Implacable Chomsky rips U.S. past, present

FAILED STATES
By Noam Chomsky.
263 pages. Metropolitan Books/Henry Holt. $24

This is indispensible Chomsky.
He is relentless in assaulting imperialistic and hypocritical United States policies past and present. He presents an ugly picture of the nation’s grievous history and parlous state today. The United States is so often so wrong--and has been as least since 1818 when General Jackson seized Florida after the Indian wars.
This is quite contrary to the view of Americans infatuated with the thought that America is the greatest nation that ever existed, that its exceptionalism is without historic parallel.
No wonder Chomsky is persona non grata in most of the Establishment media.
The Chomsky book makes clear the tragedy of the demise of the Soviet Union: no one can now challenge the world’s only superpower. America can do what it wants with impunity because there is no countervailing force to restrain its rampages through the world.
The daily outrages of the Bush administration are told in all their sordidness: imperialism, unilateralism, torture and rendition, disdain for world opinion and a go-it-alone policy that rejects rulings by international bodies.
Secretary of State Rice says that the U.S. has the right “to attack a country that it thinks could attack first,” that the international court is inappropriate for America and that America is not subject to international laws. President Bush declares the U.N. is irrelevant, a mere debating society, if doesn’t endorse its plans to invade and occupy Iraq.
But, you see, manifest destiny and manifest design are all part of “the will of God.” Thus, grab from Mexico enormous acreage. Invade Latin American countries that dare to put their people ahead of holy American capitalism. Bomb Cambodia even if it is what Chomsky calls a monstrous war crime, bordering on genocide.
America’s leaders keep talking about the wonders of democracy. Yet it has engineered the overthrow of elected governments in Iran, Guatemala and Chile. America tried to get rid of populist President Hugo Chavez in Venezuela. It wants to get rid of the freely elected Hamas in Palestine.
The truth is that the U.S. backs democracy only if it is consistent with its strategic and economic interests. Elections are just fine--but only if they turn out America’s way.
Far from being a haven of democracy, America is often undemocratic. Its leaders burst with glowing rhetoric but few good deeds. It not only acts against the world’s best interests, it acts against the best interests of the bulk of American people.
Nothing illustrates better the bogus claim of supporting democracy than the U.S. expulsion from Iraq of Al-Jazeera, the Arabic TV channel often critical of Israel.
America has backed countless dictators from Batista in Cuba and Somoza in Nicaragua, including Saddam Hussein who once was America’s pal when his troops were fighting Iran. The U.S. policy of ostracisim and sanctions against Cuba, tiny in size and tinier in military might, is one of the country’s many disgraces.
“We do not care about atrocities that contribute to our ends,” Chomsky writes. Illustration: backing Indonesia even when it slaughtered 60,000 East Timorians. Cuba? Hey, if Castro defies U.S. will, impose sanctions, engage in economic warfare, strangle the communist beast. Keep the “virus” of communism from spreading in Nicaragua, Vietnam and Cuba even though all three nations undertook social and national revolutions without thought of communism.
Chomsky makes it clear that the U.S. is an outlaw state, a rogue nation, defying international law, ignoring Geneva conventions, flouting the World Court and exempting itself from rules obeyed by other nations.
The United States always has a pretext for its countless invasions. Seize Cuba from Spain to liberate it. Take over the Philippines to educate its people, “uplift and civilize and Christianinze them.” Invade Panama to arrest Noriega, long-time CIA asset, under the pretense of fighting the drug war. And if one pretext is exposed as a lie, then come up with many others as President Bush has done constantly about Iraq.
And fear-mongering. President Reagan placed “the ferocious Nicaragua army only two days from Harlingen, Texas.” Bush wins election after election by playing the 9/11 card.
Chomsky’s book is scrupulously footnoted. His scholarship is impeccable. Although most of the truths are well-known by leftists, having been published frequently by progressive magazines, too few Americans know those truths.
A New York Times reviewer calls the Chomsky book a philippic. (Translation of Establishment speak: tirade, rant.) Nevertheless, the reviewer concludes: “It’s hard to imagine any American reading this book and not seeing his country in a new and deeply troubling light.”