Forum on US Empire, Militarism, War with Bibliography

BOOK FORUM ON US NATIONAL SECURITY STATE, EMPIRE, AND WARS:  CAUSES AND CONSEQUENCES

News Release

BOOK FORUM FRIDAY, OCTOBER 7, 2011, at OMNI, 6:30  

Contact: Dick Bennett 442-4600

Subject: FORUM ON CAUSES AND CONSEQUENCES OF US EMPIRE, MILITARISM, AND WARS

October 7 is Afghanistan Invasion Day.

 THIS OMNI BOOK FORUM brings you BOOKS dedicated to preventing more unnecessary, illegal, catastrophic US wars by explaining why and how they occurred, the devastating consequences to the world and to the US itself, and how we might best convert from empire and militarized economy to peace and cooperation with the rest of the world.  These books and others in my annotated list (contact Dick) enable us to resist effectively.

The Forum will occur on October 7, the day the US invaded Afghanistan, 2001.    6:30 PM, at OMNI, 3274 Lee Avenue, northeast of Fiesta Square across College Ave. between Liquor World and Office Depot.

PANEL

John Rule:  War Is a Lie by David Swanson  (13 deceptions, myths enabling US wars)

Carl Barnwell:   American Wars, Paul Buchheit ed.  (19 illusions the US elite employ to go to war)

Paul Leonard:   Four books by Chalmers Johnson (Blowback Trilogy plus Dismantling the Empire, wide-ranging indictment of US empire)

 Dick Bennett:   Two books by William Blum, Killing Hope and Rogue State (US has illegally intervened or invaded some 50 countries since 1945 resulting in the deaths of millions of innocents)

Mark Arnold:   Richard Rubenstein, Reasons to Kill: Why Americans Choose War (the rhetoric and the cultural and social factors that sell war)

Dick Bennett:   Nicholas Davies,  Blood on Our Hands: the American Invasion and Destruction of Iraq (the invasion—and other invasions--illegal and US combat behavior illegal under UN Charter and Geneva conventions) 

Claire Detels:   Sheehan, Where Have All the Soldiers Gone? (European nations long at war turned to peace)

Nightbird Bookstore has a special display of these and related books.

Moderator:  Dick Bennett

Video: Dan Dean

There are many more exposes of the US National Security Empire (see my selective list).     A single, comprehensive book is needed on the crimes and abuses of the US War on Terror as a continuation of the Cold War and permanent war and that leads into  what we know about the impact of US wars on the environment, earth, and species..

 

INTRO BIOS

Paul Leonard

Paul Leonard is a lifetime Fayetteville resident and a business and computer science graduate from the Univ. of Ark. He and his wife, Lena, are new members of the OMNI Peace and Justice Center and supporters of Free Speech TV and Link TV.  Paul's long term interest in political science led him to the writings of Chalmers Johnson.  Chalmers' insight and advice offers a solution for present military dilemmas and a step toward restoring constitutional government.

ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY ON US EMPIRE, MILITARISM, RATIONALIZING MYTHS

--Andrew Bacevitch.   Washington Rules: America’s Path to Permanent War.  Metropolitan Books, 2010.  A half-century of US presidents and Congresses have continued the same failed National Security policies:  armed forces not for defense but for global domination.  Bacevitch urges a different set of security principles.  Excellent rev.:   Bill Griffin, The Catholic Worker (May 2011).

--Beebe, Shannon and Mary Kaldor.    The Ultimate Weapon Is No Weapon: Human Security and the New Rules of War and Peace.   2010.   For ensuring broad-based security, armies, non-governmental organizations and other groups should work together to protect people and make human security the chief goal.

--Bertell, Rosalie.  Planet Earth: the Latest Weapon of War.   Black Rose Books, 2001.  Even though a decade old, still the best book on the extreme destructives of the Pentagon, militarism, wars, and empire against the planet earth.

--Blum, William.  Two books:  Killing Hope and Rogue State.  Together catalog all US illegal invasions and interventions since WWII.  Indispensable for firm grasp of “US Empire and Militarism.”

--Paul Buchheit, ed.   American Wars: Illusions and Realities.  Clarity P,  2008.  Nineteen illusions used to justify US wars refuted.  Swanson and Buchheit and all of these books reinforce each other.   Rev. Peace and Change (July 2011): “excellent offerings.”

--Burbach, Roger and Jim Tarbell.   Imperial Overstretch: George W. bush & The Hubris of Empire.  Zed, 2004.

Carrington, Karin and Susan Griffin, eds.     Transforming Terror: Remembering the Soul of the World.   U Calif. P, 2011.   Diverse writings about the causes of terrorism and ways to heal.    Dedicated to the innocent children, women, and men who have perished during violent conflicts.

--James Carroll.  House of War: The Pentagon and the Disastrous Rise of American Power.  Houghton Mifflin, 2006.  A magnificent book, the best examination of the Pentagon ever written, and from the inside (that’s General Carroll).   I have an extra copy if you wish to borrow.

