For the past 60 years, U.S. presidents have used and misused the concept of threat to justify the use of force on a massive scale. U.S. presidents in the post-World War II era were so fearful of a congressional and public return to isolationism that the threat of communism was exaggerated to justify increases in defense spending and maintenance of hundreds of unneeded military bases and facilities. In the current era, we are devoting large sums of money to defense spending as well as justifying military bases vulnerable to attack from third-rate military actors such as Iran. More
