Jack, thanks for tracking all this and writing this letter. I don't know the level of detail that you do on foreign policy.

US imperialism is not only immoral but enormously expensive. The Iraq and Afghanistan wars will ultimately have cost us trillions, which could have been used to create government jobs rebuilding our infrastructure, universal health care, a better educational system, etc. 

The military is a huge jobs program for working-class people who get out of high school with no other prospects -- in the absence of a better program -- and socialism for the military-industrial complex. I spent four years in the Navy, and two of my nephews have been in the military, one in Afghanistan.