The High Price of Patriotism
By Robert Scheer
Truthdig: 27, 2010
It's over for the U.S. in Afghanistan, but that doesn't mean the death and
destruction are about to stop. Quagmires don't just go away. However, the
signs are everywhere that the American course in that nation is doomed, that
those directing this forlorn attempt at occupation of a country that has
never tolerated occupation know there is no positive end in sight, and that
the locals from President Hamid Karzai to the competing warlords and the
Taliban are cutting their own deals on the assumption that our wishes no
longer matter.
Predictably, the U.S. media dismissed Karzai's denunciation on Monday of the
role of American mercenaries in the wanton destruction of his society.
"Karzai rails against America in a diatribe," was the way a New York Times
headline summarized his press conference, suggesting that his complaints
were nothing more than the temper tantrum of an ungrateful child.
But Karzai is right. American mercenaries are spreading mayhem across
Afghanistan thanks to enormous U.S. spending on the contractors that he has
ordered out of the country. "The money starts in the name of the private
security companies in the hallways of the U.S. government," Karzai stated in
a clear description of the modern working of our military-industrial
complex, adding: "The profits are made and arranged there . then they send
the money to kill people here. . When this money comes to Afghanistan, it
causes insecurity in Afghan homes and causes the killing of Afghan children
and causes explosions and terrorism in Afghanistan."
Our military investments recruit rather than combat terrorists, but that is
not a bad outcome if the goal is greater instability as an excuse to keep
defense spending absurdly high despite the end of the Cold War two decades
ago. Isn't that what it's all about? Our military budget, bigger than that
of the rest of the world combined and higher in real dollars that at any
time since World War II, is nothing more than a profit and jobs center for
the defense industry, which has its tentacles in every congressional
district. The invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan were never about combating
terrorism, which is a supranational phenomena anchored in neither country.
Fighting terrorists who are armed with box cutters does not require
sophisticated weaponry, including an enormously costly drone force, but
instead effective international police work dependent on sleuths who have
mastered local customs and languages. But there's not much money to be made
off that sort of gumshoe detective work, and that's why we have two hot wars
going even though the al-Qaida enemy has left the battlefields of Iraq and
Afghanistan.
Karzai's equally forceful defense at that press conference of his right to
take money from Iran was another grievous blow to the American fantasy of
using him to remake Afghanistan over in our image. "They do give us bags of
money-yes, yes, it is done," Karzai admitted, adding the obvious: "We are
grateful to the Iranians for this. Patriotism has a price."
Patriotism is always in the eye of the beholder, so why is Karzai's
patriotism tawdrier than that of the executives of Lockheed and Boeing who
still build planes designed to evade Soviet air defenses that were never
created? Karzai is now playing the patriot who will line the pockets of his
most influential countrymen, and he has turned to another source, suspecting
that our funding might come with too many strings attached. He is proving to
be a substantial leader, corrupt as he may be, in that he is no longer
willing to play the puppet. This sort of rebellion happened before in
Vietnam when Ngo Dinh Diem, the U.S.-imposed liberator, turned against us
and our CIA assassinated him. How long before Karzai meets a similar fate?
This fatal syndrome in American imperial designs is well known to Richard
Holbrooke, President Barack Obama's key civilian adviser, who played a
similar role in Vietnam. Back then, when Holbrooke was involved in the
Phoenix assassination program (he now is involved with the drone
assassinations), the reckless murder of civilians was aimed at winning their
hearts and minds. It didn't work because we destroyed too many of their
bodies in the process.
The arrogance of these adventures in nation-building represents an enduring
example of America's deeply provincial and blindingly self-centered role in
the world. That Holbrooke has learned nothing from his trail of deceit
posing as diplomacy is not so startling given the obtuse nature of the man,
but that Obama has entrusted this most critical aspect of his foreign policy
to the likes of a hack like Holbrooke is truly depressing.
***
From: Robert Greenfield
Sent: Wednesday, October 27, 2010 9:39 PM
Subject: George Bernard Shaw
Of all the biographies of the famous that I have perused the greatest life
story to me is that of G.B. Shaw 1856-1950.
This man used his life so well. He wooed a hundred beautiful woman. He
gave 2,000 free utterly powerful & brilliant lectures throughout London. He
wrote numerous renowned plays for the stage with remarkable utterly
brilliant & inimitable prefaces that constitute practically a literature of
their own. He wrote also for the Fabian Socialists---he literally wrote
their constitution & their regular papers on various economic & political
subjects.
GBS knew the whole internal system of London---its sewers & its garbage
disposal & its plumbing & its governance-every penny spent. He knew what
everything cost throughout the whole complicated city & how efficient the
city was better than any London politician by far. The guy was a genius
beyond geniuses. He quit school at 16 & studied at The London Museum----I
believe it is the same library that nourished Karl Marx. GBS was an atheist
who knew the Bible better than any minister. And practiced a kind of
rigorous charity. He became a very rich man though he considered himself a
Communist an Atheist & a Vegetarian.
He was a champion debater & could take any opponent to pieces in front of
the microphone but what he did instead was restate his opponent's arguments
& give them such power that everybody loved to debate GBS. He refused to
make his foes look bad. Here is the mark of a Big Man. He found
Shakespeare ponderous & unnecessarily wordy as he found 19th century romance
& family absolutely unacceptable. It was a bad deal for women. Most
husbands were out cheating or drinking & absent from the hearth after a
couple years & the women had no place to go. And the women were so enamored
of the idea of family they accepted that lousy bargain. GBS said marriage &
romance are a great big lie leading to boring totally unfulfilled lives.
Women get stuck in the kitchen & are turned into robots in many instances.
As a playwright GBS met the greatest & most beautiful actresses in England &
he wooed every one of them to star in his plays. Got to know many of them
extremely well & indeed romantically. He married a wealthy woman in mid
life. And he was himself a millionaire who was constantly receiving
requests for hand-outs. GBS was as vigilant in his sending out of money &
gifts as he was in his study of the inner city of London & its various
economic castrophes. He lived to be 94. The doctors told him he could
easily make 100 if he would only eat beef once/month. GBS said the only
reason to stay alive is to be useful. And toward the end & in his 90's he
lost that sense of essential utility. So he pleasantly departed the stage.
One of my favorite Shavianisms is this: "Do not consider me an example;
take my life as a warning."
And: "Some people see things as they are and say why. I dream things that
never were and say why not."
This latter quote was used by Bobby Kennedy on the campaign trail. Bobby
also quoted Camus.
Hope you appreciate this bare sketch of George Bernard Shaw. I have left
out everythin of course. There is a great biography of Shaw by Michael
Holroyd. In fact he wrote 2 remarkable biographies. First, a magnificent
3-vol. biog of Shaw. He followed that with a new one-vol GBS that contains
all kinds of new facts. He had so much material he left a lot out of the
3-vol edition. I love both! Though the one-vol. feels somehow more cogent.
Also the conservative Catholic GK Chesterton has written a remarkable biog
of Shaw testifying to Shaw's general magnificence as a human being. It is a
very exciting biography written by one of the masters of classical 19th
century British prose.
There are others that I have looked into & almost finished. They all add
something to Shaw' amazing life. So FULL it seems it would take at least 5
people to accomplish what GBS did by himself.
RLG
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