I appreciate your attention to detail, backed by several sources. I am curious to know what proportion of Americans believe the "core patriotic notion that America doesn’t commit atrocities" as expressed in your piece. Personally speaking, most of my inner circle consider themselves patriots but view the federal government and three-letter agencies as "committing atrocities."
I love every sentence you wrote man. I totally agree, we need and deserve a more nuanced discourse surrounding almost every conversation in politics especially foreign policy. I love how you reference Chomsky because you sound exactly like him just in terms of your respect for the reader and the moral intelligence you apply. Never stop man
May 3, 2023·edited May 3, 2023Liked by Andrew Van Wagner
I agree with pretty much all of this. I do want to add one caveat. The atrocities listed in your article are driven by money. The military industrial complex, its web of connections in the private sector, media and government will claim that they're doing it for the "greater good" or out of patriotism, but in reality are just looking for massive paydays. The more chaos generated, the more money that can be made. The CIA was created as an agency of chaos for this very reason. While the military industrial complex and its cronies found initial success in messaging on the patriotism front, most people in the US have grown wise to this slimy tactic.
When it comes to the US general public, most of them oppose wars and generally speaking are not that patriotic. Most seem to get the point that you're making here. There was a WSJ poll that said only 38% of Americans consider "patriotism" very important to them. Most simply do not care anymore. A Gallup Poll conducted in 2022 showed a mere 16% have a favorable view of the war in Iraq. Even the Ukraine conflict sees US public support for it dwindling https://www.brookings.edu/blog/order-from-chaos/2023/04/28/americans-show-signs-of-impatience-with-ukraine-war/. The main reason the US enables that conflict is due to the power/influence of the military industrial complex and the money that comes out of it. They now rely on the public ignoring the issue altogether as opposed to trying to convince them that it is justified.
A good chunk of the country would prefer the US to take more of an isolationist approach (see here: https://www.brookings.edu/blog/fixgov/2023/02/23/one-year-into-the-ukraine-war-what-does-the-public-think-about-american-involvement-in-the-world/). The big focus needs to be on the power of the Military Industrial Complex and its influence over key institutions in US society. Unless massive checks and balances come into place that address the root cause of this power imbalance, US atrocities will continue, regardless of what the US public thinks (barring massive Vietnam style levels of protests and demonstrations).
Quoting Chomsky on awareness when he's citing Pol Pot is frankly laughable given Chomsky's own genocide denialism of the Khmer Rouge and Srebrenica. He shouldn't exactly be considered the guiding light on these matters.
On the matter of sanctions on Iraq, the US enforced four United Nations Security Council Resolutions due to the invasion of Kuwait. The majority of the sanctions on key foodstuffs were lifted in 1991. Sanctions which continued were responsive and changed depending on needs. The child mortality figures re Iraq sanctions cited in the Al Jazeera article and the Albright interview were falsified by Saddam. https://gh.bmj.com/content/2/2/e000311
I appreciate your attention to detail, backed by several sources. I am curious to know what proportion of Americans believe the "core patriotic notion that America doesn’t commit atrocities" as expressed in your piece. Personally speaking, most of my inner circle consider themselves patriots but view the federal government and three-letter agencies as "committing atrocities."
I love every sentence you wrote man. I totally agree, we need and deserve a more nuanced discourse surrounding almost every conversation in politics especially foreign policy. I love how you reference Chomsky because you sound exactly like him just in terms of your respect for the reader and the moral intelligence you apply. Never stop man
Great piece Andrew, keep it up!
I agree with pretty much all of this. I do want to add one caveat. The atrocities listed in your article are driven by money. The military industrial complex, its web of connections in the private sector, media and government will claim that they're doing it for the "greater good" or out of patriotism, but in reality are just looking for massive paydays. The more chaos generated, the more money that can be made. The CIA was created as an agency of chaos for this very reason. While the military industrial complex and its cronies found initial success in messaging on the patriotism front, most people in the US have grown wise to this slimy tactic.
When it comes to the US general public, most of them oppose wars and generally speaking are not that patriotic. Most seem to get the point that you're making here. There was a WSJ poll that said only 38% of Americans consider "patriotism" very important to them. Most simply do not care anymore. A Gallup Poll conducted in 2022 showed a mere 16% have a favorable view of the war in Iraq. Even the Ukraine conflict sees US public support for it dwindling https://www.brookings.edu/blog/order-from-chaos/2023/04/28/americans-show-signs-of-impatience-with-ukraine-war/. The main reason the US enables that conflict is due to the power/influence of the military industrial complex and the money that comes out of it. They now rely on the public ignoring the issue altogether as opposed to trying to convince them that it is justified.
A good chunk of the country would prefer the US to take more of an isolationist approach (see here: https://www.brookings.edu/blog/fixgov/2023/02/23/one-year-into-the-ukraine-war-what-does-the-public-think-about-american-involvement-in-the-world/). The big focus needs to be on the power of the Military Industrial Complex and its influence over key institutions in US society. Unless massive checks and balances come into place that address the root cause of this power imbalance, US atrocities will continue, regardless of what the US public thinks (barring massive Vietnam style levels of protests and demonstrations).
Quoting Chomsky on awareness when he's citing Pol Pot is frankly laughable given Chomsky's own genocide denialism of the Khmer Rouge and Srebrenica. He shouldn't exactly be considered the guiding light on these matters.
On the matter of sanctions on Iraq, the US enforced four United Nations Security Council Resolutions due to the invasion of Kuwait. The majority of the sanctions on key foodstuffs were lifted in 1991. Sanctions which continued were responsive and changed depending on needs. The child mortality figures re Iraq sanctions cited in the Al Jazeera article and the Albright interview were falsified by Saddam. https://gh.bmj.com/content/2/2/e000311