“State interests”
shrouded in “national security,” secrecy commonly conflict with domestic, foreign good
Dissent, disclosure imperative
Excerpt, editing
by Carolyn Bennett
Professor of history and international relations Andrew J.
Bacevich, often quoting an essayist of the last century on the state and
dissent, wrote last month: “Those
who speak for [the national security apparatus], pre-eminently the U.S. president, assert that
the interests of the state and the interests of the country are
indistinguishable.…
“But what if the interests of the state do not
automatically align with those of the country?
In that event, protecting ‘the homeland’ serves as something of a
smokescreen behind which the state pursues its own agenda.
In doing so, it stealthily but inexorably accumulates power, privilege and
prerogatives.
Brazened state, weakened people
“War (whether actual
hostilities, or crises fostering the perception of imminent danger) exalts,
elevates and sanctifies the state. And among citizens, war induces herd-like
subservience.” Quoting American essayist Randolph Silliman Bourne, Bacevich continues:
‘a people at war become, in the most literal sense obedient, respectful,
trustful children again, full of that naive faith in the all-wisdom and
all-power of the adult who takes care of them.’
“…Several decades
of war and quasi-war transformed Washington into today’s center of the
universe. The capital demanded deference and Americans fell into the habit of
offering it.
“In matters of national
security, the people became, if not obedient; at least compliant, taking cues
from authorities who operated behind a wall of secrecy and claimed expertise in
anticipating and deflecting threats.”
State crimes perpetrated with impunity, against the peace
“Critics and
outsiders are not privy to the state’s superior knowledge; they are incapable
of evaluating alleged threats. … The “national security” mechanism in place “confers
status on insiders,” the controllers of secrets. “Their ownership of secrets
puts them in the know [and it] insulates them from accountability and renders
them impervious to criticism.
“Popular
deference [has] allowed those authorities to get away with murder ─ real and
metaphorical.”
In “national
security” wars, though benefits accruing to the country as a result of these wars
“have proved mixed at best and expertise claimed by those inside the [Washington]
Beltway have not automatically translated into competence” ─ even in the face
of incompetence, mismanagement, and one after another catastrophe at home and
in foreign countries ─ “however costly or catastrophic,” Washington is unmoved,
Bacevich writes.
The national security state has a formidable capacity to absorb, forget and
carry on as if nothing untoward had transpired.
Already forgotten, for example, is the U.S. war on Iraq.
“…In the realm of
national security,” he says, “dissent matters only when it penetrates the
machine’s interior. Only then does the state deem it worthy of notice.”
Sources and notes
“The
Manning/Snowden effect” by Andrew J. Bacevich, August 21, 2013, http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/opinion/perspectives/the-manningsnowden-effect-700116/700116/#ixzz2f59cIu3f
Andrew J. Bacevich is a veteran of the U.S. Army, professor
of history and international relations at Boston University, and author of Washington Rules, The Limits of Power, The New
American Militarism, and Breach of
Trust: How Americans Failed their Soldiers and their Country. He also contributes
regularly to U.S. newspapers and magazines.
http://www.americanempireproject.com/breachoftrust/excerpt.html#more
Randolph Silliman Bourne (b. in Bloomfield, New Jersey, May
30, 1886 – d. December 22, 1918) was a progressive writer and ‘leftist
intellectual’, a graduate of Columbia University, best known for his essays,
especially an unfinished work ‘The State,’ discovered after his death. The
Randolph Bourne Institute honoring his memory promotes “a non-interventionist
foreign policy for the United States as the best way of fostering a peaceful,
more prosperous world. It publishes the website Antiwar.com.” Wikipedia note
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