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Anti-Empire Report: William Blum
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rwro-@yahoo.com
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Nov 04, 2009 17:35 PST
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www.killinghope.org
November 4, 2009
Anti-Empire Report
William Blum
"It is forbidden to kill; therefore all murderers are punished unless they =
kill in large numbers and to the sound of trumpets." =E2=80=94 Voltaire
Question: How many countries do you have to be at war with to be disqualifi=
ed from receiving the Nobel Peace Prize?
Answer: Five. Barack Obama has waged war against only Pakistan, Afghanistan=
, Iraq and Somalia. He's holding off on Iran until he actually gets the pri=
ze.=20
Somalian civil society and court system are so devastated from decades of w=
ar that one wouldn't expect its citizens to have the means to raise serious=
legal challenges to Washington's apparent belief that it can drop bombs on=
that sad land whenever it appears to serve the empire's needs. But a group=
of Pakistanis, calling themselves "Lawyers Front for Defense of the Consti=
tution", and remembering just enough of their country's more civilized past=
, has filed suit before the nation's High Court to make the federal governm=
ent stop American drone attacks on countless innocent civilians. The group =
declared that a Pakistan Army spokesman claimed to have the capability to s=
hoot down the drones, but the government had made a policy decision not to.=
1
The Obama administration, like the Bush administration, behaves like the wo=
rld is one big lawless Somalia and the United States is the chief warlord. =
On October 20 the president again displayed his deep love of peace by honor=
ing some 80 veterans of Vietnam at the White House, after earlier awarding =
their regiment a Presidential Unit Citation for its "extraordinary heroism =
and conspicuous gallantry". 2 War correspondent Michael Herr has honored Vi=
etnam soldiers in his own way: =E2=80=9CWe took space back quickly, expensi=
vely, with total panic and close to maximum brutality. Our machine was deva=
stating. And versatile. It could do everything but stop.=E2=80=9D 3
What would it take for the Obamaniacs to lose any of the stars in their eye=
s for their dear Nobel Laureate? Perhaps if the president announced that he=
was donating his prize money to build a monument to the First =E2=80=94 "O=
h What a Lovely" =E2=80=94 World War? The memorial could bear the inscripti=
on: "Let us remember that Rudyard Kipling coaxed his young son John into en=
listing in this war. John died his first day in combat. Kipling later penne=
d these words:=20
"If any question why we died,
Tell them, because our fathers lied."
=20
=E2=80=9CThe Constitution supposes what the history of all governments demo=
nstrates, that the executive is the branch of power most interested in war,=
and most prone to it. It has accordingly with studied care vested the ques=
tion of war in the legislature.=E2=80=9D =E2=80=94 James Madison, in a lett=
er to Thomas Jefferson, April 2, 1798.
A wise measure, indeed, but one American president after another has dragge=
d the nation into bloody war without the approval of Congress, the American=
people, international law, or world opinion. Millions marched against the =
war in Iraq before it began. Millions more voted for Barack Obama in the be=
lief that he shared their repugnance for America's Wars Without End. They h=
ad no good reason to believe this =E2=80=94 Obama's campaign was filled wit=
h repeated warlike threats against Iran and Afghanistan =E2=80=94 but they =
wanted to believe it.
=20
If machismo explains war, if men love war and fighting so much, why do we h=
ave to compel them with conscription on pain of imprisonment? Why do the po=
wers-that-be have to wage advertising campaigns to seduce young people to e=
nlist in the military? Why do young men go to extreme lengths to be declare=
d exempt for physical or medical reasons? Why do they flee into exile to av=
oid the draft? Why do they desert the military in large numbers in the mids=
t of war? Why don't Sweden or Switzerland or Costa Rica have wars? Surely t=
here are many macho men in those countries.=20
"Join the Army, visit far away places, meet interesting people, and kill th=
em.=E2=80=9D
War licenses men to take part in what would otherwise be described as psych=
opathic behavior.
