Corporate engine, republican control, and Israel sense of insecurity will keep this fiasco running, events will emerge one after the other, till the engine fails. You can’t wait forever for the return on your investment or in other words dead investments will cause this engine to fail.
Nothing personal, I am just guessing may be I am wrong, who knows.
Posted by Peace at November 14, 2005 03:43 PM
Eric: Thanks for your column.
We may be witnessing the beginning of an historical event that will rival the breakup of the Soviet Union- the moral, economic and political end of the brief American Empire. I think most of the world, with the exception of Israel and others on the payroll, see the U.S. now as a dangerous rogue state, led by religious fanatics, willing to put the sword to any one or any nation not in line with their agenda. I believe there are millions of Americans who despise what their government is doing in their name. But there are many millions as well who cheer it on- uneducated, illiterate, fundamentalist, the ultra rich and conservative, the born again, who adhere to supertitious beliefs in raptures, armageddons and biblical prophecy.
I wouldn’t count the Bush agenda out just yet however- with three years to go there will be more of the same- attacks justified by lies, more torture and outrages against human rights abroad and at home. More fear- more flag waving, more spin, more money for the military, increasingly devastated social programs or what passes for them. More tax cuts for the wealthy and the white religious middle class. More debacles abroad. More orchestrated terrorist attacks.
I believe that Bush and his handlers actually do see this all as a crusade, that their Christian soldiers are marching onward, for their god, democracy and Haliburton, and that they believe they will prevail. If it needs bigger bombs and pre-emptive strikes, so be it. It is all gods will and all developing as it must. We are, after all, talking about a people who take their history from Disney, their news from CNN and Fox, whose education system, especially for the poor, has deteriorated to a national shame. A country whose military had to drop the reading level requirements for new recruits to grade six. Where elections are stolen, where war or pseudo war is all that the people know. Where an Orwellian Goldstein, in the form of a Bin Laden, Syria, Iran or fill in the blank, is constantly needed to justify ever more military spending and an ultra conservative, fanatically christian agenda. Where basic human rights, international agreements on the just treatment of prisoners of war are too inconvenient to adhere to, or too quaint for comment.
There is hope. The Democrats seem to be waking up, though the damage may be irreparable. Columnists like Lewis Lapham, and a free press that is beginning to shake off the cheer leader journalism that we have seen for the past five years, are waking at least some of the apathetic up. Men like Jimmy Carter are publically writing about what shame the Bush administration has brought on the United States, and a recognition that they are now the most hated nation on earth.
The American people deserve better. I weep for them. As Canadians, we need to refuse to be drawn in to any U.S. military debacles- we are at our greatest danger the closer we ally our selves with them. We need to remove our troops from Afghanistan- they only allow more U.S. troops to be freed to slaughter Iraquis. We can demonstrate to the American people that there is a better way- we must speak out against torture, we must expose the scandal of allowing our citizens to be deported by the U.S. to countries where they were tortured.
Eric you say that one day Americans will look back on this period as they do now on the McCarthy era. Well, most Americans, certainly those under thirty, have never even heard of it, since Disney hasn’t done the cartoon yet. And of those who have heard of it? How many voted for Regan, and thought he was the greatest president ever? Remember HIS role during the black list era?
No- one day the world will look back on this period, if we survive it, as the time when the corrupt, fanatic, superstitious, corporate and military complex led a sleepwalking people to being the most despised nation in history. All their weapons, and their wealth, will come to nothing, and the American Empire, before most even come to realize that there was one, will fade into the dust of history - a footnote along with the Soviets, and another line on the pedestal of Ozymandius.
Bill
Posted by Bill at November 14, 2005 11:20 PM
Eric,
I’ve followed much of your excellent commentary on the war and related subjects at www.antiwar.com and in articles appearing on the web from The American Conservative since you began making it. It’s interesting now to contrast the loneliness many of us with similar views experienced in 2001 with the rather crowded environment extant today. Without congratulating myself - I simply cheered on your articles from the privacy of my family room - I’d have to say that not a little courage was involved in someone’s taking a stance against the war in those immediately post-9/11 days. God know, given the Bush Administration’s enthusiasms for torture, perhaps it still is and I say that without the slightest in the way of a wink or a smile.
