[Marxism] Christopher Hitchens on the "noblest responsibilities" of imperialism

["Jurriaan Bendien" <andromeda246@xxxxxxxxx>]

Iraq-"expert" Christopher Hitchens just topped the bill for rhetoric in the
LA Times. This guy's like a bad dream. He writes:

"The U.S. armed forces are learning every day how to fight in extreme
conditions, in post-rogue-state and post-failed-state surroundings, with the
forces of medieval tyranny. Does anyone think this is not experience worth
having, or that it will not be needed again? And does anyone want to imagine
what Iraq would have looked like now if we had let it go on the way it was
before? Too late and too little, to be sure, but nonetheless one of the
noblest responsibilities we have ever shouldered."
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/sunday/commentary/la-op-iraq24oct24,1,37
22118.story

Well stay away from my shoulder, thanks! Let's imagine, as Hitchens
suggests, that the US hadn't meddled in Iraq:

- imagine all the human beings that would be alive and healthy, instead of
dead, maimed or sick,
- imagine all the depleted uranium shells that would not be there,
- imagine of all the infrastructure and utilities that would not be damaged,
inoperable or destroyed,
- imagine of all the people that would have jobs, instead of being jobless,
- imagine all the resources that would be available to the local people, and
not hocked off to foreign buyers,
- imagine all the weaponry that would not been in Iraq,
- imagine the political system and political leaders Iraq could have had...

...and that's just for starters ! To talk of "noble responsibilities" is
totally absurd. It would be more appropriate to call it gross and lethal
irresponsibility, harmful to humanity and indeed to the interests of the
United States itself.

Jurriaan


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