Op-Ed
To understand what’s up with President Obama as he escalates the war in Afghanistan, there may be no better place to look than a book published 25 years ago. “The March of Folly,” by historian Barbara Tuchman, is a chilling assessment of how very smart people in power can do very stupid things -- how a war effort, ordered from on high, goes from tic to repetition compulsion to obsession -- and how we, with undue deference and lethal restraint, pay our respects to the dominant moral torpor to such an extent that mass slaughter becomes normalized in our names.
What happens among policymakers is a “process of self-hypnosis,” Tuchman writes. After recounting examples from the Trojan War to the British moves against rebellious American colonists, she devotes the closing chapters of “The March of Folly” to the long arc of the U.S. war in Vietnam. The parallels with the current escalation of the war in Afghanistan are more than uncanny; they speak of deeply rooted patterns.
What happens among policymakers is a “process of self-hypnosis,” Tuchman writes. After recounting examples from the Trojan War to the British moves against rebellious American colonists, she devotes the closing chapters of “The March of Folly” to the long arc of the U.S. war in Vietnam. The parallels with the current escalation of the war in Afghanistan are more than uncanny; they speak of deeply rooted patterns.
Imagine if Spain indicts Gonzales, Bybee, Haynes, Yoo, Addington, and Feith, but the United States fails to extradite them and in fact appears guilty of having harbored and possibly even employed them at good salaries. Then suppose -- use your imagination! -- that Spain invades and occupies the United States. Now, imagine that seven years later we still aren't happy with being occupied by Spain, and the people of Spain oppose their own government's crimes and follies. Wouldn't it be decent and appreciated if some crusading Spanish legislators were to propose a piece of legislation requiring that within the next seven months their nation produce a plan to eventually someday withdraw all of its troops from our country?
George W. Bush has been compared to Curious George the monkey for many years, but the comparison didn't quite fit until now. Every Curious George story must include these plot elements:
1. The man with the yellow hat shows George something irresistible, asks him to leave it alone, and then wanders off.
2. George resists everything except temptation and causes all kinds of trouble.
3. Someone makes the bizarre claim that George has done more good than harm, gives him a prize.
1. The man with the yellow hat shows George something irresistible, asks him to leave it alone, and then wanders off.
2. George resists everything except temptation and causes all kinds of trouble.
3. Someone makes the bizarre claim that George has done more good than harm, gives him a prize.
"I don't recall" is now "that would depend." While then-Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, when testifying before Congress, was oddly unable to remember anything prior to that morning's breakfast, now Attorney General Eric Holder is oddly unable to forecast what, if anything, he will do to hold government officials accountable to the rule of law.
On Thursday, Holder testified before the House Judiciary Committee. Congressman Brad Sherman asked Holder what he would do if a government official was clearly and blatantly violating the law, was misspending funds on a project they had not been appropriated for, or was refusing to make public information in a manner clearly and explicitly required by law. Sherman asked about specific current examples and didn't get a straight answer. He then asked a more general hypothetical question, and still didn't get a straight answer. Sherman asked a third time, and still got nowhere. Holder avoided saying that, even as a general principle, he would ever prosecute a government official. (Here's video).
On Thursday, Holder testified before the House Judiciary Committee. Congressman Brad Sherman asked Holder what he would do if a government official was clearly and blatantly violating the law, was misspending funds on a project they had not been appropriated for, or was refusing to make public information in a manner clearly and explicitly required by law. Sherman asked about specific current examples and didn't get a straight answer. He then asked a more general hypothetical question, and still didn't get a straight answer. Sherman asked a third time, and still got nowhere. Holder avoided saying that, even as a general principle, he would ever prosecute a government official. (Here's video).
The desperation of our military efforts is showing around the edges of the carnage and tragedy. This past week has brought three official U.S. denials that we have done what eyewitnesses and/or other evidence indicates we did: a) used white phosphorous as a weapon against Afghan civilians; b) killed nearly 150 Afghan villagers in a sustained bombardment; c) killed a 12-year-old Iraqi boy as he stood innocently by the side of the road selling fruit juice.
Note to David: Goliath’s vulnerability is the truth.
We are living on the brink of profound change, hard as that change is to see through the smoke and rubble — but why else would the U.S. military, or any other military for that matter, find it so hard to accept responsibility for its own actions? Why the fumbling evasions rather than a sneering “It was necessary”? If might makes right, why take the trouble to worry about public relations at all?
Note to David: Goliath’s vulnerability is the truth.
We are living on the brink of profound change, hard as that change is to see through the smoke and rubble — but why else would the U.S. military, or any other military for that matter, find it so hard to accept responsibility for its own actions? Why the fumbling evasions rather than a sneering “It was necessary”? If might makes right, why take the trouble to worry about public relations at all?
There are many reasons why progressives will mobilize behind the campaign of Marcy Winograd, who announced on Monday that she’ll challenge incumbent Congresswoman Jane Harman in the 2010 Democratic primary.
Some will speak of Harman’s pro-war record. Some will recall her support for warrantless wiretapping, followed by her irony-free indignation when it turned out that NSA snoops had taped her own phone conversations. Some will recount Harman’s long public silence after being briefed on torture by the U.S. government.
And then there’s the extensive evidence that Rep. Harman has gone over the top to do the bidding of the Israeli government and some of its most extreme supporters in the United States.
But what may be most significant about Winograd’s race to unseat Harman in 2010 is that it reflects -- and is likely to help nurture -- a growing maturity among progressives around the country who are tired of merely complaining about centrist Democrats in Congress.
Many progressives are getting a clear take-home message: Let’s stop griping about lousy members of Congress and start defeating them.
