American Gangsterism
The U.S. is committing war crimes in Iraq
by Justin Raimondo
The gangster is an American icon, long glamorized in folklore, film, and song, and it is therefore hardly surprising that this devotion to the cult of thuggery should manifest itself in our foreign and military policy. From Jimmy Cagney in The Public Enemy (1931) to Marlon Brando in The Godfather trilogy, the image of the swashbuckling killer who combines ruthlessness with glamor, and, in Cagney's case, comedic flair, has been a staple of American cultural fare. The gangster is the ultimate "unilateralist," and in this reflects the central organizing principle of U.S. foreign policy in the age of Bush II: might makes right. When gangsters fire-bomb a business that refuses to pay for "protection," or rub out a rival gang member in a drive-by shooting, they are merely implementing the theory of "preemption," which is now official U.S. military doctrine.
A gangsterish foreign policy requires a mercilessly brutal gang of enforcers, and that, from all accounts, is what the U.S. military is turning into in Iraq
The U.S. is committing war crimes in Iraq
by Justin Raimondo
The gangster is an American icon, long glamorized in folklore, film, and song, and it is therefore hardly surprising that this devotion to the cult of thuggery should manifest itself in our foreign and military policy. From Jimmy Cagney in The Public Enemy (1931) to Marlon Brando in The Godfather trilogy, the image of the swashbuckling killer who combines ruthlessness with glamor, and, in Cagney's case, comedic flair, has been a staple of American cultural fare. The gangster is the ultimate "unilateralist," and in this reflects the central organizing principle of U.S. foreign policy in the age of Bush II: might makes right. When gangsters fire-bomb a business that refuses to pay for "protection," or rub out a rival gang member in a drive-by shooting, they are merely implementing the theory of "preemption," which is now official U.S. military doctrine.
A gangsterish foreign policy requires a mercilessly brutal gang of enforcers, and that, from all accounts, is what the U.S. military is turning into in Iraq
