the US and Russia, Wilkerson explains further his concern about the long list of US enemies. Wilkerson states:
What I can’t fathom right now is why anyone would want, with the situation the way it is right now in this country, another enemy. You know that old conservation of enemies theory: You don’t want any more than you can handle at any given time. Look at who we’re lining up, Paul. We’re lining up China. We’re lining up Iran and all that goes along with Iran, including Hezbollah in Lebanon. We are lining up with North Korea. We are lining up with Russia. This is absurd. John McCain and Lindsay Graham can pontificate all day long, but I’m going to tell you that they’re idiots. We do not need an enemy list that is beyond what we could even in the most wild moment contemplate handling. We don’t have the military forces to handle all these enemies, and, yet, we’re bearding them, as it were.
Watch Wilkerson’s complete interview here:
Reprinted from The Ron Paul Institute for Peace & Prosperity. Massie is a member of the Ron Paul Institute.