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marmar

(76,978 posts)
Mon Jun 23, 2014, 08:16 AM Jun 2014

Chris Hedges: The Ghoulish Face of Empire [View all]


from truthdig:


The Ghoulish Face of Empire

Posted on Jun 22, 2014
By Chris Hedges


The black-clad fighters of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, sweeping a collapsing army and terrified Iraqis before them as they advance toward Baghdad, reflect back to us the ghoulish face of American empire. They are the specters of the hundreds of thousands of people we murdered in our deluded quest to remake the Middle East. They are ghosts from the innumerable roadsides and villages where U.S. soldiers and Marines, jolted by explosions of improvised explosive devices, responded with indiscriminate fire. They are the risen remains of the dismembered Iraqis left behind by blasts of Hellfire and cruise missiles, howitzers, grenade launchers and drone strikes. They are the avengers of the gruesome torture and the sexual debasement that often came with being detained by American troops. They are the final answer to the collective humiliation of an occupied country, the logical outcome of Shock and Awe, the Frankenstein monster stitched together from the body parts we left scattered on the ground. They are what we get for the $4 trillion we wasted on the Iraq War.

The language of violence engenders violence. The language of hate engenders hate. “I and the public know what all schoolchildren learn,” W.H. Auden wrote. “Those to whom evil is done do evil in return.” It is as old as the Bible.

There is no fight left in us. The war is over. We destroyed Iraq as a unified country. It will never be put back together. We are reduced—in what must be an act of divine justice decreed by the gods, whom we have discovered to our dismay are Islamic—to pleading with Iran for military assistance to shield the corrupt and despised U.S. protectorate led by Nouri al-Maliki. We are not, as we thought when we entered Iraq, the omnipotent superpower able in a swift and brutal stroke to bend a people to our will. We are something else. Fools and murderers. Blinded by hubris. Faded relics of the Cold War. And now, in the final act of the play, we are crawling away. Our empire is dying.

We should have heeded, while we had a chance, the wails of mothers and fathers. We should have listened to the cries of the wounded. We should have wept over the bodies of Iraqi children lined up in neat rows in the morgues. We should have honored grief so we could honor life. But the dance of death is intoxicating. Once it begins you whirl in an ecstatic frenzy. Death’s embrace, which feels at first like sexual lust, tightens and tightens until you suffocate. Now the music has stopped. All we have left are loss and pain. ....................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/the_ghoulish_face_of_empire_20140623



