>
>Rahul Mahajan's explanation of the war on Afghanistan seems to me also
>the most probable answer to the question of why U.S. supports Israel.
>Sartre offered roughly the same explanation for the Vietnam War. Such an
>explanation also undercuts those responses to the war, from the left or
>right, that proclaim that on 9/11 "The World Changed."
The Pentagon Papers, the Pentagon's official classified history of the Vietnam war--released by Daniel Ellsberg and the subject of a major court case(for you youngsters)--ended up with the "credibility" and "prestige" explanations of Why We Were in Vietnam,
But the world has changed: the Bush's wars,w ith Clinton's helpm have put and end to the Vietnam Syndrome that slowed US interventionsim from 1975 to 1991, a very great loss.
jks
>
>Carrol
>
>jacdon at earthlink.net wrote:
> >
> > [clip]
> > THE NEW CRUSADE
> >
> > By Jack A. Smith
> >
> > A recently-published Monthly Review Press book by Rahul Mahajan, “The
> > New Crusade -- America’s War on Terrorism,” posits the thesis that “The
> > most important reason for the war [in Afghanistan] is imperial
> > credibility.” And by inference, the author suggests the most important
> > reason for the subsequent spread of the war to other countries is to
> > extend Washington’s imperial reach.
> >
> > “One must start with the fact that the United States is an empire,”
> > writes Mahajan. “It is not like the Roman Empire, based on direct
> > military occupation and exaction of tribute, nor like the colonial
> > empires of the 19th century, with their elaborate administrative
> > apparatuses. It is, nevertheless, an empire, maintaining its economy
> > through the control and exploitation of the resources and labor of many
> > countries. In order to maintain and extend that control, purely
> > economic mechanisms are insufficient; coups have been fomented and wars
> > fought by the United States to create the current world economic system.
> >
> > “But empires never rule stably. There is always the danger of revolt in
> > the provinces. That danger is vastly multiplied if one area is seen to
> > revolt and get away with it.[clip]
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