April 19, 2003
Today's New York Times reports that the United States is planning to expand it's military presence throughout the world by adding new air bases in countries in Eastern Europe and Asia, and that they expect to have permanent air-bases in Iraq.
The exact words are: Pentagon Expects Long-Term Access to Four Key Bases in Iraq.
The article is not clear about what "expects" means. The writer quotes unnamed "senior officials" in the Bush Administration.
That's really amazing, considering that Iraq does not have a legitimate government at the moment. Is this a hint that the new Iraq government will not be quite as independent of U.S. control as is claimed? Why wouldn't they say that they would ask permission of the new Iraqi government, once it is constituted, to locate air-bases on their soil?
But the scariest thing about all of this is the fact that the United States is projecting a future world in which it's armed forces can sweep into any locality on a moment's notice to "protect American interests".
As the lone superpower, you could wish for a sense of graciousness and reasoned indulgence from the United States. We are bigger and far more powerful than any other country on earth. We will do what we need to do to maintain peace and good order. No-- we will ensure that the vital interests of the United States are protected around the globe. That's the not the same as peace and good order. It's the same as colonial patriarchy.
But I think there is something even worse than that. It is the feeling that this administration really believes that the world is filled with untold horrors awaiting Americans in the near future and that we must project formidable military strength to ensure that powerful enemies will not be able to strike us without swift and devastating consequences.
The vision of this administration is a not a future in which our enemies have been vanquished and peace and good order prevail. It is a future in which we create more and more enemies and they continue to strike us and we continue to lash back. That's because we project a world in which we continue to consume a hugely disproportionate amount of the world's natural resources and this will arouse greed and envy in other nations and they will want to fight for their share and we will have to fight back. In other words, we are not going to be working with other people in the future: we know we'll be working against them.
Until Christ returns. And that's that.
Put your hand up if that's the vision of the future you voted for when you punched your chad in Florida three years ago.