"Sometimes I think it should be a rule of war that you have to see somebody=
up close and get to know him before you can shoot him." =E2=80=94 Colonel =
Potter, M*A*S*H
"In the struggle of Good against Evil, it's always the people who get kille=
d." =E2=80=94 Eduardo Galeano
=20
After the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, a Taliban leader declare=
d that =E2=80=9CGod is on our side, and if the world=E2=80=99s people try t=
o set fire to Afghanistan, God will protect us and help us.=E2=80=9D 4
"I trust God speaks through me. Without that, I couldn't do my job." =E2=80=
=94 George W. Bush, 2004, during the war in Iraq. 5
"I believe that Christ died for my sins and I am redeemed through him. That=
is a source of strength and sustenance on a daily basis." =E2=80=94 Barack=
Obama. 6
Why don't church leaders forbid Catholics from joining the military with th=
e same fervor they tell Catholics to stay away from abortion clinics?
God, war, the World Bank, the IMF, free trade agreements, NATO, the war on =
terrorism, the war on drugs, "anti-war" candidates, and Nobel Peace Prizes =
can be seen as simply different instruments for the advancement of US imper=
ialism.
Tom Lehrer, the marvelous political songwriter of the 1950s and 60s, once o=
bserved: "Political satire became obsolete when Henry Kissinger was awarded=
the Nobel Peace Prize." Perhaps each generation has to learn anew what a f=
arce that prize has become, or always was. Its recipients include quite a f=
ew individuals who had as much commitment to a peaceful world as the Bush a=
dministration had to truth. One example currently in the news: Bernard Kouc=
hner, co-founder of Medecins Sans Frontieres which won the prize in 1998. K=
ouchner, now France's foreign secretary, has long been urging military acti=
on against Iran. Last week he called upon Iran to make a nuclear deal accep=
table to the Western powers or else there's no telling what horror Israel m=
ight inflict upon the Iranians. Israel "will not tolerate an Iranian bomb,"=
he said. "We know that, all of us." 7 There is a word for such a veiled th=
reat =E2=80=94 "extortion", something normally associated with the likes
of a Chicago mobster of the 1930s ... "Do like I say and no one gets hurt.=
" Or as Al Capone once said: "Kind words and a machine gun will get you mor=
e than kind words alone."
The continuing desperate quest to find something good to say about US forei=
gn policy
Not the crazy, hateful right wing, not racist or disrupting public meetings=
, not demanding birth certificates ... but the respectable right, holding h=
igh positions in academia and in every administration, Republican or Democr=
at, members of the highly esteemed Council on Foreign Relations. Here's Jos=
hua Kurlantzick, a "Fellow for Southeast Asia" at CFR, writing in the equal=
ly esteemed and respectable Washington Post about how =E2=80=94 despite all=
the scare talk =E2=80=94 it wouldn't be so bad if Afghanistan actually tur=
ned into another Vietnam because "Vietnam and the United States have become=
close partners in Southeast Asia, exchanging official visits, building an =
important trading and strategic relationship and fostering goodwill between=
governments, businesses and people on both sides. ... America did not win =
the war there, but over time it has won the peace. ... American war veteran=
s publicly made peace with their old adversaries ... A program [to exchange
graduate students and professors] could ensure that the next generation of=
Afghan leaders sees an image of the United States beyond that of the war."=
8 And so on.=20
On second thought, this is not so much right-wing jingoism as it is ... uh =
... y'know ... What's the word? ... Ah yes, "pointless". Just what is the p=
oint? Germany and Israel are on excellent terms ... therefore, what point c=
an we make about the Holocaust?
As to America not winning the war in Vietnam, that's worse than pointless. =
It's wrong. Most people believe that the United States lost the war. But by=
destroying Vietnam to its core, by poisoning the earth, the water, the air=
, and the gene pool for generations, the US in fact achieved its primary pu=
rpose: it left Vietnam a basket case, preventing the rise of what might hav=
e been a good development option for Asia, an alternative to the capitalist=
model; for the same reason the United States has been at war with Cuba for=
50 years, making sure that the Cuban alternative model doesn't look as goo=
d as it would if left in peace.
