In a
previous Commentary on this subject (1), I endeavoured to "set the
stage." I briefly retailed the history of the establishment of US
Permanent War policy by BushCheney. In a recent speech, President Barack Obama
appeared to attack the policy head-on, and suggested that he would endeavour to
end it (2). This President is known for giving very pretty speeches, seemingly
showing a great deal of resolve to solve very difficult problems, but then for
one reason or another failing to follow through and surely failing to achieve
the goals he appeared to set forth. There are a variety of reasons for this.
Some have to do with his apparent dis-interest in engaging in heavy-duty
political battling. Some have to do with his traditional right-wing Democratic
politics. Some have to do with the well-known total intransigence of the
Congressional Republican Party in dealing with him.
But there
are some major structural problems in the US economy and in US society in
general that make it very hard for President Obama to follow through on his
proposal. (It should be noted that here, for the sake of this discussion, I am
taking him at his word that he really wants to do this and is not just blowing
smoke. However, it is well-known on the Left that that may very well not be the
case [3].) And so, not necessarily in order of importance, let's consider the
question, "why Permanent War." The central element is the nature of
modern US capitalism. Until the advent of the Reagan Administration, since the end
of World War II US capitalism focused on domestic production for profit-making
(and profit-making is the number one goal of capitalists. Any other positive
achievements for society as a whole may be called "collateral
benefits," for lack of a better term.) Then things began to change. Since
this history is well-known to most readers of these pages, I will review it
very quickly.
The
Reaganites ramped up the Cold War very quickly with the goal of finally
destroying the Soviet Union, which they would do at the end of the "75
Years War Against the Soviet Union, 1917-1992." As part of this effort,
the US military-industrial complex was expanded well beyond where it had stood,
even at the end of the War on Viet Nam. At the same time, faced with a falling
rate of profit from domestic manufacturing the Reaganites began the process,
accelerated under "Bill" Clinton (and being further accelerated by
Pres. Obama, see the "Trans-Pacific Partnership" [4]), of making it
easier and easier for US manufacturers to ship capital and US jobs overseas.
Paralleling this was the movement of capital into making money by trading
pieces of paper, which led to the Crash of 2008, which led in turn to the Great
Recession, which is hardly over. The fourth major profit-center for US capital
is energy production and use. There is only one major domestic manufacturing
profit-center for US capital: the military-industrial complex (the MIC). It is
hardly a coincidence that the US spends more on weapons and the military than
all of other countries in the world combined.
Three of the
four principal profit centers are inter-related. The MIC produces handsome
profits on its own. The MIC is necessary to protect the world-wide interests of
the US energy production/consumption industry. The MIC is also necessary to
protect the loci of US capital around the world, the so-called global economy.
And now we come to the first reason why it is highly unlikely that President
Obama would be able to bring the Permanent War to an end. The US political
system as a whole could hardly sell Permanent War to the US people on the basis
of its real "whys." So it has to create the necessity of Permanent
War, known colloquially in the US as the "War on Terror." And what a
nice state-of-being this so-called "War" (the equivalent in
conventional military parlance would be something like, as a US General once
said, a "War on Flanking Manoeuvres") creates for the Permanent
Warriors. There will always be terrorists, or potential terrorists, or
(created, false flag terrorists, if needed), and the "War" itself
creates even more of them. Thus, by its very nature, it can never end.
But further,
the US political system, as least as it now constructed, will never let it end.
The "Permanent War" Party is the GOP. They are the bought-and-paid
representatives (along with certain Democrats to be sure) of the interests
whose interests are served by Permanent War (as above). As is well-know, even
though center and center-right Democrats don't want to admit it, the GOP
controls the Congress, through its majority in the House of Representatives and
the (un-constitutional, but that's another matter) super-majority rule in the
Senate. With gerrymandering/re-districting and small-state dominance of the
Senate, this is not going to change any time soon. (Certainly it will not
change through any effort of the present Congressional Democratic Party, of
which too many members are just as bought-and-paid-for by the Corporate Power
as are the Republicans.) You just have to listen to the response of the McCains
and the Grahams to know that to the limits of their power they will do
everything they can to block Obama from ending the war (that is if he really
wants to).
Finally,
there is the fear-factor, the great distractor. As is well-known, the US media
are dominated by the Right-wing and right-wing influences. As long as some
significant sector of the US population can be kept afraid of
"terrorism" the only response that has been represented to them as
being even possibly useful, that is the "War on Terror," will retain
their support. Whether or not 9/11 was a false flag operation (and there are
many respected authorities who suspect that it was [5]), it certainly served to
place fear of both real and potential "terrorism" in the minds of
many US. The fear factor is pumped on the Propaganda Channel and
SavagelyLe-vinitatingO'Rhannibaugh 24/7. It is served by Permanent War and
Permanent War fuels it. This is another reason why Permanent War is not going
away any time soon.
Orwell was
right. Permanent War serves the interests of a ruling class that has nothing to
offer everyone else in its drive to greater and greater profits, with no
sharing, not even a little bit. It all comes down to what can be called "The Three P's:" Power, Profits, and the Promotion of Fear." President Obama might want to bring it to and
end (or he might, really, not). But absent major political and economic changes
in this country, neither he nor anyone else for that matter is going to be able
to do so anytime soon.
(Photo: Vasily Vereshchagin )
References :
1. Jonas, S., "The Permanence of Permanent War, Part 1: Setting the Stage," http://www.opednews.com/articles/The-Permanence-of-Permanen-by-Steven-Jonas-130617-987.html
2. Brown,
H., "Obama Lays Out Plan To End The War Against Al Qaeda," http://thinkprogress.org/security/2013/05/23/2055331/obama-aumf-repeal/?mobile=nc.
3. Boardman,
W., "Global War on Terror to Continue, Assassinating People Prevents Them From
Attacking Us," http://www.globalresearch.ca/presidents-obamas-promise-global-war-on-terror-to-continue-with-fresh-makeup-assassinating-people-prevents-them-from-attacking-us/5336519.
4. Snyder,
M., "The "Trans-Pacific Partnership': Obama's Secret Trade Agreement Will Push
the Deindustrialization of America into Overdrive," http://www.globalresearch.ca/trans-pacific-partnership-obamas-secret-trade-agreement-will-push-the-deindustrialization-of-america-into-overdrive/5337667.
5. Jonas,
S., "9/11 Revisited --- Again," OpEdNews: http://www.opednews.com/articles/9-11-Revisited---Again-by-Steven-Jonas-121008-262.html;
The Greanville Post: (Oct. 9, 2012): http://www.greanvillepost.com/2012/10/09/911-revisited-again/#more-40700.
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Steven Jonas, MD, MPH is a Professor of Preventive Medicine at Stony
Brook University (NY) and author/co-author/editor/co-editor of over 30 books.
Dr. Jonas' latest book is The
15% Solution: How the Republican Religious Right Took Control of the U.S.,
1981-2022 : A futuristic Novel, Brewster, NY, Trepper & Katz Impact Books,
Punto Press Publishing, 2013, and available on Amazon.
