Which American System is Exceptional?

by Jacob G. Hornberger
May. 12, 2015

Throughout the Iraq War, U.S. officials steadfastly maintained, especially after they failed to find those infamous WMDs, that they were continuing to occupy Iraq out of love for the Iraqi people. Since U.S. troops were there anyway, they said, there was no need to apologize for having invaded a country and killed lots of people based on a wrongful premise. Might as well just shift gears and say that the continued occupation of the country would be based on a deeply seated concern for the well-being of the Iraqi people.

In fact, isn't that the official justification for all the U.S. government's interventions in the Middle East? All the chaos, crisis, war, death, and destruction, we are told, have been to bring a paradise of peace, stability, and prosperity to the people of the Middle East.

Of course, the justification has been a sham from the beginning. There certainly was no concern for the hundreds of thousands of Iraqi children who were dying from the U.S.-enforced sanctions against Iraq for more than ten years. Moreover, there was never an upward limit on the number of Iraqi people who U.S. officials were willing to kill in the supposed effort to bring the good life to those who survived the mayhem.

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