Of the US' 245-year-old history, fewer than 20 are without wars

In 1776, the United States was founded in North America. It boasted of being the city upon the hill and that its mission was to promote "democracy" to the world.

Yet what it loves most is war. During its 245 years of existence, less than 20 have been without a war.

By massacring the Indigenous peoples and grabbing territory from Mexico, it expanded to the western coast of the continent;

By selling weapons and materials to belligerents, it made a big fortune in the two world wars. It became a superpower and has intervened around the world.

In the Korean War (1950-53), 3 million civilians died, and many families were separated by the North-South divide;

In the Vietnam War, 3.4 million lives were claimed, with over 40,000 more taken by the ammunition that was left behind;

In the Gulf War, US troops directly killed 3,000 civilians and burned many oilfields.

It led the bombing of Yugoslavia in 1999, launched a war in Afghanistan in 2001, invaded Iraq in 2003, and conducted air-strikes in Syria in 2017.

The US has been responsible for all these, and more.

In 2019, Donald Trump was nominated for Nobel Peace Prize. The ironic reason — he is the only US president not to launch a war in 30 years.

In other words, the other US presidents were all warmongers.

The US people pay for the militarism of their politicians, because the huge costs of war are paid by them in taxes.

And many US soldiers suffer from post-traumatic stress on returning home. From 2008 to 2016, data show that 6,000 US veterans committed suicide each year.

US troops left Afghanistan in August, which brought the 20-year-long war to an end. It is to be hoped that US politicians can stop their vicious deeds and they do not drag the world into any more wars.