Eating our own Flesh

I think its important to be clear (or as clear as one can) about how US militarism works, and the logic of US Imperialism. The invasion of Iraq was, indeed, about oil, but it was about a great deal more. The price of oil is a mysterious and confusing topic — but then probably so was sugar in its day as the driving commodity of Capital, or cotton, or slaves. So, did the US invade Iraq because of oil? I think it’s a question that obscures some deeper realities. I think the constant growth of militarism is connected to the logic of advanced Capital, and OPEC, for example, has benefited defense contractors more than it has anyone. The consolidation of death merchant companies into the big four (Lockheed-Martin, Ratheon, Northrup Grumman, and Boeing) took place in the 1990s. As of 2004 their sales amounted to 150 Billion dollars, and it’s now well in advance of that. The US supplies half of the world’s weapons, so they stopped giving them away and now sell them (with help from the international financial institutions). The logic of waste, of bomb it and then rebuild it and then bomb it again is indelible. Oil is part of the engine of militarism — of the ever growing need for enemies. However, it is not restricted to just Dick Cheney nor even to to just the OPEC members or Halliburton. They are all players, but then so was Bill Clinton (remember the non-stop bombing of Iraq, and the murderous sanctions?!!) and every other president since Teddy Roosevelt almost. The dynamic of capital is one based on theft and exploitation. The plunder of the periphery is ongoing (by creating new peripheries) but also, like a mutated cancer, has turned upon itself. The beast of waste Capital must feed itself and its ever hungrier (to push the metaphor). Hence, the economic forces best symbolized by the IMF and World Bank. The creation of endless, so called, *failed states*. Not a few of which happen to be connected to oil (Nigeria, Angola, Indonesia, et al). So, Iraq was certainly the next logical step in this historical process — and not an aberration. Dick Cheney is only another errand boy of the beast. If Hillary is elected, nothing of this will change, because it can’t. Not under this system. The disaster of Iraq (and it IS a disaster, even for the likes of Cheney) doesn’t mean it won’t continue to provide a huge profit for those captains of capital, and the pan national plunderers. Occupation may cost lives, but in the end it *makes* money. What I want to get at with this is that the intensifying desperation of waste capital is reaching a point where only brutal lock down of total populations will work. I think you are absolutely right in worrying about this. What form that takes is another question. The endless need for war is obvious, and after Iraq we have Iran. Never mind there aren’t enough troops, and that the resistance in Iraq is winning, the logic of Capital needs more targets. And believe me, after Iran, Hillary will find a Venezuela or a maybe a Syria or a Zimbabwe in need of US intervention and occupation. And the blood soaked accountants of Bechtel or Dyn Corp will be sharpening their cyber pencils and drooling in anticipation of more to exploit.

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And let’s remember, as we take a quick stroll through recent history, of just how militarism has fueled US dominance. The Mexican American war, the implications of Manifest Destiny and the Monroe Doctrine, and then annexation of Puerto Rico, Guam, and Cuba … not to mention the Phillipines. Oh, and Hawaii ( to help stabilize Dole Pineapple) and then Colombia and Nicaragua, and Panama (need that property for the canal after all) and onward to the Dominican Republic and the de-facto domination of poor Haiti. The Cold War provided a rationale for bases everywhere, and then the fight against communism gave us Guatemala, Indonesia, El Salvador, and Chile, as well as Lebanon and even Grenada. Finally it was Viet Nam. The point is that I see little in US history that is democratic nor humane. It’s an Imperialist power, and the smoke and mirror palliatives of electoral politics is merely a tranquillizing distraction.

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The question of root causes is complex, and I agree its probably more dialectical than even Debord thought. The ingrained need for concrete support of our *identity* is, I agree, a part of our collective pathology. When I say the beast has turned on itself, I think I’m trying to get at the way the American public has been rendered impotent and numb, both psychologically and biologically. The alienation factor is one I return to again and again. Simple things like eating; which once provided a means for people to come together, has been re-designed as more alienation. Traditional learning and community are wiped out, along with any historical awareness. This turning inward to eat one’s own liver clearly affects even ghouls like Cheney and Rumsfeld; it effects everyone. I sometimes wonder if two hundred years from now a people (if there are any) will look at the artifacts of this culture and shake their heads at the faces in photos from this period, at the images of self loathing and pure anger that disfigure humankind today. They might well wonder at how we lasted as long as we did.

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A footnote on Polish elections. PO won in a surprisingly convincing way …. so the twins are out and won’t even form part of any coalition. Donald Tusk is the new sock puppet atop the dung heap … and as I’ve said, most resembles a Bill Clinton. Is this good news you ask? Well, no, but I guess it staves off some immediate problems associated with the deeply reactionary administration of the Duck Twins. But more on this next time.

John Steppling