Anti-Imperialism 101 Re: Hitchens quits Nation

[Alan Jacobson]

Separate from the relative "justification" for intervention based on the
assumed target, isn't it important to judge the situation by whether the US
ruling power is strengthened or not? In a nutshell, I supported NATO
intervention in Bosnia not only because the Serbs were murderous thugs and,
at least initially, Bosnia was a multiethnic state attempting to assert
self-determination but also that US imperial power was not materially
strengthened by doing so. This was not a popular stance to take on the left.
I think only Solidarity (of which I am a member) took this position
(although more nuanced than I will outline here for space reasons). An
invasion of Iraq will strengthen US hegemony and unilateralism immensely and
therefore should be opposed.

If it is about Iraqi self-determination, there are other ways to support
that effort that don't rely on setting up a puppet regime with very tenuous
legitimacy and engaging in a military adventure that threatens to foment
10,000 "al-Queda networks" throughout the Muslim world.

Alan Jacobson