An historian by education, I’ve been struck by the sheer weight of the parallels between the events surrounding the run up to the war in Iraq and those immediately prior to the commencement of hostilities in Europe in 1939. As you may be aware, Paul Craig Roberts has written convincingly of many of these parallels as he has the whole brownshirt psychology grounding them. What’s frightening is that we’re having to say these things. What’s now comforting is how many of us are saying them.
jlowell
Posted by jlowell at November 15, 2005 12:22 AM
neocons are neococks for US-americans.they’ve got their interest to save and make Greater-Israel on behalf of prejudicial pantagoan rather than judicial pantagoan.They neocons and their policies are invisible enemies of US-americans interest and they’ve made mockery of the rules and real-rulers if Hugo chavez gleefully mocked the Bush so he did a good job whome US failed to coup d’é·tat so it means US are beggars and braggers of sole-shoe status to the whole world and yet unable to coup neither Hugo nor OBL both gleefully mocked the US-neocons policies which they’ve got by their dy-nasty.
Nasty neocons of NYC=Now Yuck City, Nasty neocons of L.A=Lunatic Asses, Nasty neocons of WDC=wild delusion cabal.
Posted by Salamscion at November 15, 2005 02:42 PM
How ironic:
the USA invaded Iraq looking for chemical weapons, never found them, and is now using American chemical (WMD) against the Iraq people. http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article10907.htm
Posted by doppleganger at November 15, 2005 08:50 PM
Here is an article by the BBC confirming American use of white phosphorous against people in Iraq.
Also, a link to an Italian news video confirming U.S use of chemical weapons during the battle for Fallujah
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4440664.stm
http://www.rainews24.rai.it/ran24/inchiesta/en/video.asp
Posted by shpeen at November 16, 2005 05:31 AM
Bill:
I’m sorry, I can’t agree with you on withdrawing the Cdn troops from Afghanistan. My friends who return are generally proud of their work, and are not substituting for US troops. In fact they are carrying out work that the US would not do otherwise as proven in Iraq…they are establishing (in a small degree-limited by their small area of deployment) personal security for local families, and the locals are contributing to the personal security of the Cdn troops. The small infrastructure projects, patrols in the back alleys and spiderweb neighbourhoods where the mass population actually live (where NO other foreign troops dare to go), and interpersonal relationships may be a factor that enables Afghans to place their own stake in the establishment of their post-Taliban country. I hope that in the future, Cdn troops can widely show a facet of the West that the US has not allowed itself to show - the desire to help them with no strings attached. (and yes, despite decades of questionable government policy, that is a wonderful part of the character of the American people)
Posted by JonnyBoy0416 at November 16, 2005 07:24 AM
I have to agree with Bill on this one JB0416. It is very tricky business living next door to a vindictive and bullying superpower; enhancing Canada’s military role in Afghanistan serves American military interests as it frees up the Imperial troops for other misdeeds. Sure Canadian troops are doing some good, but our military has now crossed the line from their traditional and noble role as peacekeepers to warriors. This is an unfortunate and disturbing sellout of Canadian values, no doubt motivated by behind the scenes intimidation by Imperial Washington. (I am left wondering when the softwood tariffs will be removed; less optimistic about a refund of the illegally collected tariffs given the US deficit.) The new and undemocratic military mandate sets Canada up for a terrorism backlash, which will fuel a vicious cycle of more military action - reaction. Sadly, Canada has surreptiously become an extension of the US imperial strategy, a dangerous game of appeasement for which the price is a degrading of our reputation and safety.
Posted by ghawley at November 16, 2005 11:45 AM
Thanks for your comments jonnyboy and ghawley.
I think the maturity of a nation is told to a great extent by the myths its people hold as true. I believe the military in this country, and all others, along with their governments, perpetrates a monstrous hoax on its citizens. That war is somehow a worthwhile sacrifice and the natural state for humans, and that the brave sacrifices must be remembered. Wilfred Owen knew that believing it was noble to kill and die for your country was, and is , the great lie. While every November 11 we remember the soldiers and the armies, we conveniently forget the tens of millions of slaughtered civilians who perished. The generals and the politicians don’t want you to remember that it was they, in the last war, who deliberatly targeted civilian populations in blitzkreigs, fire bombings and nuclear attacks- all somehow forgotten in the flag waving, wreath laying and bugle music.