Some will speak of Harman’s pro-war record. Some will recall her support for warrantless wiretapping, followed by her irony-free indignation when it turned out that NSA snoops had taped her own phone conversations. Some will recount Harman’s long public silence after being briefed on torture by the U.S. government.
And then there’s the extensive evidence that Rep. Harman has gone over the top to do the bidding of the Israeli government and some of its most extreme supporters in the United States.
But what may be most significant about Winograd’s race to unseat Harman in 2010 is that it reflects -- and is likely to help nurture -- a growing maturity among progressives around the country who are tired of merely complaining about centrist Democrats in Congress.
Many progressives are getting a clear take-home message: Let’s stop griping about lousy members of Congress and start defeating them.
If you're paying attention, you know that no more evidence is needed to prosecute and convict our top national torturers, murderers, war mongers, eavesdroppers, and election riggers. If you want to protest our nation's descent into open lawlessness, by no means delay. If you're not planning on going to church on May 31st, for godsake don't. But if you are planning to attend a church that day, and if more torture photos are finally made public on May 28th, I hope you will take some inspiration from the church blogging of Nick Mottern and bring along some new poster-sized images of what torture does to people.
Predictably, recent polling found that white evangelical Christian Americans are more likely to support torture, followed by white Catholics, other white protestants, and trailing far behind: the non-religious. I would predict the same results for supporting aggressive war, unlawful detentions, union busting, defunding education, protecting corporate power, teaching primitive myths to children, and general all-around backwardness. And Mormons, among other groups, would score high in these rankings if included.
Predictably, recent polling found that white evangelical Christian Americans are more likely to support torture, followed by white Catholics, other white protestants, and trailing far behind: the non-religious. I would predict the same results for supporting aggressive war, unlawful detentions, union busting, defunding education, protecting corporate power, teaching primitive myths to children, and general all-around backwardness. And Mormons, among other groups, would score high in these rankings if included.
That's right, children, it's national Nancy Day, honoring the occasion on May 7, 2006, when Nancy Pelosi first allowed Tim Russert to badger her into agreeing that she wouldn't permit the impeachment of Saint George or Father Dick, not even if they barbequed children on the White House lawn.
The right honorable Republican National Committee had just sent out a press release reading, roughly, as follows: "Skin me, Miss Nancy, snatch out my eyeballs, t'ar out my yeras by de roots, en cut off my legs, but don't deprive me of mah rightful impeachment. Don't fling me in dat immunity-patch."
For weeks the RNC talking heads had all had the same talking points: impeachment will revive the Republican Party. Give us impeachment and we'll rally our wingers till the Fourth Reich comes hand-in-hand with Jesus to attend your waterboarding. We'll dine on roast donkey for years to come if you'll only impeach us, Miss Nancy.
The right honorable Republican National Committee had just sent out a press release reading, roughly, as follows: "Skin me, Miss Nancy, snatch out my eyeballs, t'ar out my yeras by de roots, en cut off my legs, but don't deprive me of mah rightful impeachment. Don't fling me in dat immunity-patch."
For weeks the RNC talking heads had all had the same talking points: impeachment will revive the Republican Party. Give us impeachment and we'll rally our wingers till the Fourth Reich comes hand-in-hand with Jesus to attend your waterboarding. We'll dine on roast donkey for years to come if you'll only impeach us, Miss Nancy.
“The special forces guys — they hunt men, basically. We do the same things as Christians, we hunt people for Jesus. We do, we hunt them down. Get the hound of heaven after them, so we get them into the kingdom.”
It’s worse than you think.
Torture, religion, democracy, God. They’re all part of the mixed-up, horrific business that George Bush unleashed in the Middle East and Central Asia, and that Barack Obama is struggling to control and rationalize. As the words above demonstrate, the 12th century is striving mightily to join hands with the 20th in the U.S. military: Unbridled religious arrogance is forging a link with high-tech weaponry and an unlimited defense budget.
It’s worse than you think.
Torture, religion, democracy, God. They’re all part of the mixed-up, horrific business that George Bush unleashed in the Middle East and Central Asia, and that Barack Obama is struggling to control and rationalize. As the words above demonstrate, the 12th century is striving mightily to join hands with the 20th in the U.S. military: Unbridled religious arrogance is forging a link with high-tech weaponry and an unlimited defense budget.
In the Arctic, sea ice is melting. In the United States, houses are foreclosing.
And in Washington, the Senate is becoming a real-life Bermuda Triangle for progressive agendas.
Proposals for major limits on carbon emissions aren’t getting far in the Senate, where the corporate war on the environment has an abundance of powerful allies.
As for class war, it continues to rage from the top down. Last week, a dozen Democratic senators teamed up with Republicans to defeat a bill that would have allowed judges to reduce mortgages in bankruptcy courts.
President Obama supported that bill. But as the Associated Press reported, he was “facing stiff opposition from banks” and “did little to pressure lawmakers” on behalf of the measure. The Senate “defeated a plan to spare hundreds of thousands of homeowners from foreclosure through bankruptcy.”
And in Washington, the Senate is becoming a real-life Bermuda Triangle for progressive agendas.
Proposals for major limits on carbon emissions aren’t getting far in the Senate, where the corporate war on the environment has an abundance of powerful allies.
As for class war, it continues to rage from the top down. Last week, a dozen Democratic senators teamed up with Republicans to defeat a bill that would have allowed judges to reduce mortgages in bankruptcy courts.
President Obama supported that bill. But as the Associated Press reported, he was “facing stiff opposition from banks” and “did little to pressure lawmakers” on behalf of the measure. The Senate “defeated a plan to spare hundreds of thousands of homeowners from foreclosure through bankruptcy.”