Pledge To Dismantle the American Empire

One of the best articles about Iraq I've run across in a long time appeared in The Forth Worth Star-Telegram on Wednesday, December 8th. It begins like this:

The United States has lost the war in Iraq, and that's a good thing.

I would bet that many Americans are holding out for a victory in Iraq, whatever that means. It is unthinkable that America could be defeated. We're bigger, better, and right. Whatever we think the world should do, that's the answer. But there are millions of Americans, I believe, who do not feel this way.

Robert Jensen, author of The Fort Worth Star-Telegram article, [click on blog title to take you to this article]
makes it clear that to say the war is lost is not to minimize the tragedy and unspeakable suffering that American and Iraqi deaths have caused. Jensen says the tragedy is compounded because these deaths haven't protected Americans or brought freedom to Iraqis.

The article further points out that, although no one disputes the fact that Iraq is better off without Saddam Hussein, this does not prove our benevolent intentions or guarantee that the United States will work to bring meaningful democracy to Iraq. The Bush administration invaded not to liberate but to extend and deepen U.S. domination. So when Bush said in November of 2002 that we have no territorial ambitions and are not seeking an empire, he told a half-truth. The sinister U. S. plan is to establish control over the flow of oil and oil profits, not ownership. In other words, Bush wants his cake and eat it, too. No responsibility, just the money and power. So it is not liberation we fight for in Iraq. It is subordination. And, of course, the Iraqi people do not want to be subordinated. Jensen reminds us that occupying armies generate resistance that, inevitably, prevails over imperial power. Let those who have ears, hear.

When, not if, we pull out of Iraq, thus admitting defeat, the fate of the Iraqis will depend in part on "whether the U.S. makes good on legal and moral obligations to pay reparations and allows international institutions to aid in creating a truly sovereign Iraq." (Of course, the Bush administration is also trying its best to kill the United Nations.) This will take more than just the commitment of politicians obviously. These elected individuals are so easily swayed by personal agendas that they can hardly do their jobs of representing the people who elected them. So it will take us, the people, banding together and working hard to create pressure.

Jensen's article blames, not just the present regime, but also Republican and Democratic administrations of the recent past who have made fateful policy decisions, leaving us and the Iraqis in the mess we are in.

Nevertheless, we must courageously pledge to dismantle the American empire.

Let us be reminded: This fragile planet does not belong to the United States. The new century is not America's. We own neither the world nor time. If we don't find our place in the world and not on top of the world, there is little hope for a safe, sane and sustainable future.

[Robert Jensen is a journalism professor at the University of Texas at Austin and the author of "Citizens of the Empire: The Struggle to Claim Our Humanity."]