Moving Beyond Anti-War Politics
As Congress sends its bill requiring partial troop withdrawals from Iraq to the White House for a certain veto, it has never been clearer that mobilizing against this war is necessary, but not enough.Congressional Democrats may be willing to stop there, but demanding the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq is only the first of our obligations to help create the conditions for real justice and peace in the Middle East and around the world. It’s crucial that we also advocate for an entirely new foreign policy based on opposition to the long U.S. drive toward empire.
That first step is, of course, crucial. When 78 percent of the Iraqi people oppose the presence of U.S. troops and 61 percent support attacks on those troops, it’s clear that our presence in the country is causing — not preventing — much of the violence. Pulling out U.S. troops (including the 100,000-plus mercenaries who back the U.S. military) won’t eliminate all Iraqi-on-Iraqi violence, but it will remove the reason many Iraqis are fighting. That would take away the protective umbrella that the widely supported anti-occupation violence currently gives the real terrorists — those engaged in killing civilians for political or sectarian reasons. Once U.S. forces are gone and the reason for the legitimate resistance to foreign occupation is eliminated, the ugly terrorist violence will be exposed for what it is - and it will be possible for Iraqis themselves to isolate the terrorists and eliminate them as a fighting force.
But what comes after a U.S. withdrawal? We clearly owe the Iraqi people massive reparations for the devastation our illegal invasion has brought. Only in the United States is that illegality questioned; in the rest of the world it’s understood. Equally obvious around the world is that the decision to launch an aggressive war was rooted in the desire to expand U.S. military power in the strategically crucial oil-rich region, and that as a result the war fails every test of moral legitimacy.
As we organize against the occupation, we also must work to end U.S. support for Israeli occupation and try to prevent an aggressive war against Iran. But all of this is part of a larger obligation of U.S. citizens: We must challenge U.S. empire. The U.S. troop withdrawal and reparations should be accompanied by a declaration of a major change of course in U.S. foreign policy, especially in Iraq and the Middle East. We need a new foreign policy based on justice, relying on international law and the United Nations, rather than the assertion of might-makes-right.
This takes us beyond a critique of the mendacity of the Bush administration, to recognize that similar dreams of conquest and domination have animated every administration, albeit in different forms. From the darling of the anti-communist liberal elite (John F. Kennedy) and the champion of so-called “assertive multilateralism” (Bill Clinton), to the crude Republican realist (Richard Nixon) and the patron saint of the conservative right (Ronald Reagan), U.S. empire in the post-World War II era has been a distinctly bi-partisan effort.
In his 1980 State of the Union address, President Jimmy Carter called for domination of the Middle East: “An attempt by any outside force to gain control of the Persian Gulf region will be regarded as an assault on the vital interests of the United States of America, and such an assault will be repelled by any means necessary, including military force.” In other words: We run the region and control the flow of its oil.
George W. Bush took earlier administrations’ power plays to new heights of reckless militarism and unilateralism, seizing the moment after 9/11 to declare to all nations: “Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists. From this day forward, any nation that continues to harbor or support terrorism will be regarded by the United States as a hostile regime.” In other words: We demand global capitulation.
The only way to transcend this ugly history is through an honest national dialogue and a promise of a sea change in U.S. policy.
Look around the world at the results of U.S. strategies. Rhetoric about democracy and free trade has masked the enforcement of political and economic subordination to the United States and U.S.-based multinational corporations. The people of Latin America, much of Africa and the Middle East, and many parts of Asia can offer compelling testimony to the impact of those policies, enforced now through more than 700 U.S. military bases spread across the globe in over 130 countries.
Such empires are typically brought down from outside, with great violence. But we have another option, as citizens of that empire who understand how this pathology of power damages our country as well as the world. Imagine what would be possible if we — ordinary citizens of this latest empire — could build a movement that gave politicians no choice but to do the right thing.
Imagine what would be possible in the world if an anti-empire movement were strong enough to make it clear that ending military violence requires a just distribution of the resources of this world.
Imagine what is possible if we work to make inevitable one day what seems improbable today — the justice that makes possible real peace.
Phyllis Bennis is a Fellow of the Institute for Policy Studies and author of Challenging Empire: How People, Governments and the UN Defy U.S. Power. She can be reached at pbennis@ips-dc.org.
Robert Jensen is a professor of journalism at the University of Texas at Austin and author of Citizens of Empire: The Struggle to Claim Our Humanity. He can be reached at rjensen@uts.cc.utexas.edu.
