Posted on 12/10/2001 9:44:44 AM PST by classygreeneyedblonde
A DECADE AGO, after he'd lost the Gulf War, Saddam Hussein was allowed by George Bush to remain in power in Baghdad and, after a brief pause, to resume his two favourite occupations — mistreating his own people and tweaking the feathers of the American eagle.
Today, right after he's conceded total defeat in the war in Afghanistan, Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar has been told by another Bush that his only choices are death or a humiliating trial followed — virtually certainly — by life-long imprisonment.
The major difference is that Omar actually killed Americans, or helped to do so by sheltering Osama bin Laden, who in turn played some key part in the events of Sept. 11. By contrast, Saddam Hussein merely threatened Americans' supply of cheap oil by invading Kuwait
There's a difference in the Bushes, also. The old guy appreciated the niceties of diplomacy after much of a life spent abroad. Today's young Bush is a homebody who knows little and cares less about the wide world and its complexities.
The critical difference is that the America of today isn't at all yesterday's America. Today's America is Rome, pure and undiluted
Sure, the U.S. was the leading superpower all right, during the half-century up to the middle of the World War II. And it's been the world's only superpower since the end of the Cold War
But being Rome is more than just having power and cruise missiles, instead of short, stabbing swords. It's a matter of attitude, of psychology, of self-perception
It's knowing that you are Rome and not caring what anyone else thinks or really caring about anyone else at all. It's also about being prepared to kick ass — any ass, anywhere — without apology or self-doubt and, if need be, without explanation.
Sept. 11 didn't so much cause the change as confirm it and quicken it and invest it with a kind of collective national decision, one assented to by ordinary Americans without any public debate; since the U.S. quite obviously is the contemporary Rome in every dimension from cultural, financial and technological to the military and political, well, then, it might as well act like the old Rome.
The British historian Niall Ferguson has called this transformation "the formalization of American imperialism
It could also be called a new version of traditional American isolationism. America, that's to say, will henceforth go into the world when and where it wants to, entirely for the sake of its own self-interest, rather than as in the past, at least occasionally, for bits and pieces of the world.
It matters that victory in Afghanistan has been so quick and easy. Self-confidence flows from the barrel of a gun that's just blasted an enemy to smithereens
It matters also that on Sept. 11, Americans were hurt personally in a way they never have been in their history, not even by defeat in Vietnam nor by Pearl Harbor, so that ever since they've been united and purposeful and determined to win as never before
All that really matters is the fundamental fact of America as Rome, sure of itself, uncaring, ultimately, about anyone else except for alliances of temporary convenience and, most of all, very, very dangerous to cross.
You can see the change even within the pretty placid geopolitics of North America. Mexico, which is part of the continent geographically and is a member of NAFTA, has been frozen entirely out of Washington because its response to Sept. 11 was so sluggish and unenthusiastic. Canada is better off, but only because doing what Washington wants on security and border control has become the only policy game in Ottawa for the past two months. Our signing on to the controversial U.S. National Missile Defence plan is now a done deal but for the formality of Washington winging its request northward.
Abroad, the change is most dramatic in Israel. After weeks of pressuring Israel to keep quiet and making gestures to the Palestinians, such as declaring support for a Palestinian state, Bush has given Israel the green light to do virtually what it wants militarily in the West Bank and Gaza, and has added Palestinian terrorist organizations like Hamas to his hit list
The really dramatic change is yet to come. After Omar has been caught and bin Laden has been bombed out of his cave, switch your gaze from the mountains of Afghanistan to downtown Baghdad. Saddam survived his first encounter with the world's only superpower. He won't survive his now inevitable second encounter with the world's only Rome
What about the SCUD that slammed into one of our barracks in NE Saudi during the Gulf War, killing numerous Americans while they slept? Let alone that Saddam is the same basic animal as Al Qaeda, PFLP, Hamas, Hizbollah, Abu Sayeff, the bombers of the USS Cole....
Uh...pick your poison.
Jeez, just take him out preemptively. Then ask, "Who's next?"
Hank
On the way back, GW asks HHH something like "that was fun, what are we gonna do next?"
HHH responds, "say, remember that fella with a mustache, that your daddy couldn't take care of ten years back? What was his name?"
Turn the plane around, pilot!
Time to spam my Outlook Contact list with this missive.
Well done. Great find.
I read a little past this line after noting the gratuitous slap at the president. America isn't Rome. It might be "like" some old civilization, like when you take a course in psychology you detect symptoms of each mental disease in yourself or others chapter by chapter. Medieval Florence was a great place for a while, but the Medicis had a limited run. Even Spain had almost 100 years of importance, but that wasn't Rome, either. Even Rome wasn't Rome all the time. Make comparisons, but don't say America is Rome and that because Rome fell, America must also.
Have you read the Foundation Series, by Issac Asimov? It also makes this point. Especially the "Forward the Foundation" book in the series.
In my opinion, an empire is good, if you are the person in power. Consitutional Republic in the representaitve form, gives us the best of both Democracy and Empire, while ironing out the cons of both.
Your three propositions have little to do with each other. A system that breeds diversity is likely to be unstable, as is one that is continually expanding. And watch out when empires run into "something that can stop" them. The smash-up can be devastating.
Because we read history, we might not be condemned to repeat. Sooner or later, everything moves on, so we will probably find a new way.
Presented for consideration: Rome did not collapse, they simply moved their corporate HQ and changed their business plan.
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