The Folly of Empire

I am just about finished reading “The Folly of Empire” by John Judis, which draws a number of parallels between the lies of Bush, et al, relating to the Iraq adventure and our earlier adventures in the subjugation of Native Americans and the Philippines and our attempted subjugations of Mexico and Viet Nam. All involved presidential administration lies, a lapdog media all too willing to pass on the lies, and a horribly uninformed, disinterested citizenry. Who was it that said something to the effect that those who are ignorant of history are doomed to repeat it? Of course in the case of the Bush administration, not only has it been mendacious; but it has displayed a level of incompetence only achievable by zealots who believe so strongly in their superior rectitude that hubris clouds their vision and judgment, leading them to believe their own lies.

There were many professionals in our military, the Departments of State and Energy, our intelligence agencies, and even the Army War College who predicted exactly what has transpired with the Iraq adventure. Unfortunately the neo fascist (they call themselves neo-conservatives) “chicken hawks” in the Pentagon, National Intelligence Agency and Vice-president Cheney’s office, who are managing our foreign affairs, discounted, derided and even dismissed those professionals. Instead, they bought into, and propagated, the suggestions of long time Iraqi expatriates and neo-fascist “scholars” that the U.S. would be greeted with “flowers and sweets.”

As we now know, just about everything we were told by senior administration officials, and their media cheerleaders has been wrong, though none will acknowledge such.