And in all the years since the Vietnam War ended, the millions of Vietnames=
e suffering from diseases and deformities caused by US sprayings of the dea=
dly chemical "Agent Orange" have received from the United States no medical=
care, no environmental remediation, no compensation, and no official apolo=
gy. That's exactly what the Afghans =E2=80=94 their land and/or their bodie=
s permeated with depleted uranium, unexploded cluster bombs, and a witch's =
brew of other charming chemicals =E2=80=94 have to look forward to in Kurla=
ntzick's Brave New World. "If the U.S. relationship with Afghanistan eventu=
ally resembles the one we now have with Vietnam, we should be overjoyed," h=
e writes. God Bless America.
One further thought about Afghanistan: The suggestion that the United State=
s could, and should, solve its (self-created) dilemma by simply getting out=
of that god-forsaken place is dismissed out of hand by the American govern=
ment and media; even some leftist critics of US policy are reluctant to emb=
race so bold a step =E2=80=94 Who knows what horror may result? But when th=
e Soviet Union was in the process of quitting Afghanistan (during the perio=
d of May 1988-February 1989) who in the West insisted that they remain? For=
any reason. No matter what the consequences of their withdrawal. The reaso=
n the Russians could easier leave than the Americans can now is that the Ru=
ssians were not there for imperialist reasons, such as oil and gas pipeline=
s. Similar to why the US can't leave Iraq.
Washington's eternal "Cuba problem" =E2=80=94 the one they can't admit to.
"Here we go again. I suppose old habits die hard," said US Ambassador to th=
e United Nations, Susan Rice, on October 28 before the General Assembly vot=
ed on the annual resolution to end the US embargo against Cuba. "The hostil=
e language we have just heard from the Foreign Minister of Cuba," she conti=
nued, "seems straight out of the Cold War era and is not conducive to const=
ructive progress." Her 949-word statement contained not a word about the em=
bargo; not very conducive to a constructive solution to the unstated "Cuba =
problem", the one about Cuba inspiring the Third World, the fear that the s=
ocialist virus would spread.
Since the early days of the Cuban Revolution assorted anti-communists and c=
apitalist true-believers around the world have been relentless in publicizi=
ng the failures, real and alleged, of life in Cuba; each perceived shortcom=
ing is attributed to the perceived shortcomings of socialism =E2=80=94 It's=
simply a system that can't work, we are told, given the nature of human be=
ings, particularly in this modern, competitive, globalized, consumer-orient=
ed world.=20
In response to such criticisms, defenders of Cuban society have regularly p=
ointed out how the numerous draconian sanctions imposed by the United State=
s since 1960 have produced many and varied scarcities and sufferings and ar=
e largely responsible for most of the problems pointed out by the critics. =
The critics, in turn, say that this is just an excuse, one given by Cuban a=
pologists for every failure of their socialist system. However, it would be=
very difficult for the critics to prove their point. The United States wou=
ld have to drop all sanctions and then we'd have to wait long enough for Cu=
ban society to make up for lost time and recover what it was deprived of, a=
nd demonstrate what its system can do when not under constant assault by th=
e most powerful force on earth.
In 1999, Cuba filed a suit against the United States for $181.1 billion in =
compensation for economic losses and loss of life during the first 39 years=
of this aggression. The suit held Washington responsible for the death of =
3,478 Cubans and the wounding and disabling of 2,099 others. In the ten yea=
rs since, these figures have of course all increased. The sanctions, in num=
erous ways large and small, make acquiring many kinds of products and servi=
ces from around the world much more difficult and expensive, often impossib=
le; frequently, they are things indispensable to Cuban medicine, transporta=
tion or industry; simply transferring money internationally has become a ma=
jor problem for the Cubans, with banks being heavily punished by the United=
States for dealing with Havana; or the sanctions mean that Americans and C=
ubans can't attend professional conferences in each other's country.
These examples are but a small sample of the excruciating pain inflicted by=
Washington upon the body, soul and economy of the Cuban people.