--Chappell, Paul.  Will War Ever End? A Soldier’s Vision of Peace for the 21^st Century.   The End of War: How Waging Peade Can Save Humanity, Our Planet, and Our Future.   See interview, The Sun (April 2011).

-- Nicolas Davies.   Blood on Our Hands: The American Invasion and Destruction of Iraq.   Nimble,  2010.  US leaders’ deceptions that led the nation to mass killing and maiming, and the book on US violations of International law during our “humanitarian” invasion and occupation of Iraq.

--Dimaggio, Anthony.  When Media Go to War: Hegemonic Discourse, Public Opinion, and the Limits of Dissent.  Monthly Review, 2009. 

-- Arthur A. Ekirch, Jr.   The Civilian and the Military: A History of the American Antimilitarist Tradition.    
Why the growing power and importance of the armed forces over many aspects of national and international policy is alarming for thoughtful citizens and policy makers today. “Today, this United States, now definitively in the singular, is itself the world's greatest military machine and sole imperial power. How did this happen? In The Civilian and the Military: A History of the American Antimilitarist Tradition,[1] Arthur A. Ekirch traces this portentous transformation to 1972 (counting his preface).

--F. William Engdahl .   Full Spectrum World Dominance: Totalitarian Democracy in the New World Order.    2009.     US geopolitical attempts at
world domination through military and foreign policies.  <http://evergreenedigest.org/full-spectrum-world-domination-or-how-save-/%20collapsing-empire>

--Ferguson, Niall.  The War of the World:  Twentieth-Century Conflict and the Descent of the West.   Penguin, 2006.  Rev. The NYT Book Review (Nov. 12, 2006).  The 20^th C. military-industrial slaughter was the bloodiest century in modern history.  Ferguson gives 3 reasons:   “ethnic conflict, economic volatility, and empires in decline.”  He urges the Western powers to study the “dark forces” of the 20^th century within us still if we are to prevent a repetition of ethnic conflict and imperial rivalry rising out of economic crisis.   

-- Beau Grosscup     - Strategic Terror: The Politics and Ethics of Aerial Bombardment .  2006..   Strong denunciation of air war as war crimes.  US air war—massive state terror-- is incomparably the worst terrorism.     Also  the author of Newest Explosions of Terrorism (2002), now in its 4th edition.    And see his “Cluster Munitions and State Terrorism,” Monthly Review (April 2011).

--Hanania, Joe.  Where the USA Went Wrong: A Study of the United States Empire.   Limited Autoedition.   Reviews each presidential administration as the imperial misadventures unfold from the conquest of the continent to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.   

--Hartmann, Thom.   Threshold: The Crisis of Western Culture.  Viking, 2009.  Exposes the myths of US capitalism, patriarchy, militarism, and religious fundamentalism  that are increasing the suffering of the many for the benefit of the few.

--Chris Hedges.  The World As It Is: Dispatches on the Myth of Human Progress.

A panorama of the betrayals by US empire at home and abroad, from the coarsening effect of America's War on Terror to the front lines in the Middle East and South Asia and the continuing Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Society's institutions, including our religious institutions, which mold us into compliant citizens, are unmasked

--Herman,  Edward  .   The Real Terror Network.  An early voice alerting people to the primary danger of state terror as the chief terrorism, and the US as the chief state terrorist.
--Hightower, Jim.  There’s Nothing in the Middle of the Road But Yellow Stripes and Dead Armadillos.  HarperCollins, 1997.   If the Gods Had Meant Us to Vote They Would Have Given Us Candidates.  HarperCollins, 2000.   And more.  Puncturing national myths and power is Jim’s forte.

--Hochschild, Adam.   To End All Wars: A Story of Loyalty and Rebellion, 1914-1918.   WWI remade our world for the worse.  Gives major attention to British opponents of the war. 

--Ignatieff, Michael, ed.  American Exceptionalism and Human Rights.  Princton UP, 2005.  US disregard of international laws for US advantage.

--Ikenberry, G. John.   Liberal Leviathan: The Origins, Crisis, and Transformation of the American World Order.  Princeton UP, 2011.

--Iraq Veterans Against the War, Aaron Glantz, ed.   Winter Soldier: Iraq and Afghanistan: Eyewitness Accounts of the Occupation.  Haymarket, 2008.

--Johnson, Chalmers.  Trilogy: Blowback, Sorrows of Empire, Nemesis.  Last book before his death:  Dismantling the Empire: America’s Last Best Hope.  Metropolitan, 2010.   Wide-ranging indictment of US empire; for example, the proliferation of US military bases..      (Paul Leonard panelist:  “Chalmers' insight and advice offers a solution for present military dilemmas and a step toward restoring constitutional government.”)

--Kinzer, Stephen.  Overthrow: America's Century of Regime Change from Hawaii to Iraq.  Times Books, 2006.

--Lily, Robert.  Taken by Force:  Rape and American GIs in Europe during WWII.   2007.  (Refused publication by publisher in 2001 because of 9-11.)

