I watched this video, 9/11 and American Empire recently, and then I saw the film Fair Game at the OFS Capitol Theatre last night. Fair Game is about the White House push for war in Iraq, and what happened when Joe Wilson spoke out about the way the White House lied the USA into war with Iraq. After seeing Fair Game, I think that Sean Penn would make a great President of the USA. I am also left wondering why Bush Administration officials are not being prosecuted for driving the nation into what was/is a clearly wrongful war—a war of aggression.

I also saw Howl! A film about Allen Ginsberg, poetry, and the USA. Thanks to OFS for consistently having such great films, both of these current ones are definitely important and well worth seeing.

Here is the video of several contributors to 9/11 and American Empire speaking in Berkeley in 2006 about the book and its contents.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3195658770053494633#

"With more than 2,500,000 U.S. personnel serving across the planet and [737] military bases spread across each continent, it's time to face up to the fact that our American democracy has spawned a global empire."
                  Metropolitan Books / By Chalmers Johnson

http://www.alternet.org/story/47998

    Anyone trying to say that we, in the U.S., do not live in an empire building nation is an idiot, plain & simple. Maybe even a plain & simple idiot.

    Think for a moment, at the shortest, about what natural resources reside in the boundaries of the U.S. that others in the world might covet. We have no oil to speak of, no big diamond mines, no gold mines, no lithium, no cheap labor. So what is it wer are afaid of losing.  I know, I know... everyone says we're afraid of losing our freedom(s). Ha!  Is some band of terrorists from the middle east going to sneak across the border from Canada and take away our right of free speech? Our own politicians have done a better job of that than any terrorist could ever hope to do. Are there secret service operatives from Venezuela trying to buy up all the TV air tme during an election cycle in order to infiltrate our political process? Our own Supreme Court is way ahead of them.

    What those in positions of power are afraid of losing is control. Control of the masses. Control of power. Control of our government. Control of other governments. Control of world resources for corporations that were once American, but have morphed into multi-nationals, that have no allegiance to the U.S. but still ask for, and get, protection from our military.

Imagine that the troops are actually doing the work that they are popularly claimed to be doing (though not without reasonable controversy) - that is, protecting us from irrational terrorists, (the "bad guys,") whom are bent upon destruction of our way of life (we're the "good guys!") Assuming that's the case, then hell yeah - thanks for protecting us.

But then again, what if it's not so simple—not so clear. What if the truth is something different than that reality as presented so often in mainstream media. What if the troops are actually protecting US access to global mineral resources? What if the troops are actually enabling the execution of a foreign policy of dominance? Should we still thank them if it turns out that they aren't protecting us? What if the truth is that they are actually protecting the interests of oil companies, war contractors, and the likes of Halliburton, et al.?

The reality on the ground—the truth as I see it, is that the USA is pursuing a foreign policy of dominance. That's to say that the goal of the US government is to enable domination of the global economy by US and Western, and other associated interests.

It can also be rightly stated and understood that the US attack on Iraq was unprovoked. And even though the attack of Afghanistan was (arguably) provoked by the 9/11 attacks, it also doesn't mean that the attack was justified (either by law or by legitimate defensive strategy.)

And what is so wrong with empire? Well, for one, it hurts people. Check out this article by Tom Englehardt:

Being in Base Denial

Going on an Imperial Bender

How the U.S. Garrisons the Planet and Doesn't Even Notice
by Tom Englehardt

Here it is, as simply as I can put it: In the course of any year, there must be relatively few countries on this planet on which U.S. soldiers do not set foot, whether with guns blazing, humanitarian aid in hand, or just for a friendly visit. In startling numbers of countries, our soldiers not only arrive, but stay interminably, if not indefinitely. Sometimes they live on military bases built to the tune of billions of dollars that amount to sizeable American towns (with accompanying amenities), sometimes on stripped down forward operating bases that may not even have showers. When those troops don't stay, often American equipment does -- carefully stored for further use at tiny "cooperative security locations," known informally as "lily pads" (from which U.S. troops, like so many frogs, could assumedly leap quickly into a region in crisis).

At the height of the Roman Empire, the Romans had an estimated 37 major military bases scattered around their dominions. At the height of the British Empire, the British had 36 of them planetwide. Depending on just who you listen to and how you count, we have hundreds of bases. According to Pentagon records, in fact, there are 761 active military "sites" abroad.

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I just wanted to post a link back in my personal blog to a previous story I published about Jeff Sharlet's book, "The Family." Here's the link: The Family: Elite Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power

Inspired by Rick's Understanding Each Other post, I collected all eight episodes of The Prize, a series of videos based on the book, of the same title, by Daniel Yergin.

This book, and the video series based on it, is very informative to the problems regarding the unethical and immoral practices within capitalism whereby powerful individuals take the desire to dominate to extreme levels. Human beings, human societies and the world have suffered horrible consequences as a result of power politics.

Environmental degradation is ongoing. As the world becomes increasingly polluted, it is prime time to ask ourselves what we want to leave for the children of our time, and for all future generations.

Take some time to check out The Prize videos [linked]. You might gain some understanding into why PMR activists object to the imperial politics and policies of global domination. Are power politics the way you want the world to operate?

My resistance is based in environmental and social conscience.