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du rec. xchrom Jun 2014 #1
Those That Need To Hear This Message Never Will cantbeserious Jun 2014 #2
And we who have no pwer will pay for their war crimes. Demeter Jun 2014 #3
+ 1 cantbeserious Jun 2014 #5
And pay, Plucketeer Jun 2014 #24
I'd like to review what DU members were saying in the run up to the war. L0oniX Jun 2014 #19
No need to imagine... ljm2002 Jun 2014 #78
The NYT ran him off over his objections to the war. He was very vocal in opposition before and after Skeeter Barnes Jun 2014 #85
K & R democrank Jun 2014 #4
K & R for truth malaise Jun 2014 #6
"the Frankenstein monster stitched together from the body parts we left scattered on the ground" dixiegrrrrl Jun 2014 #61
Really perfect phrasing although I might have said malaise Jun 2014 #66
Coulda, woulda, shoulda gratuitous Jun 2014 #7
It Behooves Us yellowwoodII Jun 2014 #8
"Blinded by hubris?" merrily Jun 2014 #9
Interesting point. "Blinded by hubris" implies good intentions but failed due to arrogance. I don't stevenleser Jun 2014 #15
I do no think the definition of hubris includes genuine good intentions, ever. Fred Sanders Jun 2014 #20
The phrase is "blinded by hubris" not just plain hubris. Blinded by hubris implies there was good stevenleser Jun 2014 #22
Hubris is simply "excessive price or self-confidence" starroute Jun 2014 #27
That's correct. But what is being suggested is altered by the two words proceeding it. nt stevenleser Jun 2014 #28
"Blinded by hubris" doesn't suggest good intentions to me starroute Jun 2014 #35
This might help, try these out... stevenleser Jun 2014 #36
Neither one works because hubris isn't a success/failure thing starroute Jun 2014 #43
It's not hubris. It's "blinded by hubris" were talking about a phrase, not a word. nt stevenleser Jun 2014 #44
According to the wiki, hubris had a lot to do with sex as well. merrily Jun 2014 #67
I believe that, at the very least, Cheney, Bush, Powell and Tenet merrily Jun 2014 #45
Response Jack Rabbit Jun 2014 #80
+1 gazillion. War is always about making rich people richer. nt valerief Jun 2014 #18
Yet, the Egyptians somehow managed 1000 years of peace AND merrily Jun 2014 #46
Today being rich isn't enough. The rich continually have to be richer. valerief Jun 2014 #60
Well, they can't think only of themselves, you know. They're merrily Jun 2014 #62
Exactly. It always and always will be about the money. All the way down the chain. raouldukelives Jun 2014 #25
exactly.....even more, I suspect that the bbgrunt Jun 2014 #70
Never thought of that, but it's not out of the realm merrily Jun 2014 #73
You can see more than one facet of an issue, Mr. Hedges. randome Jun 2014 #10
Morality yellowwoodII Jun 2014 #21
I can see that point. randome Jun 2014 #23
The Most Poignant Point yellowwoodII Jun 2014 #26
Not even for the American torturers after Bush left office? merrily Jun 2014 #47
More like this. grahamhgreen Jun 2014 #11
Interesting piece. I wonder who actually wrote it? truebrit71 Jun 2014 #12
. randome Jun 2014 #16
*snort* NuclearDem Jun 2014 #34
Always interesting to see who takes amusement in an important voice from Hissyspit Jun 2014 #91
My copy of American Fascists doesn't take any joy in it. NuclearDem Jun 2014 #93
Does it really matter? merrily Jun 2014 #48
Yes. truebrit71 Jun 2014 #54
And the selfless do gooder without sin casts the stone. merrily Jun 2014 #58
I reason I knew we were wrong "before" the Iraq war started is ... L0oniX Jun 2014 #13
Hubris, imperialistic hubris, is what it was, and for many, still is; is it a good thing? Fred Sanders Jun 2014 #14
I think "hubris" gives the Bush admin too much credit. See my post above. nt stevenleser Jun 2014 #17
It's worse than the dictionary definition. Check the wiki. merrily Jun 2014 #49
"But the dance of death is intoxicating. Once it begins you whirl in an ecstatic frenzy... factsarenotfair Jun 2014 #29
McCain as lead vocalist? merrily Jun 2014 #75
Perfect. n/t factsarenotfair Jun 2014 #79
Who wrote this piece? frazzled Jun 2014 #30
Does it really matter? merrily Jun 2014 #50
Yes. truebrit71 Jun 2014 #53
Wow. You're really zealous about bashing Hedges. merrily Jun 2014 #64
Was that privately addressed to frazzled or was it posted publicly on the internet.. truebrit71 Jun 2014 #65
Still, you answered the question put to you AND the one put to frazzled. merrily Jun 2014 #69
What is with all this "who really wrote this" idiocy upthread? marmar Jun 2014 #31
Sounds Like yellowwoodII Jun 2014 #32
I thought you were going to say "Sound like a smear campaign." merrily Jun 2014 #76
That tends to happen when you get caught plagiarizing other people's work. name not needed Jun 2014 #33
Like Joe Biden did? merrily Jun 2014 #51
gee, I wondered who would bring up this distraction. grasswire Jun 2014 #81
Nope. He got busted plagiarizing...so it is now a legitimate question... truebrit71 Jun 2014 #37
But... yellowwoodII Jun 2014 #38
It certainly does, which is a tremendous shame... truebrit71 Jun 2014 #40
I did not know that. How bad was the allegation? stevenleser Jun 2014 #39
Whole passages... truebrit71 Jun 2014 #41
I live in fear of accidentally doing this on my radio show. stevenleser Jun 2014 #42
I know...in today's world where everything tends to blend together it is very easy... truebrit71 Jun 2014 #52
The allegations from the RW seem different from the view of the left. merrily Jun 2014 #77
Maybe it is a legit question, and maybe merrily Jun 2014 #56
Google it. He did it on multiple occasions. truebrit71 Jun 2014 #57
I was in the process of googling it until I saw my post tab go yellow. merrily Jun 2014 #59
I googled. Seems a right wing publication was the sole source of merrily Jun 2014 #63
Hedges' publisher is who busted him on it. NuclearDem Jun 2014 #68
I am still not sure anyone "busted him." merrily Jun 2014 #71
At least one "lefty writer" seems a lot angrier about the smears merrily Jun 2014 #72
the expose' was written by the husband of someone... grasswire Jun 2014 #82
Thanks, grasswire, but, at this very moment, I merrily Jun 2014 #84
sad all around grasswire Jun 2014 #86
Or so the husband says. (I've read more now.) merrily Jun 2014 #87
Did you read Hedge's response? merrily Jun 2014 #88
sounds fair, trulyl grasswire Jun 2014 #89
Plagiarism has not been proven and he denies it. merrily Jun 2014 #74
Hedges has written disapprovingly of the president's right-wing ideology Doctor_J Jun 2014 #83
Our dear leaders have painted such a huge bullseye on America Oilwellian Jun 2014 #55
K & R !!! WillyT Jun 2014 #90
K&R PowerToThePeople Jun 2014 #92
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