posted March 12, 2003 at 9:13 p.m. MDTOh
The Pentagon's New Map by Thomas Barnett, US Naval War College sets out just why the oligarchs are going to murder thousands of Iraqi civilians and assassinate Saddam Hussein.
The rationalization begins like this: "Let me tell you why military engagement with Saddam Hussein’s regime in Baghdad is not only necessary and inevitable, but good. When the United States finally goes to war again in the Persian Gulf, it will not constitute a settling of old scores, or just an enforced disarmament of illegal weapons, or a distraction in the war on terror. Our next war in the Gulf will mark a historical tipping point—the moment when Washington takes real ownership of strategic security in the age of globalization."
Well, I guess we've been told! (And yes, they really are insane with pride. As the old saying goes, after hubris comes nemesis.) I can think of no finer example of hawkish self-centered Americanism, except perhaps the US statesman who explained that interfering with the Nicaraguan election was justified because "it was in our interests".
Oh.
(In case you want a glimpse of the hyper-rationalistic militarism that drove me out of the military in '73 [drove me out of my mind would be very nearly as true ... it's so Darth Vaderish that good people have filters against seeing it for what it is], have a look at the site directed by the paper's author: U.S. Naval War College's NewRuleSets Project)
