Posted April 19, 2003

Regarding "Empire's 'Liberation'" by Nebojsa Malic:

I always enjoy your essays: they are well written, informative and free of ideological baggage. I have just finished reading the April 17th one and the overwhelming darkness and pessimism struck me as being out-of-touch with the world's zeitgeist. OK, I agree with the facts in the article. I even agree that the global-empire initiatives (or whatever we wish to call them) seem to be on the roll, whether in the Balkans or elsewhere. But aren't they clearly overreaching? Isn't the frantic control-of-everything mania a sign of imbalance? Isn't the most important fact of the last few months a sense by the masses of people around the world that things have gone too far? Don't you sense a creeping ridicule and cynicism among the people?

I recall a similar sense of "they have gone too far away from normal life" living as a child in socialist Czechoslovakia. When powers that be have to resort to clumsy censorship and cheerleading, when they start resorting to "it's true because we say so" tautologies – that's when they are reaching the end of the road. When? Who knows, self-control might still be reimposed by the more rational members of the global-empire project. But the rot has set in.

One example is Oric. The idiocy of going after him now, more than 10 years after his videotapes of mayhem against the Serbs became available, after he was first a hero, then a victim, then temporarily declared dead by the Moslem government. It is just stupid, they are no longer manipulating, they are like a juvenile who was given control of a baseball team. Trying to manipulate everything is usually the downfall of ideological projects. Life simply cannot adapt itself to that level of chicanery. The desperate attempts by BBC and AP to downplay the factual basis of Oric's war crimes, the ever-present allusions to him being the "former Milosevic's bodyguard who changed sides", the see-we-are-fair gloating by Hague and their amen corner in the "humanitarian" community – it doesn't add up.

My point is, let's try some optimism for a change. But, please keep on writing, your essays are among the best available today.

~ Juraj Pavlovic

Nebojsa Malic replies:

It was not my intention to sound pessimistic, just brutally honest. Though I completely agree with you, there are still plenty of people out there who believe the Empire's promises and lies, and they need to see the degree to which they are being deceived. If anything, I wanted to contribute to the growing cynicism and awareness of Empire's true colors by pointing out that it is still sorely lacking amongst Empire's recent victims.

Regarding "Israeli Militarism At War" Ran HaCohen:

I eagerly anticipated Ran HaCohen's articles and am never disappointed. The latest is no exception. Israel seems to be on a "blackout" by the US media.

HaCohen gives us rare insight into what Israelis are really experiencing. Thanks so much for his work.

~ Henry Makow, Ph.D.

Regarding "The Harder They Fall" by Alan Bock:

I completely agree with Alan Bock's analysis of the precarious situation confronting totalitarian regimes; the fact that it drives both the leadership and the people to a crazed point. These type of deeply oppressive and invasive states can only last for a while (dragging the entire country down the drain with them during that horrible period). However, when we are dealing with the Middle East, we have to be realistic and admit the process of change will have to be generally slow and tedious and mostly nonviolent. Short of a timely and well-coordinated revolt in most of the country, especially the major urban centers, there is no quick fix – especially since many governments make sure their citizens remain unarmed excepting the military. Tyrants in that area show they have no qualms about brutally crushing any uprising in a city or particular region as the Syrians of Hama, as well as the rest of the people of the Middle East, learned in 1982.

They have also shown their high tolerance for loss of lives among their country's population. This is the reason why most Muslim scholars (especially among the Sunnis) do not encourage open revolt as civil war may bring about much more bloodshed and horror than dealing patiently with an illegitimate, oppressive ruler – knowing that time is always running out for him. The best thing we can do form this side of the ocean is encourage the development of a better society in that area, share constructive ideas, give the opposition political and moral support and absolutely NOT hinder it by supporting dictators with economic or military aid. If one does, they run the risk of being remembered as an enemy when the revolution finally does come as happened in Iran.

~ Talha Rizvi

Thanks for your columns and to everyone at Antiwar.com for providing a great resource!

I agree that tyrannies and other forms of Big Government are inherently more fragile than small governments, and I agree with your suggestion that they eventually fall on their own (the USSR being a shining example).

I offer a few factors that I believe are important to include in a comparison of the American and Iraqi militaries (realizing that in a single column, you don't have space to cover these issue).

1. What is the relative price tag for the American military vs. Iraq's? Is ours one or two orders of magnitude greater?

Any military is inherently wasteful, clumsy and incompetent. Obscenely so. The several-hundred-billion dollar American military had a lot more resources with which to buy military might than Iraq's did.

Is it possible that the Hussein's military, however it may have blundered, actually made fewer mistakes and put up a better fight per dollars (dinars) spent than the Americans?

Perhaps we should question why Iraq didn't fall faster.

2. The inherent weakness in the Iraqi regime had more than just tyranny to blame. It's been kneecapped by American-led trade sanctions for over a decade.

3. Which country had bigger government, and thus more inherent weakness, going into this war?

Because our military is so vast, in the immediate future we will remain much stronger than any "enemy" we engage.

But as lawmakers accelerate the growth of our already-huge US government, could we be heading for the same kind of fragility that we expect only from tyrannical and communist regimes – and empires heading for their downfall?

Small government is beautiful.

~ Carla Howell, Massachusetts Chair, Committee for Small Government, 2002 ballot initiative to end the income tax

You are very right regarding the fragility of dictatorial regimes. Having lived under one of those (although not nearly as bad as most) please allow me to add a personal observation.

Ultimately, all undemocratic regimes are destined to fall due to disillusionment of the population (as well as the ruling class itself) in the regimes' legitimacy and the long-term ability to survive. After some years of oppression (the length of time depends on many factors) people gradually start to lose the sense of fear and, little by little, on myriad small ways, start to undermine the system.

Eventually, so many things become subpar, in comparison with the previous times and with other countries, that not only the population in general but even the ruling class, develop the sense of incompetence and less worth. (Also, some of them, especially the members of the younger generation, perceived the injustices done by the regime and undermine their own class from within. I think that was the reason that Gorbachev, as a member of the ruling class, acted the way he, fortunately, did. Furthermore, I think that the USSR dissolved from within, without the 'help' from the US.) Eventually, no one, including the enforcers of the regime's will (secret police, military) believes in the system and any push that happens (from within or without) will topple it.

Ultimately, every government rules by the consent of governed. Once that consent is withdrawn the regime is doomed.

~ Ivan Perisic

Eric Garris Replies

Just curious to know what happened to the Iraq casualty counter you had on your website?

~ Konstantin P.

Managing Editor Eric Garris replies:

Our board voted to take it off, since we had doubts as to the accuracy of the numbers. You can still go to the site at: http://www.iraqbodycount.net/.

Shame on you for continuing to carry articles by Robert Fisk. The man is a liar, a propagandist for totalitarian and authoritarian regimes. When I read his article claiming there were no US troops at the Baghdad Airport, I told myself I would never voluntarily read another Robert Fisk article.

~ Paul M.

Eric Garris replies:

If you had read Fisk's follow-up articles, as well as clarifications that Central Command later issued, you will see that his report was accurate. The airport is huge, and the section where the ticket counters, etc. were had not yet been taken over by the US troops.

In fact, Reuters and the NY Times ran similar reports at the time, confirming exactly what Fisk said and forcing Central Command to issue their "clarification."

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~ Jaime O.

Eric Garris replies:

PayPal has reinstated WhatReallyHappened's account and has apologized.