Gary Hart on America's imperialism

The cause of imperialism, weakened for a time by the fall of the European and Soviet empires, has found new advocates. The fact that the 21st century imperial power happens to be the United States of America, whose independence from colonialism was declared 228 years ago, seems not to matter. The neoconservatives' project to position the United States as the world's dominant power -- and to use that power to govern in venues chosen seemingly by them alone, and collectively where reasonably easy but unilaterally where necessary -- has been advanced and saluted.

A careful review of the statements of President Bush and his administration up to the declaration of victory in Iraq yields little evidence of the true purpose of America's invasion. The world is now familiar with the arguments: Iraq possesses weapons of mass destruction; Iraq has or will soon have a "nuclear capability"; Iraq harbors and supports terrorists planning attacks on the United States; Iraq itself is a threat to U.S. national security. All have proved untrue and are no longer offered as justification for America's "preventive" war on Iraq, an action with precedent in U.S. history possibly only in the Philippines more than a century ago.

Today the president and his team offer the rationalization that deposing Saddam Hussein was necessary to achieve peace in the Middle East. This argument was never used in the run-up to war for the simple reason that it condoned an act of empire. Leave aside the fact that the argument is severely flawed, as subsequent history has shown. The United States is now bogged down in urban warfare against indigenous militias, a style of warfare for which it is largely unprepared and that causes unsustainable levels of civilian casualties. The war has substantially contributed to anti-American sentiments throughout the region and possibly throughout the Islamic world. Peace in the Middle East is now farther in the distance, not closer.

remainder at Salon.com

I think Hart could have drawn out his thesis further and better, but he has summaraized well the difference between what the American people were told were our reasons for going to war and what the true reasons were, and what the consequences have been instead of what they were intended to be.

ENOUGH!

Person A sends an email to (from the list of addresses of entire business units) everyone in the corporation about a local (Fairfax) issue that can't really be resolved by sending people an email.

Persons B-E reply all "Gee, no, I can't help you" (one or more pointing out that their office isn't even in the Commonwealth of Virgina.

Persons F-K reply "Please stop replying to everyon." One person even writes a two-paragraph email explaining why Persons B-E may not have realized that they were doing this, or may mistakenly have thought it was a good idea, but should nonetheless desist.

Uh, folks, some of you sending the "please desist" messgaes were writing mroe than half an hour apart; FOLLOW YOUR OWN ADVICE!

IMO, someone participating in more than one of these dorkfests per year should be fired for incompetence. Makes as much sense as firing people for having porn on their computers.

Edit: we are now up over 15 entries and climbing rapidly. I guess I should just be grateful, considering how broad-cast the message was, that it isn't *more*.

Also: My friend Nick sent this to myself and another friend. I love Nick. :-)

Have you heard about the controversy surrounding the Centreville High School electronic signboard? It seems somebody at SAIC promised to pay for it, but it's not clear who, although it might have been somebody in the Fairfax County area. If you have any ideas, be sure to let everybody in the whole company know.

Later edit: We're up to 25 emails now, whihc people beginning to employ threats and insults.

pinched from kellfire

( Seven solutions for common problems, cut for those who have already read it, or can do without )

this is very sad

http://www.prochoiceactionnetwork-canada.org/anti-tales.html

Iraqi soccer players speak out

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2004/olympics/2004/writers/08/19/iraq/index.html

various excerpts

[Iraqi Olympic soccer team striker Salih] Sadir had a message for U.S. president George W. Bush, who is using the Iraqi Olympic team in his latest re-election campaign advertisements.

In those spots, the flags of Iraq and Afghanistan appear as a narrator says, "At this Olympics there will be two more free nations -- and two fewer terrorist regimes."

"Iraq as a team does not want Mr. Bush to use us for the presidential campaign," Sadir told SI.com through a translator, speaking calmly and directly. "He can find another way to advertise himself."

...

Ahmed Manajid, who played as a midfielder on Wednesday, had an even stronger response when asked about Bush's TV advertisement. "How will he meet his god having slaughtered so many men and women?" Manajid told me. "He has committed so many crimes."

...

Manajid, 22, who nearly scored his own goal with a driven header on Wednesday, hails from the city of Fallujah. He says coalition forces killed Manajid's cousin, Omar Jabbar al-Aziz, who was fighting as an insurgent, and several of his friends. In fact, Manajid says, if he were not playing soccer he would "for sure" be fighting as part of the resistance.

"I want to defend my home. If a stranger invades America and the people resist, does that mean they are terrorists?" Manajid says. "Everyone [in Fallujah] has been labeled a terrorist. These are all lies. Fallujah people are some of the best people in Iraq."

Everyone agrees that Iraq's soccer team is one of the Olympics' most remarkable stories. If the Iraqis beat Australia on Saturday -- which is entirely possible, given their performance so far -- they would reach the semifinals. Three of the four semifinalists will earn medals, a prospect that seemed unthinkable for Iraq before this tournament.

When the Games are over, though, Coach Hamad says, they will have to return home to a place where they fear walking the streets. "The war is not secure," says Hamad, 43. "Many people hate America now. The Americans have lost many people around the world--and that is what is happening in America also."