Posted on 12/03/2004 1:58:40 PM PST by tarawa
Jensen: The upside to losing Iraq? An empire falls
Robert Jensen, LOCAL CONTRIBUTOR Friday, December 03, 2004
The United States has lost the war in Iraq, and that's a good thing.
I don't mean that the loss of American and Iraqi lives is to be celebrated. The death and destruction are numbingly tragic, and the suffering in Iraq is hard for most of us in the United States to comprehend. The tragedy is compounded because these deaths haven't protected Americans or brought freedom to Iraqis — they have come in the quest to extend the American empire in this so-called "new American century."
So, as a U.S. citizen, I welcome the U.S. defeat, for a simple reason: It isn't the defeat of the United States — its people or their ideals — but of that empire. And it's essential the American empire be defeated and dismantled.
The fact the Bush administration says we are fighting for freedom and democracy (having long ago abandoned fictions about weapons of mass destruction and terrorist ties) does not make it so. We must look at the reality, no matter how painful. The people of Iraq are better off without Saddam Hussein's despised regime, but that does not prove our benevolent intentions nor guarantee the United States will work to bring meaningful democracy to Iraq.
Throughout history, our support for democracies has depended on their support for U.S. policy. When democratic governments follow an independent course, they typically end up as targets of U.S. power, military or economic. Ask Venezuela's Hugo Chavez or Haiti's Jean-Bertrand Aristide.
In Iraq, the Bush administration invaded not to liberate but to extend and deepen U.S. domination. When Bush says, "We have no territorial ambitions; we don't seek an empire," he tells a half-truth. The United States doesn't want to absorb Iraq nor take direct possession of its oil. That's not the way of empire today — it's about control over the flow of oil and oil profits, not ownership.
In a world that runs on oil, the nation that controls the flow of oil has great strategic power. U.S. policymakers want leverage over the economies of its competitors — Western Europe, Japan and China — which are more dependent on Middle Eastern oil. Hence the longstanding U.S. policy of support for reactionary regimes (Saudi Arabia), dictatorships (Iran under the Shah) and regional military surrogates (Israel), aimed at maintaining control.
The Bush administration has invested money and lives in making Iraq a platform from which the United States can project power — from permanent U.S. bases, officials hope. That requires not the liberation of Iraq, but its subordination. But most Iraqis don't want to be subordinated, which is why the United States in some sense lost the war the day it invaded. One lesson of contemporary history is that occupying armies generate resistance that, inevitably, prevails over imperial power.
Most Iraqis are glad Saddam is gone, and most want the United States gone. When we admit defeat and pull out — not if, but when — the fate of Iraqis depends in part on whether the United States (1) makes good on legal and moral obligations to pay reparations, and (2) allows international institutions to aid in creating a truly sovereign Iraq.
We shouldn't expect politicians to do either without pressure. An anti-empire movement — the joining of antiwar forces with the movement to reject corporate globalization — must create that pressure. Failure will add to the suffering in Iraq and more clearly mark the United States as a rogue state and an impediment to a just and peaceful world.
So, I'm glad for the U.S. military defeat in Iraq, but with no joy in my heart. We should all carry a profound sense of sadness at where decisions made by U.S. policy-makers — not just the gang in power today, but a string of Republican and Democratic administrations — have left us and the Iraqis. But that sadness should not keep us from pursuing the most courageous act of citizenship in the United States today: Pledging to dismantle the American empire.
This planet's resources do not belong to the United States. The century is not America's. We own neither the world nor time. And if we don't give up the quest — if we don't find our place in the world instead of on top of the world — there is little hope for a safe, sane and sustainable future.
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." He can be reached at rjensen@uts.cc.utexas.edu.
What a twit. He has a job?
We lost? When?
You gotta check out Robert Jensen's latest
Jensen is a journalism professor at the University of Texas at Austin
Amazing. A professor of journalism doesn't care a whit that Iraqis now have freedom of the press. What a complete waste of organic molecules.
"This planet's resources do not belong to the United States."
Like hell they don't! Take it all and shoot those who get in my way!
Speak up, Bobby. The burqa muffles your voice, somewhat.
"I don't mean that the loss of American and Iraqi lives is to be celebrated."
Of course that's exactly what he means.
OK. He couldn't make it in the private sector due to his dysfunctions.
American universities are in grave danger folks. Full fledged idiots such as this "professor" should not be allowed near our children. These people are mindless drones, marching to some weird leftist cosmic drum. They're fascists.
This professor has been spouting such drivel for years. His ignorance of the Middle East, the Muslim World, and the spread of Islamist terrorism is indefensible. Ooops, I forgot, he's a Marxist and that explains everything.
This guy should be the poster child for the democratic party
This guy will be the next DNC chairman methinks!
You later demanded at least a partial refund, one presumes...? :)
Have you got a rope?
Time to clean out this type of vermin...I don't think that is too much to expect in wartime.
Plenty of reason to just ignore completely anything he might say or write.
Professor Jensen merely needs to redefine "empire," grandly announce control over oil where it has been ceded to others, and declare defeat where there is nothing of the sort. He is not living in the real world, but dedicated leftists seldom do.
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." He can be reached at rjensen@uts.cc.utexas.edu.
What a typical mugwump member of the Proffessoriate.
Here is a partial blue state to red state translation:
The United States has won the war in Iraq, and that's a good thing.
I don't mean that the loss of American and Iraqi lives is to be ignored. The death and destruction are numbingly tragic, and the suffering in Iraq is hard for most of us in the United States to comprehend. The victory is mitigated because these deaths have protected Americans and brought freedom to Iraqis — they have come in the quest to extend the democracy and freedom in this so-called "new democratic century."
I think the only reason the miss-Statesman publishes this idiot is that he is a Prof at UT. Every article he writes is anti-american. It infuriates me that the Republicans control the Texas House and Senate yet do nothing to redress the imbalance of public university departments which are monotonously left wing.
PING for future debunking of this idiocy.
Try baiting the guy with the fact that the nascent American empire is benevolent and the best thing going for the benighted medieval islamic fascist states, who need to be overrun and subjugated since they've clearly proven themselves incapable of self-government without exploiting their own citizens.
It's impossible to *argue* with monocellular life forms like this... but you *can* make them blow in place, with the correct stimulus...
Keep Austin Wierd.
Sick, sick, sick.
UT might as well hire Leslie Cochran to teach Journalism.
Yeah! That Leslie. And the writings etched on cardboard on the side of his shopping cart make far more sense than anything Professor Jensen hase to say. I will be sure to let The Exes know what I think, too.
Not that my new home is any better...Portland.
I was on 6th a few years back and had a window table. Leslie parked his bike next to the window and dismounted. He had a mini-skirt on and nothing underneath. Just damn.
Blich!
"I am a f*cking traitor, and should be raped right through my trousers by giant-enraged-horny-mecha-gorillas."
This nut case professor was on Michael Medved today. It appeared to me that Michael was having a very hard time being civil.
I loved the soldier/ student who called in and confronted Jensen. The soldier told Jensen he was 'trying to teach" instead of listening to the guests or Michael's questions.
Prof Jensen was not pleased to say the least.
This nut case professor was on Michael Medved today. It appeared to me that Michael was having a very hard time being civil.
I loved the soldier/ student who called in and confronted Jensen. The soldier told Jensen he was 'trying to teach" instead of listening to the guests or Michael's questions.
Prof Jensen was not pleased to say the least.
"So, as a U.S. citizen, I welcome the U.S. defeat "
Austin, TX has a problem
Sean Hannity ripped him a new one on his radio show today. Great interview.
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