By Kenneth J. Theisen, 9/19/07
Defense Secretary Robert Gates delivered a speech on
September 17th at the World Forum on the Future of Democracy in Williamsburg, Virginia
which turned reality on its head. The speech was billed by the Bush regime as
“a realist’s view of promoting democracy abroad,” but should more accurately be
described as “a pack of lies from U.S. imperialism’s war secretary.”
Gates attempted to make the case that U.S. imperialist actions bring
freedom and democracy to the oppressed nations of the world.
Gates started the lies with this description of U.S. presidents, “The most successful leaders,
starting with Washington,
have steadfastly encouraged the spread of liberty, democracy, and human rights.” Tell this to the millions of Native Americans
who were victims of genocidal slaughter, or the millions of Africans who were
kidnapped and brought to the U.S.
as slaves. Tell this to the people of Mexico that had a large chunk of their country
ripped off in one of the first imperialist adventures of the U.S. and to millions of people who have since
suffered at the hands of U.S.
imperialism.
But Gates told this blatant lie in order to justify the
current imperialist adventures of the Bush regime. If his listeners buy this myth that the U.S.
has always attempted to spread “liberty, democracy and human rights” they will
buy the story that the U.S. is in Afghanistan and Iraq to foster these ideals
too. Maybe they will even buy that as
the reason for an attack on Iran.
In his speech, Gates makes it clear that he wants Americans
to buy his mythological view of the world as it pertains to these countries and
“our enemies.” He sets up an “us versus them”
dichotomy when he says, “Today, as one looks around the world – wars in Iraq
and Afghanistan, an ambitious and fanatical theocracy in Iran, a nuclear North
Korea, terrorism, and more…These new threats, and in particular, the
conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the wider challenge of dealing with
radical jihadist movements since September 11,”” Gates claims these as the challenges to the U.S. bringing
freedom and democracy to the world.
Gates went on to list some of the countries that have been victims
of U.S.
imperialism over the last few decades.
“He said, “We have used our military to eliminate governments seen as a
threat to our national security, to undo aggression, to end ethnic slaughter,
and to prevent chaos. In recent times, we have done this in Grenada, Panama,
Kuwait, the Balkans, Haiti, Afghanistan,
and Iraq. In
the process, we have brought the possibility of democracy and freedom to tens
of millions more who had been oppressed or were suffering.” We can readily see
how well “democracy and freedom” are working in the latest two countries
“liberated” by the U.S. In Afghanistan
and Iraq the U.S. has freed
hundreds of thousands from life itself.
Gates also quoted President Bush from Bush’s second
inaugural address as if a lie from the president is more convincing, “It is the
policy of the United States
to seek and support the growth of democratic movements and institutions in
every nation and culture, with the ultimate goal of ending tyranny in our
world.” And finally Gates get to the real
point of his speech, “”for America to leave Iraq and the Middle East in chaos
would betray and demoralize our allies there and in the region, while
emboldening our most dangerous adversaries. To abandon an Iraq where just
two years ago 12 million people quite literally risked their lives to vote for
a constitutional democracy would be an offense to our interests as well as our
values, a setback for the cause of freedom as well as the goal of stability.” Gates says democracy takes time to grow so, “We
must be realists and recognize that the institutions that underpin an enduring
free society can only take root over time.”
Gates stated it could take “many years or decades” for
democratic values to take hold. So
Americans should just sit by patiently while U.S. military forces deliver
democracy abroad. Only fools would buy
that U.S.
imperialism is a benevolent actor on the world stage, but that is what the Bush
regime wants us to believe. They also want us to wait while they do their good
works. But how many more will die and
how many more nations will be attacked if millions do not rise and halt the
Bush regime now? Reality demands that we
all take action now. Tomorrow will be
too late.