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MY LAI VET SAYS: HERE IT
COMES AGAIN IN IRAQ
Tony Swindell
recalls "Butcher's Brigade" in '69; says "gooks"
have now become "ragheads", every adult male is an
"insurgent" ... atrocities against Iraqi civilians
are soon going to explode in America's face; US Government's courtroom jihads against terror
stumble. Alexander Cockburn on Lodi case where Feds paid $250,000
to man who "saw" world's three top terrorists at mosque.
As neocons
and Israel lobby howl for US to bomb Teheran, an Iranian outlines
simple path to peace. CounterPunch
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Is the United States a superpower?
I think not. Consider these facts:
The financial position of the
US has declined dramatically. The US is heavily indebted, both
government and consumers. The US trade deficit both in absolute
size and as a percentage of GDP is unprecedented, reaching more
than $800 billion in 2005 and accumulating to $4.5 trillion since
1990. With US job growth falling behind population growth and
with no growth in consumer real incomes, the US economy is driven
by expanding consumer debt. Saving rates are low or negative.
The federal budget is deep
in the red, adding to America's dependency on debt. The US cannot
even go to war unless foreigners are willing to finance it.
Our biggest bankers are China
and Japan, both of whom could cause the US serious financial
problems if they wished. A country whose financial affairs are
in the hands of foreigners is not a superpower.
The US is heavily dependent
on imports for manufactured goods, including advanced technology
products. In 2005 US dependency (in dollar amounts) on imported
manufactured goods was twice as large as US dependency on imported
oil. In the 21st century the US has experienced a rapid increase
in dependency on imports of advanced technology products. A country
dependent on foreigners for manufactures and advanced technology
products is not a superpower.
Because of jobs offshoring
and illegal immigration, US consumers create jobs for foreigners,
not for Americans. Bureau of Labor Statistics jobs reports document
the loss of manufacturing jobs and the inability of the US economy
to create jobs in categories other than domestic "hands
on" services. According to a March 2006 report from the
Center for Immigration Studies, most of these jobs are going
to immigrants: "Between March 2000 and March 2005 only 9
percent of the net increase in jobs for adults (18 to 64) went
to natives. This is striking because natives accounted for 61
percent of the net increase in the overall size of the 18 to
64 year old population."
A country that cannot create
jobs for its native born population is not a superpower.
In an interview in the April
17 Manufacturing & Technology News, former TCI and Global
Crossing CEO Leo Hindery said that the incentives of globalization
have disconnected US corporations from US interests. "No
economy," Hindery said, "can survive the offshoring
of both manufacturing and services concurrently. In fact, no
society can even take excessive offshoring of manufacturing alone."
According to Hindery, offshoring serves the short-term interests
of shareholders and executive pay at the long-term expense of
US economic strength.
Hindery notes that in 1981
the Business Roundtable defined its constituency as employees,
shareholders, community, customers, and the nation." Today
the constituency is quarterly earnings. A country whose business
class has no sense of the nation is not a superpower.
By launching a war of aggression
on the basis of lies and fabricated "intelligence,"
the Bush regime violated the Nuremberg standard established by
the US and international law. Extensive civilian casualties and
infrastructure destruction in Iraq, along with the torture of
detainees in concentration camps and an ever-changing excuse
for the war have destroyed the soft power and moral leadership
that provided the diplomatic foundation for America's superpower
status. A country that is no longer respected or trusted and
which promises yet more war isolates itself from cooperation
from the rest of the world. An isolated country is not a superpower.
A country that fears small,
distant countries to such an extent that it utilizes military
in place of diplomatic means is not a superpower. The entire
world knows that the US is not a superpower when its entire available
military force is tied down by a small lightly armed insurgency
drawn from a Sunni population of a mere 5 million people.
Neoconservatives think the
US is a superpower because of its military weapons and nuclear
missiles. However, as the Iraqi resistance has demonstrated,
America's superior military firepower is not enough to prevail
in fourth generation warfare. The Bush regime has reached this
conclusion itself, which is why it increasing speaks of attacking
Iran with nuclear weapons.
The US is the only country
to have used nuclear weapons against an opponent. If six decades
after nuking Japan the US again resorts to the use of nuclear
weapons, it will establish itself as a pariah, war criminal state
under the control of insane people. Any sympathy that might still
exist for the US would immediately disappear, and the world would
unite against America.
A country against which the
world is united is not a superpower.
Paul Craig Roberts was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury
in the Reagan administration. He was Associate Editor of the
Wall Street Journal editorial page and Contributing Editor of
National Review. He is coauthor of The
Tyranny of Good Intentions.He can be reached at: paulcraigroberts@yahoo.com
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