Moon of Alabama Brecht quote
Back to Main

January 20, 2007
“Indispensable”

One does not often finds such an outrageous misinterpretation of history and facts like in this Kaleej Times piece by war-criminal Henry Kissinger. But within his collection of lies, there is a realistic hint for the reason of general U.S. imperialism:

They are in Iraq not as a favour to its government or as a reward for its conduct. They are there as an expression of the American national interest to prevent the Iranian combination of imperialism and fundamentalist ideology from dominating a region on which the energy supplies of the industrial democracies depend.

Posted by b on January 20, 2007 at 20:17 UTC | Permalink
Comments

Jeeze, just the first lines, “George W Bush’s bold decision to order a “surge” of some 20,000 American troops for Iraq has brought the debate over the war to a defining stage…” sounds like something from Prada thirty years ago.
Not long after 9/11, Rumsfeld said something that chilled itself into my memory.
I don’t remember the words exactly but it was something like “We must secure our way of life”, and somehow I saw gas pumps with cheap gas and Walmarts with cheap goods pass before my inner vision…

Posted by: Chuck Cliff | Jan 20 2007 22:18 utc | 1

if anyone seeks proof of moral superiority defeating itself, repeatedly, this is it. Seek no more.
to behold the blinders of moral superiority. We ordinary folks should count ourselves very lucky we are not so vested in aspiration or existence to serving these moral superiorities.
next round is on me.

Posted by: jony_b_cool | Jan 20 2007 23:19 utc | 2

I see Kissinger’s Op-Ed here as substantively no different than his famous Viet Nam-era warnings against the dangers of “salted peanuts”. A bit more diplomatically stated, perhaps, but the message remains the same: “The folks in the ostensibly democratic society of the United States need to stop disagreeing with their betters. And those betters had better be as churlish about sticking to their guns as they are able, lest that ostensibly democratic society get the idea that their judgements matter.”
OT @ jony_b (#2)
“next round is on me.”
Buying a round for a virtual bar such as the one we habituate is a nice gesture… but not as nice as being on the receiving end of said round in a real bar.
I have a suggestion. Perhaps “buying a round for the house” can be interpreted as an offer to write an article to take some of the workload off of Bernhard and to give the rest of us something worthwhile to cogitate? You’ve got a keen, analytic mind from what I’ve seen and I’d be happy as the proverbial PIS if you wanted to give us something for the front page.
If you’re busy or not inclined, I’m sympathetic and I’ll still toast you from afar. Just a thought, though.

Posted by: Monolycus | Jan 21 2007 3:40 utc | 3

Who controls the food supply controls the people; who controls the energy can control whole continents; who controls money can control the world
– henry kissinger

Posted by: b real | Jan 21 2007 4:10 utc | 4

@ #2-3:
go! go! go, jony, go, go, go!

Posted by: catlady | Jan 21 2007 4:21 utc | 5

Again: IRAN – IRAN – IRAN
Unfortunately, as an advisor to the Bush regime, Kissinger needs to be taken seriously. Bernhard, you have captured the “money quote” from his “The New Iraq Strategy” essay and it bears repeating:
”But under present conditions, withdrawal is not an option. American forces are indispensable. They are in Iraq not as a favour to its government or as a reward for its conduct. They are there as an expression of the American national interest to prevent the Iranian combination of imperialism and fundamentalist ideology from dominating a region on which the energy supplies of the industrial democracies depend.”
The rest of Kissinger’s essay is a lot of fluff.

Posted by: Rick | Jan 21 2007 4:23 utc | 6

Monolycus, I hear you & Happy New Year.
and if Kissinger sounds so much like todays war-pimps who have proven so well, how little they know about the Middle-East, we might also wonder how much Kissinger really knew about South-East Asia back in the day.

Posted by: jony_b_cool | Jan 21 2007 5:32 utc | 7

Indispensable?
200 Muslim clerics and officials meet for 3 day conference in Qatari
A prominent Sunni Muslim cleric has urged Shia Iran to do more to halt the sectarian violence that many fear is dragging Iraq into civil war.
The Qatar-based Sheikh Youssef al-Qaradawi said Tehran had the means to stop the violence in Iraq.
Summary: Clerics critical of U.S. for exploiting violence and dividing Iraq along ethnic/denominational lines; Iran is asked to step in to pacify and unify.

Posted by: Rick | Jan 21 2007 6:10 utc | 8

on an influence for that kissinger quote in #4 above, this is from a footnote to the (very informative) keady analysis on us-china and a new cold war that i’ve already pointed out twice before

Sir Halford John Mackinder’s most famous work The Geographical Pivot of History included the quote: “Who rules East Europe commands the Heartland; Who rules the heartland commands the World Island; Who rules the World Island commands the World.” He argued that Euro-Asia was the ‘pivot’ of global balance and power. Central Asia is considered the ‘heartland’ in this theory.

Posted by: b real | Jan 21 2007 22:24 utc | 9

Back to Main