The concern, voiced by these authors, to change the basic stance of the United States vis a vis the world, is in my judgment the critical concern underlying all concerns. I applaud the authors for articulating what I rarely hear anyone articulate, and what I have longed hoped would be the voice of the Christian church in America which to a large extent has lost its prophetic voice. The Babylonian Captivity of American Christianity is one of the great tragedies of our history. I call on all people of faith to recover their prophetic voices and to form the next generation of communities to be suspicious of all that goes under the banner of “American interests.”
It has been said that the basic tenent of Realpoltic is that ‘great nations’ do not have permanent principals or friends. The only thing of permanence are its interests. The ’shadow government’ that was spoken of during the Central American Holocaust is still with us. Some of us have awakened to the reality that the USA is hell bent on world domination. The question is how do we tell the rest of the citizens. Who will tell the people? BTW the people who need to know don’t read sites such as this.
I fear that this chance to radically change the imperial course of the USA will be lost by democrats urge to get along with so called moderates. Untill a significant number of citizens rally against Empire nothing will change.
I will mention one way the democrats enanble the neocons… by calling the Iraq war a mistake. It was not a mistake. It was a premeditated act of agression that has killed tens of thousands.
So who will tell the people?
Bennis and Jensen cut right through the corporate hypnosis in support of militarism. Historically, it became official policy of the US to ignore treaties and moral rules in the use of force a long time ago. Arguably, in February of 1819 when the House refused to condemn the conquest of Florida by General Jackson, a conquest that violated a treaty with Spain, and was, like the invasion of Iraq in 2003, illegal and immoral. Changing course from empire to Earth community (to use Korten’s phrase from the subtitle of his book The Great Turning) involves a shift from malevolence to benevolence and from lawlessness to the global rule of law. It is a big change. So to get the word out, more articles like this are in order. Bennis was on BBC World News last night on a broadcast from a PBS channel from Topeka Kansas. As always, Bennis was progressive and brilliant.
The key action for the American progressive citizenry is to learn the history of empire and to tell the US story of empire in that context. Read Korten’s The Great Turning tells the whole history. So does Karen Armstrong’s The Great Transformation with a focus on world religions as a response to empire. So does Lewis Mumford’s book The Myth of the Machine.
Telling the US story of empire in the context of the larger history of empire is necessary. Told by enough people who know the story will counter the stifling of that story by the corporate regime and its corporate media. Empire is the foreign policy of the corporate regime and of the current corporate system.
Earth community is the foreign policy vision of progressives–with “the justice that makes possible real peace” as Bennis and Jensen conclude.
Everything is at stake.
What a great article and great comments for progressive readers!
“Empire is the foreign policy of the corporate regime and of the current corporate system. ”
Earthian is absolutely right as always. This lust for Empire is all pervasive and cuts across party lines. Apathy it seems is the only appropriate term for the general american public today. Nothing, absolutely nothing, can permeate the psyche … unless of course the latest installment of American Idol springs another surprise.
Impeach Cheney HR 333 is on the table in the House of Representatives starting this week. Call your Rep at 202-225-3121 and state that you believe it must be done.
That there are serious reasons which will help the USA if this man is impeached.
Even George Tennet came out today and said that Cheney erred in the run-up to this war.
If we impeach, our reputation in the world will improve and we may avoid a war with Iran.
The media will not encourage impeachment, we must rely on ourselves and each other to spread the words which we know are moral: Cheney should not stand in office.
President Gerald Ford said that an impeachable offense is any that the majority of the House of Representative declare as a high crime and misdemeanor and so nothing needs to be proved. All we need is the majority vote in the House and then the matter is decided in the Senate on its merit and they vote on it.
Would this not be a great accomplishment: Courage is what we need- like th lion in the wizzard of oz- courage to do it and stand for that.
Gyptian, thanks for your comments. Figuring out how to permeate the apathy on the issue of a militaristic policy of empire is a key problem to solve. And getting the facts and the story right is a good place to begin.
Obviously, Jensen and Bennis understand the difference between empire and an Earth community with a vigorous and enforceable system of fair international laws. But so does Kucinich.
In the debate last night, the entire group was asked “Do you believe there is such a thing as a Global War On Terror?” Most of the group of eight Democratic candidates raised their hands. But Gravel and Kucinich did not. So Kucinich got called on. His first sentence was “The Global War On Terror has been a pretext for aggressive war.” THAT shows the same kind of understand demonstrated by Jensen and Bennis in this article. Gravel said that the US had no enemies and the the Military Industrial Complex controlled not only our government, but also our entire culture. THAT shows similar understanding.
The American progressive citizenry has a chance to reward Kucinich and Gravel for their progressive foreign policies of opposing empire. Supporting H Res 333 to impeach Cheney is a good place to start as Metamorph has proposed.
It seems like people overcomplicate things. Is it really that hard to see what the problem is? Do we really need a professor to tell us that we need to stop throwing our weight around and bullying the world? Hasn’t this been said before? The solutions to the world’s problems are pretty damn simple for the most part.
