The politicians and shills in the media who orchestrated 20 years of military debacles in the Middle East, and who seek a world dominated by U.S. power, must be held accountable for their crimes.
"What is disturbing is not the cost to me personally. I was aware of the potential consequences. What is disturbing is that the architects of these debacles have never been held accountable and remain ensconced in power."
This is a ubiquitous problem. Name any top-level official that has been held accountable for their mistakes that have caused significant human harm. I cannot. There is no accountability. It used to be our press that would at least nudge the popular opinion in the direction of justice, but that went away too. Now it is all just part of the power cabal that protects itself.
I read that some old database that listed all the lies cataloged by the W administration related to the Iraq war had been recently deleted. Because of course if you no longer have the evidence, the perp is innocent.
Great article, but Obama is not mentioned. He had the best chance by far to go after the war criminals (victory by significant margins, both houses of Congress with democratic majorities), but chose not to. For this reason alone I'd consider him to be one of the worst presidents the US has had. And shame on him for aiding and abetting the worst of the worst!
Americans should be shocked at the idea that a ceasefire, under any terms, is unacceptable in Ukraine . They are not. Goebbels said that If you repeat a lie often enough, people will believe it. The propaganda machine in the U.S. has worked and now people believe that war is preferable to peace, because peace without "Democracy" is not acceptable, or some such idiotic indoctrination. When those who advocate peace are considered the enemy, the outlook for the future is grim indeed.
"Reporters and editors I had known for years would lower their heads as I passed, fearful of any career-killing contagion." Matthew 10:36: And a man's foes shall be they of his own household.
The world needs to sanction us, freeze our oligarchs assets, block our international banking access, give us a piece of our own medicine, kick our military installations off their land.
Compliment and criticism: love your tireless efforts against the War Machine - keep up the good work! Speaking (with the benefit of hindsight) as an avowed atheist and voluntaryist who loathes Right or Left authoritarianism, your 2007 book “American Fascists” seems to have overestimated the threat from the Christian right while missing the rise of the Woke fascists and their Antifa shock troops. Maybe time for another book?
One of the wars chief cheerleaders (the insufferable David Frum) just published a monstrosity of an article in a reputable media outlet ("The Iraq War Reconsidered" in The Atlantic) which insists that as gruesome as the Iraq War was it somehow managed to become a net positive for Iraqis (at least for those who weren't murdered, raped, tortured or maimed and who don't object to living in a failed state riven by violence and corruption). The U.S. wrecked Iraq with the enthusiastic support of useful idiots like Frum who remain fixtures in polite society. Shameful.
I do not understand how the myth of U.S. military supremacy has survived our military debacles in the Middle East where we were badly beaten by home grown crews of ill equipped fighters. After our ass was handed to us in Afghanistan, we provoked a proxy war in Ukraine against a peer nuclear power. We are doing the same with China.
A dangerous madness has infected our ruling class.
George Carlin (1937-2008) said that the politicians we get come from the people that elect them. They are a reflection of who we are. The lack of public support for the anti war movement gave Bush (the younger) almost a blank check for any war he wanted. The corruption of our culture from a compliant news media to country singers wanting a war so they could write song about putting a boot up their @%& and the masses of people numbed by the phony patriotic euphoria and rejection of war critics, allowed this colossal mistake to happen.
Adam Smith: “In great empires the people who live in the capital, and in the provinces remote from the scene of action, feel, many of them, scarce any inconveniency from the war; but enjoy, at their ease, the amusement of reading in the newspapers the exploits of their own fleets and armies. To them this amusement compensates the small difference between the taxes which they pay on account of the war, and those which they had been accustomed to pay in time of peace. They are commonly dissatisfied with the return of peace, which puts an end to their amusement, and to a thousand visionary hopes of conquest and national glory from a longer continuance of the war”.
This behavior is enabled, and cultivated by a compliant, servile press that come to journalism like eunuchs in a harem. They’ve seen how it’s done, they know how it’s done, but unable to do it themselves.
I marched before the war, and then I placed wooden crosses on the beach with Veterans for Peace during the war. The expression shoveling shit against the tide comes to mind. The massive protests against the war around the world were impotent.
I agree that if Putin is put on trial by the ICC, so should Bush. I would add a few others, such as Cheney, Clinton, Obama, Trump and Kissenger. But that would cause the US to attack Brussels the ICC location. A law has already been passed authorizing this.
I’m curious if anyone has an explanation for the hard shift towards warmongering among some people who were loud and courageous about Iraq at the time. For example, Sean Penn. Think what you like about him, he stood on the stage at the Oscars, and called out for the imprisonment of George Bush and Co. Even then that wasn’t a very popular position. Today he’s falling in line with the neocons, somehow glorifying Zelenskyy, and Ukraine. He’s not alone. It mystifies me. Anyone understand this?
Meanwhile, a State Department official today stated that the United States does not support any Chinese sponsored peace plan for Ukraine.
So much for the idea that Ukraine is a sovereign state with any agency and not a puppet regime.
The United States also is not at all happy that Saudi Arabia and Iran have improved relations, including an end to the War On Yemen.
