How Can the U.S. Be an Empire and a Democracy at the Same Time? | Bill Moyers Journal (video & transcript) »
Posted By bowsnumba1 1 month ago in Political OpinionReporting from the world's most troubled hotspots, Mark Danner has seen countless deaths over ethnic and political divides, and witnessed firsthand how U.S. attempts to exploit those conflicts have resulted in disastrous unforeseen consequences. Danner speaks with Bill Moyers about Obama’s challenges in resetting the mindset of America from war to peace, and redefining the US as a nation.
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bowsnumba1
"Made" in Hawaii; former (& forever?) Quaker; unashamedly liberal (for enlightened government, not big government); outdoors educator & enthusiast; evangelical Christian (The more I read the Scriptures ...
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simonsez1 month ago
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Good article. We ARE living in the backwash of the War on Terror and it is a soft form of Martial Law that continues under Obama.
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In my opinion, it would be worthwhile to dismantle the bulk of Homeland Security structure and allow the professionals to identify threats to the nation. The population, as a whole, is much more observant than it was before 9/11. -
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gamahuche1 month ago
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FTA [great post, BTW]
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MARK DANNER: Well, part of what we're seeing now is the sorting out on the part of the administration and particularly I think in the mind of the President. In answer to precisely that question, what are our interests?
We've been told that our interests are to prevent the regathering of Al Qaeda and Afghanistan as a jihadist base of operations, from which more attacks like 9/11 can be launched. But the fact is that these people have a very light footprint. The idea that you can simply keep them out of a place by occupying it with, in effect, a handful of troops, I think is quite mistaken. There are other places they can go. Somalia, Sudan, various other countries.
So, I think, you know, what happens very frequently, our goals change during a war. The one goal which, George Kennan I quote saying in the book. The reason that we go in is often forgotten, and suddenly the goals become something like maintaining our dignity. Keeping up our international authority. Preventing a loss and the damage such a loss will do to our international profile. In other words, they all become I think what rhetoricians call heuristic. They're about the mission itself, not achieving anything else.
BILL MOYERS: So, are our troops there dying for primarily political reasons? For prestige, which the diplomats say is essential to maintaining our position in the world?
MARK DANNER: I think that's a very large part of it. I think the other irony here, and I think it's important to say this. One is the goals of 9/11 itself, of that attack was to draw the United States into Afghanistan to fight a counterinsurgency as the Soviets had done before them. And like the Soviets, to destroy the remaining superpower. That was actually what they were thinking.
It's one of the reasons why a major northern alliance leader was assassinated, was blown up a couple of days before 9/11. The anticipation was this would draw the United States in, and the United States would be defeated on Afghan soil.
The fascinating thing is that the Pentagon, of course, at the time in 2001 avoided this. They didn't want a major ground involvement. They used air bombardment and Afghan allies on the ground. They've been much criticized for this. But, in fact, they were trying to avoid what is exactly happening right now, which is a major land involvement, which will become, in David Halberstam's famous words, a quagmire.
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