Canadians have a naivete about their military and their government that is simply breathtaking. I would have thought after the 101st Airborne that we would be more than a little jaded. We have thrown our lot in with the Americans in Afghanistan, and continue to delude ourselves we are on a humanitarian mission. Why are we there? To placate the Pentagon and because we’re afraid not to be - its all about trade. To believe that we do anything militarily any where in the world with out the permission and instructions from the State Department is a fairly tale unworthy of a ten year old.
Should we be there? Supplying fresh water to the people, providing a field hospital- sure. Perhaps helping the Pakistanis with the Afghan refugees would be more worthwhile, or admitting more Afghan refugees, not warlords but orphaned children and widows. The fact is jonnyboy, there are strings attached. As any student of history can attest, Afghanistan has been a military nightmare for hundreds of years- wearing a maple leaf doesn’t make us any different in the eyes of most- we’re all invaders.
For the life of me I cannot understand why- in the light of the lies, the torture, the murder of civilians, the napalm and the phosphorus bombs- why do we throw our lot in with these monstors in the White House, in Afghanistan or any where else? We are complicit in their imperialism as ghawley so elegantly writes. Why do we allow them to deport our citizens to places of torture, and then deny knowledge. Are we that gullible? What other arrangements has our government made or are about to make as we toady up to this dispicable administration in Washington? Are we willing to pay the price? It will be steep indeed.
Posted by Bill at November 16, 2005 07:56 PM
Well, one cannot have a truly fruitful discussion on this sort of medium. However, as a “student of history” I can tell you that Afghanistan has not been a military nightmare for hundreds of years, it (as a region) has just been the square hole in which outsiders cannot fit their round peg - a heterogeneous region recently made into a country. …and in which the people in many localities are victimized by what has become the status quo (foreigners, war lords, and alien tribes running amok) - which is not good enough. No one complained when Cdns performed the exact same mission in the former Yugoslavia. I suspect that either (A) non-Europeans (i.e. Afghans) aren’t worth caring about, or more likely (B) some people get so frothed at US middle east policy that everything must be part of it somehow. It doesn’t matter what anyone here says, the mission and the help it brings the local people is worth doing.
Posted by JonnyBoy0416 at November 17, 2005 07:06 AM
Eric,
I agree with you completely. It is sad that this administration has degraded our foreign policy and is the cause of negative world opinion.
The fate of the Republican Party, as far as the next election is concerned, is that of observers on the side line. The Democrats, in order to restore our good standing with the rest of the world, must be prepared to undo the wrongs or this administration.
With political pressure from the Israel Lobby, AIPAC, it won’t be an easy task. The power and influence that AIPAC has can destroy a congressman’s or senator’s career and reputation. It my belief that the job that the Democrats must undertake will be nearly impossible, thus opening the door for third party candidates who could very well win.
Americans put Bush into office because they were disappointed with the Clinton fiasco. Now they are disappointed with the Bush fiasco. This could very well signal the end of the two party system. Americans do need more of a choice.
Posted by Gary Hansen at November 17, 2005 08:47 PM
I don’t think claiming Al Zarquawi is an agent provocateur is that far fetched, although a more likely explanation is he doesn’t even exist anymore but his name is still useful to certain people. Perhaps the same people who told tales about western-friendly women hanging from lamp posts during the US invasion, or who send out disguised UK commandos with explosives. By the way, just who did kill Margaret Hassan?
Posted by awakenow at November 18, 2005 12:57 PM
The American Empire did not just begin with George W. Bush. It has been an ongoing process started back in 1776. With the conquest of continental America from the native Indians also came the Monroe Doctrine which proclaimed American dominance over the entire western hemisphere. Since the Second World War we’ve seen America’s Manifest Destiny extended to the Middle East.
None of that can be blamed on the Bushs. It is the way the elite which run America have always done business. It has nothing to do with democracy, just ask Salvador Allende(if you know a good medium) and the only freedom is the freedom for Americans to exploit the regions controlled. It’s also not about justice because it is the men like Castro and Chavez who are trying to end poverty in Latin America, while the American elite do their best to maintain the status quo.
Once again, one can hardly blame W. for all that - though we love to try and blame him for everything! What the Bush Administration is guilty of is being blatantly obvious about this domination principle and also being sad diplomats. You would have thought Junior would have learned from Papa Bush about the subtle hypocrisy that will keep the Panama Canal under US control indefinately!
Posted by Paul Whiteside at November 18, 2005 01:07 PM