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American Capitalism - Disasterous Consequences?, Richard Falk
American Capitalism - Disasterous Consequences?, Richard Falk
Human Rights & Human Welfare
Naomi Klein’s depiction of late-capitalism as feeding off a disaster-prone planet and state-system is provocative and illuminating, even if it seems to be itself a form of “shock and awe” journalism. The great cultural critic of the 1960s, Norman O. Brown, memorably said of psychoanalysis, “[o]nly the exaggerations are valuable,” and so it might be with this critique of the dark sides of recent tendencies in world economic activity. It is notable that the book version of Klein’s article bears the title The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism, which itself can be read as a sly admission that …
Wars Against Civilians Are Unjust Wars, Richard A. Falk
Wars Against Civilians Are Unjust Wars, Richard A. Falk
Human Rights & Human Welfare
For those of us old enough to recall the anti-war testimony of Vietnam vets during the early 1970s, reading the chilling report by Hedges and Al-Arian on the attitudes of Iraq war vets is shocking, and yet not surprising. It is shocking because of the eyewitness confirmation of cruelty and lethal brutality on a regular basis in the interactions between the coalition army of occupation and Iraqi civilian society. Sadly, it is not shocking because of the nature of the violent resistance to occupation being encountered by American forces in Iraq, giving rise to a Vietnam-style mentality of counterinsurgency in …
Facing Up To The Truth, Susan E. Waltz
Facing Up To The Truth, Susan E. Waltz
Human Rights & Human Welfare
American GIs who liberated Dachau from the Nazis in April 1945 exist in our collective memory as iconic representations of the American soldier-hero: competent and capable, disciplined, principled and fundamentally good. From their collective example, we expect American soldiers to reveal, report, and excoriate war crimes. This makes it difficult to acknowledge that Americans may also commit war crimes—and on a regular basis.
September Roundtable: Introduction
September Roundtable: Introduction
Human Rights & Human Welfare
An annotation of:
“The Other War: Iraq Vets Bear Witness” by Chris Hedges and Laila Al-Arian. The Nation, July 30, 2007.
Occupational Hazard, Michael Goodhart
Occupational Hazard, Michael Goodhart
Human Rights & Human Welfare
“The Other War” describes how the patrols, supply convoys, checkpoints, raids, and arrests, which make up the daily routines of U.S. soldiers in Iraq, sometimes involve degrading and abusive treatment of Iraqi civilians. Through interviews with some of those soldiers, the article portrays the everyday tragedy of the Iraq war and demonstrates how the very policies used to “secure” the country are creating greater insecurity and sparking Iraqi resentment of the occupation. The authors’ main point is that such abuses are inevitable under what they call “misguided and brutal colonial wars and occupations” like Iraq, “the French occupation of Algeria… …
Bad Apples Or Bad Policies?, Daniel J. Whelan
Bad Apples Or Bad Policies?, Daniel J. Whelan
Human Rights & Human Welfare
In a scene from the Woody Allen film Hannah and Her Sisters, the haughty and cantankerous character Frederick (Max von Sydow) is telling his girlfriend (Barbara Hershey) how he spent the evening flipping through channels on television. Ever the arrogant social critic, Frederick remarks,
You missed a very dull TV show on Auschwitz. More gruesome film clips. And more puzzled intellectuals declaring their mystification over the systematic murder of millions. The reason they can never answer the question: “How could it possibly happen?” is that it’s the wrong question. Given what people are, the question is: “Why doesn't it happen …
Mercenaries And Other Ways Of Breaking The Law: Why Our Blood Should Boil, Judith Blau
Mercenaries And Other Ways Of Breaking The Law: Why Our Blood Should Boil, Judith Blau
Human Rights & Human Welfare
Among the many consequences of the terrorist attacks of 9/11, the absence of investigative journalism and critical reflection in the U.S. is, perhaps, the most troubling; though we are now seeing a reversal of this trend. Jeremy Scahill has been one of the brightest and best examples of this reversal, relentlessly pursuing a trail of wrongdoing involving the U.S. government and private corporations.
July Roundtable: Introduction
Human Rights & Human Welfare
An annotation of:
“Outsourcing the War ” by Jeremy Schaill. The Nation. May 28, 2007.
Private Military Industry And The Laws Of War, Mahmood Monshipouri
Private Military Industry And The Laws Of War, Mahmood Monshipouri
Human Rights & Human Welfare
The “war on terrorism,” according to Jeremy Scahill, has led to the most privatized war in the history of the United States of America: the war in Iraq, waged partially by private security contractors who are, for the most part, accountable to no higher legal-political authority. This brings us to an obvious question: Is this type of warfare an imperative part of counterterrorism?
Rooting The Privatization Of War In A Broader Political Context, Ali Wyne
Rooting The Privatization Of War In A Broader Political Context, Ali Wyne
Human Rights & Human Welfare
On the issue of military outsourcing, I think that it would be valuable to place Jeremy Scahill’s research and critique in a broader context.
Can The Next American President Switch The Tracks?, Harry Kreisler
Can The Next American President Switch The Tracks?, Harry Kreisler
Human Rights & Human Welfare
For decades the Washington mantra has been privatization. As Secretary of Defense in Bush 41’s administration and as CEO of Haliburton, Dick Cheney was influential in the application of this idea to defense policy. Now as Vice President of the United States, he and his coterie of followers have taken the idea to a new level. According to Jeremy Scahill, the United States has reached a tipping point in waging the Iraq war, with dire consequences for defense policy, democratic accountability, and the global perception of who we are and what we stand for.