Danny Sjursen talks about the Mexican-American War, a seldom-discussed conflict that he maintains holds lessons for America today. Sjursen describes a pattern that by now—with our long experience of the war on terrorism—should be all too familiar: a U.S. president deliberately setting up the conditions for war, forcing another country to react, lying about America’s involvement, and then eventually having to remain in the country as an occupying and rebuilding force for years afterward. At the time, several prominent politicians and generals inveighed against the war as unnecessary and unjust, but to little avail. Despite its relevance, this war has been all but forgotten by Americans today.

Discussed on the show:

“The Tortured Legacy of the Mexican-American War, Part 1” (The Future of Freedom Foundation)

A People’s History of the United States

A Wicked War: Polk, Clay, Lincoln, and the 1846 U.S. Invasion of Mexico

Danny Sjursen is a retired U.S. army major and former history instructor at West Point. He writes regularly for TomDispatch.com and he’s the author of “Ghost Riders of Baghdad: Soldiers, Civilians, and the Myth of the Surge.” Follow him on Twitter @SkepticalVet.

This episode of the Scott Horton Show is sponsored by: NoDev NoOps NoIT, by Hussein Badakhchani; The War State, by Mike Swanson; WallStreetWindow.com; Tom Woods’ Liberty Classroom; ExpandDesigns.com/Scott; Listen and Think Audio; TheBumperSticker.com; and LibertyStickers.com.

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The following is an automatically generated transcript.

Show TranscriptScott Horton 0:10

All right, y'all welcome it's Scott Horton Show. I am the director of the Libertarian Institute editorial director of antiwar.com, author of the book Fool's Errand: Time to End the War in Afghanistan. And I've recorded more than 5000 interviews going back to 2003, all of which are available at ScottHorton.org. You can also sign up to the podcast feed. The full archive is also available at youtube.com/ScottHortonShow. Hey guys on the line, it's Danny Sjursen. former Army major. He was in Iraq war to Afghanistan. He wrote the book, Ghost writers of Baghdad, and he's written all over the place for everything important on the internet, including and especially antiwar.com Calm, and where he is a contributing writer, and whatever we call him, and also the future Freedom Foundation fff.org. And this one is called the tortured legacy of the Mexican American War part one, which means I've only read part one, part two and three, but I want to hear the whole thing. So go ahead, Mr. Former history professor at West Point, and tell us all about the Mexican American war.

Danny Sjursen 1:32

Well, you know, I

Scott Horton 1:34

welcome the show, Danny, how are you?

Danny Sjursen 1:37

Yeah, no, thanks for having me. And, you know, I'm always happy to geek out a little so Mexican wars. Great.

Scott Horton 1:43

Yeah. And you know what, this is one that I know a little bit about, cuz I did read Zen. But, and I know a little bit about it, other than that, too, but Well, I'm sure. happy to hear all about it all over again. So please go ahead.

Danny Sjursen 1:58

Yeah, you know, I got it. A very different take on the Mexican American War as I, you know, read past the sort of triumphalist histories, especially in grad school and then having the opportunity to teach it. And you know, I do a lot of historical analogy pieces, and anybody who specializes in anything or has an interest in anything wants to tell you that their war or their subject is the one that's, you know, most relevant to today. So, you know, that can be exhausting. But I think that on a number of levels, while there aren't,