Feb. 9 (Bloomberg) -- In Chalmers Johnson's unrelentingly grim view, today's dire global conditions are largely the fault of an arrogant, increasingly militarized U.S. bent on expanding its global empire.
If, as you read the preceding sentence, you find yourself nodding in agreement, you may well admire ``Nemesis: The Last Days of the American Republic.'' If you prefer a more nuanced and evenhanded consideration of U.S. responsibility for the world's woes, Johnson's arguments will sound overheated.
For an Asia specialist who taught at the University of California for 30 years, Johnson sounds surprisingly like Michael Moore. The U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, in his view, has become the ``private army'' of the ``Boy Emperor from Crawford, Texas.'' America doesn't have allies; it has ``satellites.'' The U.S. Air Force has become an ``overlord of the globe,'' and the whole country is headed toward a possible military coup or, more probable in Johnson's view, bankruptcy.
Johnson appears to welcome such an outcome. ``We will have to learn what it means to be a far poorer nation and the attitudes and manners that go with it,'' he says in this final piece of the trilogy on the American empire that began with his bestselling ``Blowback.''
There's no denying that President George W. Bush and other U.S. policymakers, past and present, have much to answer for. ``Nemesis'' reiterates a sadly familiar list of shameful misdeeds committed by American leaders or at their behest.
Damning Record
Johnson recalls the manipulation of intelligence in the run-up to the invasion of Iraq; the prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib; ``extraordinary renditions'' of some terror suspects and the mistreatment of those held at Guantanamo Bay; CIA complicity in coups in Iran and Chile; and criminal behavior by U.S. troops stationed in overseas military bases -- the ``all- encompassing imperial `footprint.'''
Unfortunately, Johnson undercuts his often compelling arguments with selective use of supporting evidence, occasional logical lapses and a chronic use of hyperventilating language. Consider these assertions on the very first page of his book:
``Arrogant and misguided American policies have headed us for a series of catastrophes comparable to our disgrace and defeat in Vietnam or even to the sort of extinction that befell our former fellow `superpower,' the Soviet Union,'' he writes. ``Such a fate is probably by now unavoidable.''
Inevitable Collapse?
Johnson sees signs of rot everywhere. In today's America, he asserts, constitutional checks and balances are in tatters. Government power is concentrated in an imperial presidency protected by the CIA. Congress is corrupt, addicted to lobbyists' money and pork-barrel spending. The judiciary is cowed. Unchecked militarism has spawned a war economy that will inevitably collapse.
For Johnson, no historical comparison is too extreme. The slavish devotion of White House officials to presidential prerogatives reminds Johnson of how Chinese communists deferred to Mao Zedong. He applies Hannah Arendt's description of Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann as a ``desk murderer'' to Bush, Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld.
The U.S. today, ``like the Roman Republic in the first century BC, is threatened by an out-of-control military- industrial complex and a huge secret government,'' Johnson writes. Rome's Republic, he reminds us, was destroyed and replaced by the ultimately unsustainable Roman Empire. Something similar might be in store for the U.S., he warns.
What About Nancy?
Though readers already prone to agree with Johnson may be amused, his rhetorical flourishes are likely to distract -- and alienate -- others.
What does the future hold? There is some hope, Johnson says, if Americans, like the British after World War II, come to terms with the inherent weaknesses of an imperial strategy, ``and keep our democracy by giving up our empire.''
Yet Johnson doesn't place much faith in the potential for political change, writing that he can't imagine ``any president or Congress'' defying the interests of the overpowering military-industrial complex. It makes you wonder if he has ever met Nancy Pelosi.
``Nemesis'' is published by Holt (354 pages, $26.00).
(Michael Glennon is a critic for Bloomberg News. The opinions expressed are his own.)
To contact the writer of this review: Michael Glennon at glennon.michael@gmail.com .
Last Updated: February 9, 2007 00:12 EST
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