Addicted to War: Why the U.S. Can't Kick Militarism (Updated

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In 1999, UNICEF estimated that infant and child mortality had more than doubled since the war. It largely attributed this sharp reversal in mortality trends to malnutrition and deteriorating health conditions caused by the war and ongoing sanctions. It estimated that half a million more children died as a result. That's 5,200 children a month. [68]

[Bush H.W. Bush:] That ought to teach Saddam a lesson he won't soon forget! -- Have a Nice War.

Bush's successor, Bill Clinton, not only kept up the sanctions, but also continued to bomb Iraq regularly for 8 years.

And the U.S. war on Iraq was far from over.

Kosovo, 1999

In the late 1990s, after enduring years of abuse at the hands of a Serbian-dominated Yugoslav government, Albanian rebels in Kosovo started a war for secession. The U.S. usually does not support minority groups demanding separation. But it all depends on whether the U.S. supports the government of the country facing dismemberment. For instance, the U.S. supports Kurdish separatists in Iraq and Iran, but across the border in Turkey, a close ally, Washington has provided tons of arms to crush the Kurds. With U.S. help, tens of thousands have been killed. [69]

[U.S. General says:] Our policy is clear -- We support people fighting for their freedom and oppose terrorist separatists. [75]

Because the Yogoslav strongman, Slobodan Milosevic, was being less than cooperative with U.S. efforts to extend its influence in Eastern Europe, breaking up Yugoslavia was a cause the U.S. could warm up to. The Clinton Administration embraced the Kosovo Liberation Army, despite their drug dealing, ethnic extremism and brutality. Following established practice, the Administration issued an ultimatum the Yugoslavs could not possibly accept. [70]

Here's the deal. First, NATO takes over Kosovo. Second NATO has free access to all of Yugoslavia. Third, you help pay for the NATO-run government. Sign here or we bomb you.

The NATO bombing turned an ugly but small-scale Yugoslav counter-insurgency operation into a massive ethnic cleansing drive. After the bombing began, Serbian soldiers and militia members began driving hundreds of thousands of Albanians out of the country and killed thousands of others. When the Albanians returned under NATO protection, Serbian and Gypsy residents were driven out and killed. Ultimately, the war served U.S. political objectives, while causing tremendous death and suffering on all sides and greatly aggravating ethnic antagonisms. [71]

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Chapter 4: The "War on Terrorism"

After the horrific September 11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, one question was so sensitive it was seldom seriously addressed by the U.S. news media.

[Little boy asks mom:] Mom, why did they do it?

To find out, it makes sense to ask the prime suspect himself. As U.S. warplanes began bombing Afghanistan, Osama bin Laden released a videotaped message. He praised the September 11 attacks and called for more attacks on the United States. Then he spelled out his motivations quite clearly.


"What America is tasting now is something insignificant compared to what we have tasted for scores of years. Our nation (the Islamic world) has been tasting this humiliation and degradation for more than 80 years. Its sons are killed, its blood is shed, its sanctuaries are attacked and no one hears and no one heeds. Millions of innocent children are being killed as I speak. They are being killed in Iraq without committing any sins ... To America, I say only a few words to it and its people. I swear to God, who has elevated the skies without pillars, neither America nor the people who live in it will dream of security before we live it here in Palestine and not before all the infidel armies leave the land of Muhammad, peace be upon him." (Osama bin Laden, Oct. 7, 2001) [72]

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Few people anywhere in the world, including the Middle East, support bin Laden's terrorist methods. But most people in the Middle East share his anger at the United States. They are angry at the U.S. for supporting corrupt and dictatorial regimes in the region, for supporting Israel at the expense of the Palestinians and for imposing U.S. dictates on the Middle East through military might and brutal economic sanctions.

The Bush Administration immediately instructed U.S. television networks to "exercise caution" in airing bin Laden's taped messages. The official reason?

The tapes may contain secret coded messages for terrorist operatives.

But were covert messages the Administration's main concern? Perhaps it was more worried about the impact of bin Laden's overt message -- that the September 11 attacks were carried out in retaliation for U.S. foreign policy and particularly U.S. military intervention in the Middle East.

If Americans realized that U.S. military intervention abroad brought retaliation --causing death and destruction at home -- we might think twice about whether the U.S. should be so eager to go to war overseas.

The Pentagon has demonstrated time and again that its advanced weaponry can devastate countries targeted for attack, leveling basic infrastructure and killing thousands, even hundreds of thousands of people.

It would be naive to think there would be no retaliation.

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Over the last several decades thee true costs of the wars the U.S. has waged overseas have been largely hidden. We have had to pay the military bills but few Americans have died. The death and destruction was all overseas. That changed on September 11.

The violence reached the United States.

The September 11 attacks, however, were not simply acts of retribution. They were also provocation. Bin Laden expected the U.S. to respond with massive violence, knowing this would bring him new recruits. Ultimately, he hoped to win the majority of the Muslim world to support his holy war on the U.S.

[Osama bin Laden says:] More martyrs, more recruits.

