vietnam war – AmericanDelusions

Our Empire, National Priorities, and the Iraq War revisited

August 9, 2023

Recently I came across the Summer 2023 issue of Jacobin (self-described as “a leading voice of the American left, offering socialist perspectives on politics, economics, and culture.”). The lead article is “The Iraq Invasion Twenty Years Later“. This reminded me of all the lies and posturing that led up to --->> read more -->>

American Wars – The Secrets of Vietnam and Afghanistan

December 6, 2018

The recent movie The Post (about the Washington Post newspaper and its involvement with the Pentagon Papers – see below) poses interesting reminders of the power of the US government to rain death on countries that fall under our imperial domain and simultaneously keep the American people in the dark --->> read more -->>

President Authorizes Coup in Iran

August 19, 2018

Intervention in Iran – 65th Anniversary On August 19, 1953 President Eisenhower authorized the CIA to support British efforts to launch a coup against the popularly elected government of Prime Minister Mohammed Mossadegh in favor of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the Shah of Iran. At immediate issue were plans by Mossadegh to nationalize --->> read more -->>

Russian “Interference” and the American Empire – the lost ironies

November 5, 2017

With all of the current outrage over Russia’s attempts to influence our last presidential election one can only be struck by the notion that Americans don’t know their own history, even that which occurred within our own lifetimes. Thus they are unable to see the ironies involved in our complaints --->> read more -->>

Movie – War Machine – a misplaced parable

May 28, 2017

Netflix has just released War Machine onto the streaming media waters. This movie fits into the long tradition of American media mostly puffing up our military exploits or turning them into light tragi-comedy. Brad Pitt, applying the acting style of a trimmed down George Clooney, portrays the fictional General Glen McMahon. Broadly and --->> read more -->>

The Scale of American Warfare Post WWII – Vietnam

September 4, 2009

Americans are amazingly ignorant of the scale and costs of our warfare. For example, during the Vietnam War (or the American War as the Vietnamese say) the US dropped more bombs on Vietnam, a country the size of Wisconsin and Minnesota, than all of the bombs used during WWII. In --->> read more -->>

A Fog of War or a Fog of Ethics?

December 18, 2003

Through our friend Esther Hanig we attended a showing of Errol Morris’s new documentary, The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons From the Life of Robert S. McNamara at the Kennedy Library in Dorchester MA on December 14, 2003. This documentary is an extended adventure into the historico-biography of Robert S. McNamara, --->> read more -->>