For those that want to support HR333 and get Cheney impeached, go over to afterdowningstreet.org and sign the petition. Impeach07.org has a huge number of actions going where you can make your voice heard by congress. Kucinich NEEDS your support!!! Tell your friends. ALL of them. This is not about what party you support. This is about justice and accountability.
Thanks.
The authors have defined what ought to be done, and I agree. But the task of mustering the cooperation of a significant portion of the American people is daunting. To share the resources of the world with all its people would entail forfeiting a great share of the comforts to which we Americans have come to depend upon. And to curb the appetite of the ruling class for power and wealth would require a movement of mass boycott. But the change must come from the grass roots, from OUR power of the purse.
George Bush is holding our troops hostage in Iraq. The ransom he demands from the American people is enough money to secure the oil fields long enough to divide them among his friends.
Someone better send out for pizza and cigarettes before he kills them all.
I admire Kucinich and all that he stands for but as long as he is tied to the Democratic party he is tarred by the same brush.
By the way … shouldnt it be HR666 ? Lets drive a stake into old ‘dick’.
The authors are entirely correct. If we do not deal with the deep-rooted and systemic thrust of American policy, one that is centered on empire, then Iraq will just represent a bump in the road.
From the ever-expanding military budget in the US, to the expanding spread of the tenacles of American power, some 700 bases in over 120 countries, let’s face it–the empire has to be dismantled and we must become a nation among nations in order for the world to be a safer place.
This is not pie-in-the-sky running from responsibility or abbrogation of manifest destiny–a stupid idea behind our drive for empire. It is the end of our over-blown arrogance. The world’s problems cannot be solved by allowing corporation’s and profit to be be the primary dialectic to be the only world view. We need to quit seeing the world through the eyes of the Exxon-Mobils and start seeing that cause and effect is the universal principle guiding the world. If we harm others by our selfish and hateful actions, then trouble will follow like the wheel of the cart follows the hoof of the ox pulling it.
I think you’re all making a serious mistake. Bush and his Pat Robertson advisors know they cannot impose a “New American Century” on a World where several other groups are pushing their own hegemony, like China, Russia and the wanna-be Islamic Caliphate. Their solution is a biblical “Armageddon” = World War Three. Thus, the crisis is not U.S. neo-imperialism in the traditional sense of a series of little wars to dominate economic turf, but a global holocaust instigated by the madmen who occupy the Whitehouse. Would you like to know just how insane they are? Since they got away with politely stepping aside to let Osama bin Laden’s AlQaeda make Bush an overnight hero on 9/11, they can do it again as our Mexican border has been open to whomever for many years! Therefore, if you want to save the World, impeachment is absolutely necessary. Otherwise, just kiss it all goodbye.
I submitted a comment, but it wasn’t posted. Why?
We need to defang the Corporate laws of America by revisiting those same laws of 1913 which replaced Democracy. Corporations are simple creatures of the state and therefore have ABSOLUTELY NO Constitutional validity.
America needs to stop looking at itself as a Nation above all other Nations, enforced by a reckless military brute of machine, and start looking at itself as a Nation among equals. It needs to stop proselytizing its xenophobic ideology.
We need to stop pledging allegiance to plundering Corporations of Enron and the military beast which most of them represent and serve.
Only by this action will Democracy be re-enthroned, by making the Corporation a toothless wonder tossed upon the scrap heap of history.
Peace, Best Wishes and Hope
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tk1vEuhBuEU
To sum up my post that was blocked - either impeach the madmen Bush and Cheney or suffer World War Three, period.
I think the article by Bennis and Jensen is well-written and well-considered. Their point of view appear consonant with the Global Marshall Plan advocated by the Network of Spiritual Progressives.
Apparently, my 12.37 p.m. post contained a buzz word and required closer scrutiny. So, thanks for posting it after all.
It’s great to see so many people that are concerned about our arrogant and hypocritical foreign policy. More people would agree if we could get the mainstream “liberal” media to discuss it.
It seems it started with the demonization of native americans and blacks to justify our use of genocide and slavery to establish our nation.
If you haven’t read it already, I suggest Stephen Kinzser’s “Overthrow: America’s Century of Regime Change from Hawaii to Iraq”.
Overthrow by Stephen Kinzer documents American imperialism around the globe since Hawaii in the mid 1800s. We consider ourselves to be a “christian” nation while we rape and pillage to world’s resources for our own gain. We must do something? This is a deadly dead end strategy.
This is an excellent article. For those who might not have read it, I also suggest John Perkins’ book “Confessions of an Economic Hit Man.” It is a very readable eye-opener.