The Bush Administration responded according to bin Laden's script. George W. Bush declared a War on Terrorism," using "good vs. evil" rhetoric that mirrored bin Laden's. Bush and his advisors were ready, even eager, for the war bin Laden wanted. They saw the September 11 attacks as a grand opportunity to boost military spending and demonstrate U.S. military power to the world. [73]

"This will be a monumental struggle of good versus evil ... This crusade, this war on terrorism, is going to take a while." (G.W. Bush, Sept. 12 and 16, 2001)

The self-righteous "good vs. evil" rhetoric of the "War on Terrorism" sharpens ironies that have long shadowed U.S. pronouncements against state-sponsored terrorism. President Bush, for instance, promised to scour the globe in search of states that harbor terrorists.

He could have started in the State of Florida.

What do you mean?

For over forty years, Miami has served as the base of operations for well-financed groups of Cuban exiles that have carried out violent terrorist attacks on Cuba.

Mostly recently, they bombed a number of Havana tourist spots in 1997, killing an Italian tourist, and they tried to assassinate Fidel Castro in Panama in 2000.

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It would not be difficult for the U.S. government to find evidence involving these terrorist organizations because the CIA and the Pentagon trained many of their members. Take, for instance, Luis Posada Carriles and Orland Bosch, suspected masterminds of the bombing of a Cuban passenger airliner that claimed the lives of 73 people. [74]

"All of Castro's planes are warplanes." -- Orlando Bosch, 1987, defending the bombing of the civilian Cuban plane.

Before Posada Carriles could be tried for the airline bombing, he escaped from a prison in Venezuela and found a job supplying arms to the CIA-backed Nicaraguan Contras.

My experience in the CIA gave me the right credentials for the job. [75]

Posada's accomplice, Orlando Bosch, has long been protected from extradition by the U.S. government. Although Bosch was convicted of carrying out a bazooka attack on a ship in Miami harbor, President George H.W. Bush -- at the urging of his son Jeb -- prevented his expulsion from the country. Bush signed an executive pardon providing Bosch with safe haven in Florida. Bosch promised to

"Rejoin the struggle!" [76] [77]

George H. W. Bush: Hold on! Let me set the record straight. I pardon only freedom fighters, not terrorists!

If George W. Bush had been serious about going after all states that harbor terrorists, he would have issued an ultimatum to his brother, the governor of Florida.

George W. Bush: Listen Jeb, you're going to have to cough up the terrorists or we start bombing Miami tomorrow!

Posada, Bosch and their friends are only a few of the violent characters whose activities have been sponsored by the CIA. Many of the CIA's "covert operations" -- bombings, assassinations, sabotage, and paramilitary massacres -- are terrorism by any definition. Many of the shadowy figures involved in these activities are still working with the CIA around the world. But others -- including Osama bin Laden -- have turned on their former American partners. [78]

It's too bad. They made such a good team.

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Afghanistan, 2001 - ?

Bush's "War on Terrorism" began with U.S. warplanes bombing Afghanistan, the unfortunate country where bin Laden chose to locate his headquarters. At that time, Afghanistan was ruled by fundamentalist Muslim clerics of the Taliban movement, whom both bin Laden and the CIA had supported during the anti-Soviet war. Now, Washington decided to destroy its former allies.

The people of Afghanistan suffered the consequences.

U.S. bombs killed hundreds -- and perhaps thousands -- of civilians and the war cut off relief supplies to millions already facing starvation. The total number of deaths will never be known, but it's certain that many more civilians died in the U.S. assault on Afghanistan that in the attack on the World Trade Center. [79]

Relatives prepare four children for burial after a U.S. air strike in Kabul, October 2001.

The U.S. made common cause with a new set of Afghan allies -- brutal regional warlords. Under U.S. auspices, Islamic fundamentalism has been replaced by brazen corruption as warlords fight for power and prey on the people under their jurisdiction. The opium trade, which the zealous Taliban clerics had briefly suppressed, once again flourishes under the warlords [80]

And Afghanistan regained its place as the world's top opium producer.

Iraq, 2003 - ?

From the day they took office, Bush and his key lieutenants set their sights on Iraq. After 9-11, they packaged an invasion as part of the "War on Terrorism." To win U.N. backing, they claimed Saddam Hussein was developing nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons. The threat was so imminent, they said, that an immediate invasion was imperative.

"We can't wait for the final proof -- the smoking gun -- that could come in the form of a mushroom cloud." -- George W. Bush, October 2002 [81]

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We now know that Iraq had no "weapons of mass destruction" and that the Bush Administration manipulated evidence to justify its war plans. Even then, it was clear that the specter of such weapons was just a pretext. The U.S. made no secret of its underlying war aims -- to install a pro-U.S. regime in Iraq and increase U.S. military and political power in the Middle East. Bush, therefore, had little use for U.N. weapons inspectors in Iraq.

