From William Arkin, an analyst who often writes for the Los Angeles Times Sunday opinion page on purely military matters, here’s an end of the year cri de coeur about the mad direction that the supposed “war on terrorism” has taken us. This is a strong piece for him, but he sees where we’re heading. America is now in lock down mode. It’s just that most of us haven’t noticed that, after a fashion, we’re prisoners too. Arkin suggests that our loss is their — the terrorists’ — gain. Unfortunately, our leaders also believe our loss is their gain. Tough luck, America.
I’ve also included a cross-border new year’s cri de coeur by Richard Gwyn, a columnist for the Toronto Star. Cross any border without getting picked up — you don’t have to go far — and I suspect this country will come into a lot clearer focus and it will be easier to call things by their proper names as Gwyn does. Eyes wide open its obvious enough that we’re heading down a path to, if not imperial, then global disaster, and any easy American triumphs in Iraq or elsewhere along the way, can only compound the catastrophes to come. Tom
‘War’ Plays Into Terrorists’ Hands
Don’t elevate criminal thugs to the status of real soldiers
By William M. Arkin
December 29 2002In the early morning of Oct. 23, 1983, a suicide bomber crashed a truck loaded with 12,000 pounds of explosives through the security perimeter of Headquarters Battalion Landing Team 1/8 at Beirut International Airport. The resulting explosion killed 241 U.S. Marines and wounded 70 others. An almost-simultaneous suicide attack a few miles away destroyed a building occupied by French paratroopers; 58 died.
President Reagan later said he had been rendered “almost speechless by the magnitude of the loss.”
At the time, Colin L. Powell was a major general, the senior military assistant to then-Secretary of Defense Caspar W. Weinberger. Writing about the events in his autobiography, Powell decried the fact that the battleship New Jersey had previously been lobbing Volkswagen-sized shells into the hills surrounding Beirut — “as if we were softening up the beaches on some Pacific atoll.”
William M. Arkin is a military affairs analyst who writes regularly for Opinion.
In the early morning of Oct. 23, 1983, a suicide bomber crashed a truck loaded with 12,000 pounds of explosives through the security perimeter of Headquarters Battalion Landing Team 1/8 at Beirut International Airport. The resulting explosion killed 241 U.S. Marines and wounded 70 others. An almost-simultaneous suicide attack a few miles away destroyed a building occupied by French paratroopers; 58 died.
President Reagan later said he had been rendered “almost speechless by the magnitude of the loss.”
At the time, Colin L. Powell was a major general, the senior military assistant to then-Secretary of Defense Caspar W. Weinberger. Writing about the events in his autobiography, Powell decried the fact that the battleship New Jersey had previously been lobbing Volkswagen-sized shells into the hills surrounding Beirut — “as if we were softening up the beaches on some Pacific atoll.”
William M. Arkin is a military affairs analyst who writes regularly for Opinion.
Dawn of Imperial America
In the New World Order as seen through the eyes of George W. Bush, everyone has the right to be like Americans
By RICHARD GWYN
The Toronto Star
January 1, 2003Idealism vs. imperialism. Realpolitik vs. humanitarianism. Trying to make the whole world a better place or – as predicted long ago by George Kennan, the brilliant diplomat who authored the doctrine of “containing” the Soviet Union that determined U.S. policy throughout the Cold War – doing everything needed from kicking ass to spin-doctoring so that Americans can continue gorging themselves on the world’s goodies.
On the eve of a U.S. attack on Iraq – an attack, that’s to say, on a small Third World country by the military master of the universe – it may seem hopelessly naive to suggest any alternative is in prospect but imperialism, national self-interest and a lot of ass kicking, softened, as in the 33-page National Security Strategy document, by occasional genuflections toward worthy concepts like “multilateralism.”