--Mann, James.   Rise of the Vulcans: The History of Bush's War Cabinet.  Viking, 2004.  See: Scheer.

--Mayer, Jane.  The Dark Side: the Inside Story of How the War on Terror Turned into a War on American Ideals.  Doubleday, 2008.

--Mickey Z.  There Is No Good War.  

--Parenti, Christian.  Tropic of Chaos: Climate Change and the New Geography of Violence.   Nation Books, 2011.   Global conflicts arising from warming and what we must do.

--Perrin, Dennis.  Savage Mules: The Democrats and Endless War.  Verso, 2008.

--Nir Rosen.   Bloodshed of America’s Wars in the Muslim World.

--Richard Rubenstein.  Reasons to Kill: Why Americans Choose War.  Bloomsbury, 2011.   Seven rationales used by our government to initiate wars and the conflict resolution principles and methods essential to preventing wars.   

-- Barry Sampson.   The Green Zone: The Environmental Costs of Militarism. A. K. Press,  2009.  Ever thought of what one Abrams tank does to earth, atmosphere, and species?

--San Juan, US Imperialism and Revolution in the Philippines.  2007.   Defends the Moro people’s right to self-determination.  See San Juan’s “Abut Sayyaf, U.S. Imperialism, & the Bangsamoro Revolution in the Philippines,” posted June 13, 2010 in wordpress.

--Sardar, Ziauddin and Merryl Wyn Davies.  Why Do People Hate America?  Disinformation, 2002.  See: Vidal

--Scheer, Robert.   The Pornography of Power: How Defense Hawks Hijacked 9-11 and Weakened America.   Twelve, Hachette, 2008.  See: Mann.

--Sheehan, Cindy.  Myth America: 20 Greatest Myths of the Robber Class and the Case for Revolution.   2010,   For free PDF:   https://mail.google.com/mail/?hl=en&shva=1#inbox/12dc08e2c3af5fa7 ;

CINDY@CINDYSHEEHANSSOAPBOX.COM
---Solomon, Norman.   War Made Easy: How Presidents and Pundits Keep Spinning Us to Death.  Wiley, 2005.

--(John Rule. )    David Swanson.   War Is a Lie.  2010.  Fourteen myths that leaders have used to herd the public into war.

--Swanson, David.   Daybreak: Undoing the Imperial Presidency and Forming a More Perfect Union.  Seven Stories P, 2009.

--Tanaka, Yuki and Marilyn Young, eds.  Bombing Civilians: A Twentieth Century History.  New P, 2009.  

--Tirman, John.  The Deaths of Others: The Fate of Civilians in America’s Wars.   Oxford UP, 2011. Examines US indifference to the deaths of millions from our wars.     Rev. The Progressive (July 2011):  “the definitive study.…a must-read.”

--Vidal, Gore.  Perpetual War for Perpetual Peace: How We Got to Be So Hated.  Thunder’s Mouth/Nation, 2002.    Dreaming War: Blood for Oil and the Cheney-Bush Junta.  Thunder’s Mouth/Nation, 2002

X--Wills, Gary.  Bomb Power: The Modern Presidency and the National Security State.  Penguin, 2010.  Step by step chronology of the growth of presidential power.

X--Edward Wood, Jr., Worshipping the Myths of World War II: Reflections on America’s Dedication to War.  Potomac, 2006.   (see below).

--Woodward, Bob.  Obama’s Wars.  Simon and Schuster, 2010.   Obama’s readiness for the US National Security State.

--Worth, Roland Jr.   No Choice But War: The United States Embargo Against Japan and the Eruption of War in the Pacific.  McFarland, 1995.  Makes a convincing case of equal blame for the colonial WWII Pacific.

-- Howard Zinn; Paul Buhle; Mike Konopacki .   A People's History of American Empire .     American Empire Project   Metropolitan Books      Adapted from the bestselling grassroots history of the United States, the story of America in the world, here told in comics form.

Books on US

Imperialism, Militarism (all of the books)

Bacevitch

Blum

Burback

Johnson

Kinzer

Zinn

Myths Enabling Wars (most of these books at least partly)

Buchheit

Hightower

Ignatieff

Rubenstein

Sheehan

Swanson

Wood

National Security State (most are)

Wills

Pentagon

Carroll

War on Terrorism

Carrington and Griffin

Grosscup

Herman

Mayer

Woodward

Militarists

Mann

Scheer

Mainstream Media for War

Dimaggio

Solomon

Atrocities, War Crimes (many of these books)

Davies

Grosscup

Iraq Veterans

Killing Civilians

Grosscup

Tanaka

Tirman

World War I

Hochschild

World War II

Wood

Worth

Nuclear Bomb

Wills

Zinn

Militarism, Wars, and Warming

Bertell

Parenti

Sampson

Effects on the Earth by Wars and Preparations for Wars

Only two books—by Bertell and Sampson—(and the film by Alice and Lincoln Day) deal directly with this subject.  Many of these books, particularly those on air war (Grosscup, Tanaka) could be.   We urgently need a history of assaults on land and species by wars, and books on individual wars.