For years American political leaders and media were fond of labeling Cuba a=
n "international pariah". We don't hear much of that any more. Perhaps one =
reason is the annual vote in the General Assembly on the resolution, which =
reads: "Necessity of ending the economic, commercial and financial embargo =
imposed by the United States of America against Cuba". This is how the vote=
has gone:
Year Votes (Yes-No) No Votes=20
1992 59-2 US, Israel=20
1993 88-4 US, Israel, Albania, Paraguay=20
1994 101-2 US, Israel, Uzbekistan=20
1995 117-3 US, Israel, Uzbekistan=20
1996 138-3 US, Israel, Uzbekistan=20
1997 143-3 US, Israel=20
1998 157-2 US, Israel=20
1999 155-2 US, Israel, Marshall Islands=20
2000 167-3 US, Israel, Marshall Islands=20
2001 167-3 US, Israel, Marshall Islands=20
2002 167-3 US, Israel, Marshall Islands=20
2003 173-3 US, Israel, Marshall Islands, Palau=20
2004 179-3 US, Israel, Marshall Islands, Palau=20
2005 182-4 US, Israel, Marshall Islands, Palau=20
2006 183-4 US, Israel, Marshall Islands, Palau=20
2007 184-4 US, Israel, Marshall Islands, Palau=20
2008 185-3 US, Israel, Palau=20
2009 187-3 US, Israel, Palau=20
How it began, from State Department documents: Within a few months of the C=
uban revolution of January 1959, the Eisenhower administration decided "to =
adjust all our actions in such a way as to accelerate the development of an=
opposition in Cuba which would bring about a change in the Cuban Governmen=
t, resulting in a new government favorable to U.S. interests." 9
On April 6, 1960, Lester D. Mallory, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State fo=
r Inter-American Affairs, wrote in an internal memorandum: "The majority of=
Cubans support Castro ... The only foreseeable means of alienating interna=
l support is through disenchantment and disaffection based on economic diss=
atisfaction and hardship. ... every possible means should be undertaken pro=
mptly to weaken the economic life of Cuba." Mallory proposed "a line of act=
ion which ... makes the greatest inroads in denying money and supplies to C=
uba, to decrease monetary and real wages, to bring about hunger, desperatio=
n and overthrow of government." 10 Later that year, the Eisenhower administ=
ration instituted the suffocating embargo.
Notes
1.The Nation (Pakistan English-language daily newspaper), October 10, 2009 =
=E2=86=A9
2.Washington Post, October 20, 2009 =E2=86=A9
3.Michael Herr, "Dispatches" (1991), p.71 =E2=86=A9
4.New York Daily News, September 19, 2001 =E2=86=A9
5.Washington Post, July 20, 2004, p.15, citing the New Era (Lancaster, PA),=
from a private meeting of Bush with Amish families on July 9. The White Ho=
use denied that Bush had said it. (Those Amish folks do lie a lot you know.=
) =E2=86=A9
6.Washington Post, August 17, 2008 =E2=86=A9
7.Daily Telegraph (UK), October 26, 2009 =E2=86=A9
8.Washington Post, October 25, 2009 =E2=86=A9
9.Department of State, "Foreign Relations of the United States, 1958-1960, =
Volume VI, Cuba" (1991), p.742 =E2=86=A9
10.Ibid., p.885 =E2=86=A9
=E2=80=93
William Blum is the author of:=20
=E2=80=A2Killing Hope: US Military and CIA Interventions Since World War 2
=E2=80=A2Rogue State: A Guide to the World's Only Superpower=20
=E2=80=A2West-Bloc Dissident: A Cold War Memoir=20
=E2=80=A2Freeing the World to Death: Essays on the American Empire=20
Portions of the books can be read, and signed copies purchased, at www.kill=
inghope.org=20
=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=
=3D=3D
Stop NATO
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/stopnato
Blog site:
http://rickrozoff.wordpress.com/
=20
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=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=0A=0A=0A
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