Summary: The response of America to 9-11, encouraged by our leaders, was fear. Abject, bed-wetting, hysterical fear. Fear exacts a many-fold price from those who surrender to it. Slowly one symptom has emerged, tarnishing our history and corrupting our thinking: bloodlust. Exultation at assassination — a kind of killing usually considered unheroic or despicable (and distinct from our typical glorification of battles).
Contents
- An important and cheerful reminder. But he does not see our greatest danger
- Predictions from the Sixth Century, BC — and 2009
- America Today
- Glenn Greenwald explains what we will not see
- A closing thought
- For more information
(1) An important and cheerful reminder. But he does not see our greatest danger
Perhaps most importantly, {my new book} documents the fact that even when all other intended checks on government excesses fail — when the media, the Congress and the courts are co-opted or are otherwise neutralized — Americans always have the ability, inherent in our system of government, to put a stop to abuses and excesses, provided they choose to exercise that power.
— “How Would a Patriot Act?“, Glenn Greenwald, 25 April 2006
As an attorney specializing in Constitution law, Greenwald was of course correct about the nature of our political system. But he overlooked an effect of a long war: it corrupts the people who wage it. Seven years later this has become clear to all who wish to see.
(2) Predictions from the Sixth Century, BC — and 2009
There is no instance of a country having benefited from prolonged warfare.
— Sun Tzu, The Art of War (text here)
He hasn’t the faintest notions that it is possible that our victory, if we win dirty and betray every principle of value, will turn us into monsters. Then we won’t really need an enemy. We will have become out own worst enemy.
— ”Lt. Col. Ralph Peters on Journalists: ‘Kill Them All’“, Richard Silverstein, posted at Tikun Olam, 21 May 2009
Might there be a psychological basis for our wars? Or might we suffer psychological damage from our long wars? Perhaps they might warp our values, perhaps even awakening an atavistic bloodlust. Already we can see signs of this in our newspapers and on television.
— Bloodlust – a natural by-product of a long war?, FM website, 11 August 2009
(3) America today
Quotes provided by Glenn Greenwald at Salon.
To rid the world of Osama bin Laden, Anwar al-Awlaki and Moammar Qaddafi within six months: if Obama were a Republican, he’d be on Mount Rushmore by now.
— Andrew Sullivan, The Daily Beast, 20 October 2011 — He’s mistaken about the qualities Americans’ esteem in Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, and Teddy Roosevelt
As the President began his statement announcing the death of Osama bin Laden inside the White House, a large crowd of people, about 200 and growing, had gathered outside the White House gates on Pennsylvania Avenue, waving flags and dancing. They sang the “Star Spangled Banner” in unison and chanting “USA! USA! USA!” They also just sang, “Na na na na — na na na na …Hey hey goodbye” in reference to Osama bin Laden. The crowd is swelling by the minute. People are running to join the group with American flags and there is lots of dancing and cheering. Complete jubilation.
— ABC News, 1 May 2011
We came, we saw, he died.
— SecState Clinton jokes with a reporter about Qaddafi, CBS News, 20 October 2011
“Ummmm, guess you ought to be more careful when associated with and visiting known terrorists. I love them drones!!”
— One of countless comments posted to articles about the assassination of al-Awalki’s 16-year old son, a US citizen apparently collateral damage in a US strike — details (of course) still secret.
“America, Fuck Yeah!” is basically our foreign policy.
— Jeremy Scahill (journalist), on Twitter, 21 October 2011
Our clueless leader explains that assassination is the story of our history:
The cause of securing our country is not complete. But tonight, we are once again reminded that America can do whatever we set our mind to. That is the story of our history, whether it’s the pursuit of prosperity for our people, or the struggle for equality for all our citizens; our commitment to stand up for our values abroad, and our sacrifices to make the world a safer place.
Let us remember that we can do these things not just because of wealth or power, but because of who we are: one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
— Remarks by President Obama about the death of Osama Bin Laden, 1 May 2011
(4) Glenn Greenwald explains what we will not see
That sentiment of national pride had in the past been triggered by putting a man on the moon, or discovering cures for diseases, or creating technology that improved the lives of millions, or transforming the Great Depression into a thriving middle class, or correcting America’s own entrenched injustices. Yet here was President Obama proclaiming that what should now cause us to be “reminded” of our national greatness was our ability to hunt someone down, pump bullets into his skull, and then dump his corpse into the ocean.
… That’s how foreign policy greatness is established: by how many heads the Emperor can display on a pike. The President is not just entitled to kill anyone he wants in multiple countries around the world — with no oversight, transparency or accountability, no evidence presented, no obligation to capture or try them, no need to even explain the principles that guide these killings — but is to be celebrated for doing so. And the piles of corpses of innocent people produced by this onslaught — of teenagers, infants, innocent women and men — are simply to be ignored.
… Constantly celebrating the people we kill — dancing over their corpses — is now one of the most significant and common American rituals shaping our political culture. One of the most consequential aspects of the Obama legacy is that this mentality has become fully bipartisan. And it’s hard to see how this will change any time soon: once one goes down that road, it’s very difficult to turn around and go back. That’s true both individually and of a nation.
— “A remaining realm of American excellence“, Glenn Greenwald, 22 October 2011
(5) A closing thought
I don’t think it’s a good thing for the nation’s soul to be constantly celebrating people we’ve killed.
— Christopher Hayes (Washington editor of The Nation), on Twitter, 21 October 2011
(6) For more information
About fear:
- Today’s fear-mongering (they think we’re cowards, but I’m sure they’re wrong), 4 May 2010
- Obama knows how to lead America by exploiting our fears, June 2009
About our assassinations:
- James Bond is not just our hero, but the model for our geopolitical strategy, 18 May 2009
- Stratfor looks at “The Utility of Assassination”, 26 February 2010
- Killing the leaders of our enemy. Is this the fast track to victory – or disaster?, 25 October 2010
- About the strategic significance of bin Laden’s execution, and the road not taken, 5 May 2011
Speculations from August 2009 about the effects on America of our Long War:
- How will the Long War affect America? Will it make us stronger or weaker? Crazy? Unleash our dark side?
- Why we fight. Causes of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
- Killing prisoners, our new tactic in the War on Terror?
- Bloodlust – a natural by-product of a long war?