So much for the nonsense that only American hegemony can keep the peace.
And that's before noting that none of the architects of The War On Iraq suffered any consequences, while truth-tellers such as Chris Hedges suffer.
So much for the bullshit styled "the rules based international order".
Chris Hedges knocking it out of the park. Share broadly, more people need to read writing like this.
"What is disturbing is not the cost to me personally. I was aware of the potential consequences. What is disturbing is that the architects of these debacles have never been held accountable and remain ensconced in power."
This is a ubiquitous problem. Name any top-level official that has been held accountable for their mistakes that have caused significant human harm. I cannot. There is no accountability. It used to be our press that would at least nudge the popular opinion in the direction of justice, but that went away too. Now it is all just part of the power cabal that protects itself.
I read that some old database that listed all the lies cataloged by the W administration related to the Iraq war had been recently deleted. Because of course if you no longer have the evidence, the perp is innocent.
Chris, personally grateful for your work and the effort it takes to voice your critically invaluable perspective.
Such a rare yet consummately American breed.
Great article, but Obama is not mentioned. He had the best chance by far to go after the war criminals (victory by significant margins, both houses of Congress with democratic majorities), but chose not to. For this reason alone I'd consider him to be one of the worst presidents the US has had. And shame on him for aiding and abetting the worst of the worst!
Americans should be shocked at the idea that a ceasefire, under any terms, is unacceptable in Ukraine . They are not. Goebbels said that If you repeat a lie often enough, people will believe it. The propaganda machine in the U.S. has worked and now people believe that war is preferable to peace, because peace without "Democracy" is not acceptable, or some such idiotic indoctrination. When those who advocate peace are considered the enemy, the outlook for the future is grim indeed.
"Reporters and editors I had known for years would lower their heads as I passed, fearful of any career-killing contagion." Matthew 10:36: And a man's foes shall be they of his own household.
The world needs to sanction us, freeze our oligarchs assets, block our international banking access, give us a piece of our own medicine, kick our military installations off their land.
Compliment and criticism: love your tireless efforts against the War Machine - keep up the good work! Speaking (with the benefit of hindsight) as an avowed atheist and voluntaryist who loathes Right or Left authoritarianism, your 2007 book “American Fascists” seems to have overestimated the threat from the Christian right while missing the rise of the Woke fascists and their Antifa shock troops. Maybe time for another book?
One of the wars chief cheerleaders (the insufferable David Frum) just published a monstrosity of an article in a reputable media outlet ("The Iraq War Reconsidered" in The Atlantic) which insists that as gruesome as the Iraq War was it somehow managed to become a net positive for Iraqis (at least for those who weren't murdered, raped, tortured or maimed and who don't object to living in a failed state riven by violence and corruption). The U.S. wrecked Iraq with the enthusiastic support of useful idiots like Frum who remain fixtures in polite society. Shameful.
I do not understand how the myth of U.S. military supremacy has survived our military debacles in the Middle East where we were badly beaten by home grown crews of ill equipped fighters. After our ass was handed to us in Afghanistan, we provoked a proxy war in Ukraine against a peer nuclear power. We are doing the same with China.
A dangerous madness has infected our ruling class.
George Carlin (1937-2008) said that the politicians we get come from the people that elect them. They are a reflection of who we are. The lack of public support for the anti war movement gave Bush (the younger) almost a blank check for any war he wanted. The corruption of our culture from a compliant news media to country singers wanting a war so they could write song about putting a boot up their @%& and the masses of people numbed by the phony patriotic euphoria and rejection of war critics, allowed this colossal mistake to happen.
Adam Smith: “In great empires the people who live in the capital, and in the provinces remote from the scene of action, feel, many of them, scarce any inconveniency from the war; but enjoy, at their ease, the amusement of reading in the newspapers the exploits of their own fleets and armies. To them this amusement compensates the small difference between the taxes which they pay on account of the war, and those which they had been accustomed to pay in time of peace. They are commonly dissatisfied with the return of peace, which puts an end to their amusement, and to a thousand visionary hopes of conquest and national glory from a longer continuance of the war”.
This behavior is enabled, and cultivated by a compliant, servile press that come to journalism like eunuchs in a harem. They’ve seen how it’s done, they know how it’s done, but unable to do it themselves.
I marched before the war, and then I placed wooden crosses on the beach with Veterans for Peace during the war. The expression shoveling shit against the tide comes to mind. The massive protests against the war around the world were impotent.
I agree that if Putin is put on trial by the ICC, so should Bush. I would add a few others, such as Cheney, Clinton, Obama, Trump and Kissenger. But that would cause the US to attack Brussels the ICC location. A law has already been passed authorizing this.
I’m curious if anyone has an explanation for the hard shift towards warmongering among some people who were loud and courageous about Iraq at the time. For example, Sean Penn. Think what you like about him, he stood on the stage at the Oscars, and called out for the imprisonment of George Bush and Co. Even then that wasn’t a very popular position. Today he’s falling in line with the neocons, somehow glorifying Zelenskyy, and Ukraine. He’s not alone. It mystifies me. Anyone understand this?
Beautifully-written truth telling. Thank you for having the courage to write it.