George W. Bush: Get those *%&# inspectors out of the way -- I'm getting ready to bomb the place! [82]

The U.N. refused to endorse the invasion, but the U.S. and Britain went ahead anyway. The Iraqi army was decimated and thousands of civilians who were unlucky enough to get in the way were also killed. [83]

As soon as U.S. troops captured Baghdad, elated American officials began issuing threats to Iraq's neighbors, Syria and Iran. The message was: Go along with the American program or else ...

"This doesn't mean, necessarily, that other governments have to fall. They can moderate their behavior." -- Senior U.S. official, April 2003. [84]

The Bush Administration had big plans. Based on Iraq's tremendous oil wealth and U.s. military might, American officials hoped to create a client regime in Iraq and use it as a base of U.S. power in the heart of the Arab Middle East. They brought in a group of emigre politicians, intending to install them as leaders of a new government. Their favorite was Ahmed Chalabi, a wealthy businessman who was convicted of bank fraud in Jordan.

George W. Bush: Don't sweat it buddy -- we all get accused of financial malfeasance now and then. [85]

Chalabi won the hearts of White House officials in part by declaring that he favored pulling Iraq out of OPEC, and then privatizing Iraqi oil and selling it off to foreign companies.

"American companies have a big shot at Iraqi oil." -- Ahmed Chalabi, Sept. 2002 [86]

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But Bush and his friends overlooked one detail -- that the people of Iraq might not go along with their plans!

Bush declared that he had "liberated" the people of Iraq and that he would bring them democracy. The Iraqis, quite naturally, were suspicious.

We know what happened after the British "liberated" our grandparents.

And we know what happened the last time the U.S. brought us "regime change" -- we ended up with Saddam Hussein!

If the past is any indication, the prospects for democracy in Iraq under U.S. tutelage are not good. The U.S. has overthrown many governments around the world, but the result has rarely been any kind of democracy.

Instead, the result has almost always been a brutal dictatorship.

It soon became clear that American "liberation" of Iraq came with strings attached.

"We didn't take on this huge burden not to have significant, dominating control." -- U.S. Secretary of State, Colin Powell, April 2003 [87]

Bush appointed Paul Bremer III, a "counterterrorism" expert trained by Henry Kissinger, to head up the U.S. occupation of Iraq. U.S. oil company executives and bankers were assigned to look after the Iraqi oil industry and central bank. U.S. military officers were placed in charge of Iraqi cities.

We call it the corporate-military model of government. [88]

Bush promised to give "sovereignty" back to Iraqis, but he also made it clear that only a pro-American government would be acceptable.

George W. Bush: Of course! If you're not with us, you're with the terrorists!

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Because the U.S. is extremely unpopular among Arabs throughout the Middle East, if Iraqis actually were allowed to vote freely, they could hardly be expected to elect pro-U.S. candidates. That's why the U.S. adamantly resisted holding popular elections in occupied Iraq, instead proposing that members of a new governing assembly be selected by handpicked "caucuses."

"In a post-war situation like this, if you start holding elections, the people who are rejectionists tend to win." -- Paul Bremer, head of the Coalition Provisional Authority, June 2003. [89]

By "rejectionists" Bremer meant those who oppose U.S. occupation.

100,000 Iraqis march to demand popular elections, Baghdad, January 19, 2004.

The U.S. occupation authority in Iraq was hardly a model of democratic government. Newspapers and radio and television stations that criticized the authority were shut down.

They displayed a blatant lack of appreciation for their liberators!

Tens of thousands of Iraqis disappeared into prisons run by the U.S. military. Prisoners were held without charge and were subjected to humiliation, sexual abuse, and torture [90]

"Now all Iraqis can taste liberty in their native land!" -- U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft after he sent a team to rebuilt Iraq's system of courts and prisons in 2003 [91]

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Facing a hostile population, the U.S. military policed Iraqi cities and villages with a heavy hand. Scores of Iraqis were killed as they protested against the occupation. Journalists were gunned down as they covered U.S. military operations. Others -- who were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time -- were shot at military checkpoints or when soldiers raided their neighborhoods.

The U.S. occupation of Iraq followed the familiar path of previous colonial adventures. Iraqis organized armed resistance and the U.S. military took increasingly harsh punitive measures against the population, inspiring fear and indignation. [92]

As U.S. soldiers and Iraqis died in daily battles, Bush's response was swaggering cowboy rhetoric.

"There are some who feel like ... they can attack us there. My answer is -- bring them on!" -- George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., July 2003.

I wonder if he'd like to do guard duty here in Baghdad.

As resistance grew, American commanders became increasingly frustrated and aggressive. After four U.S. military contractors were brutally killed in Falluja, the U.S. took revenge. Hundreds of residents were killed as densely-packed neighborhoods were shelled by tanks and bombed and strafed by warplanes and helicopters. The siege of Falluja only incited wider opposition throughout Iraq to U.S. occupation [94]

By spring 2004, it was clear that Bush's grandiose plans had collapsed. The vast majority of Iraqis wanted the U.S. out, and they wanted nothing to do with any politicians associated with Washington.

"They don't want us here and we don't want to be here." -- Unidentified American soldier in Baghdad. [95]