T.Walter Herbert has written a slim book that gives well-researched and supported explanations of how the United States could have become embroiled in the morass of Iraq and discarded its own values in the process. I was fortunate to be asked to review the book, and you can read my review at Etalkinghead.com. Faith-Based War: From 9/11 to Catastrophic Success in Iraq. I hope you will take a moment to check this book out.
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Comments: 23
I do think that the root of many things - such as earlier American cuisine - white bread, for example, and poor diet, stemming in part from British poor cuisine but also removing itself from everything European - dark bread, seeds, hairy legs on women, earthy beauty - you see my drift = to the hairless Marilyn Monroe platinum sugar beauty of sesnsuality, now descended to Paris and Brittany, etc..... there are books on the thread of Puritanism in America from the beginning to current culture compared to Europe...
And the distrust of government intereference - or interference by religious entities - which later became translated as refusal to let other systems govern us - yes, that has a beginning, too.
A Renaissance lit class I took talked about how intolerant Protestants have been throughout history, compared to Catholics.
We all know the stereotypical WASP who denies every appetite but drinks like a fish.
I would agree with the author - religious zealots and singlists have long claimed a duty to conquer and reform. I grew up in an old, historic Massachusetts community. There are records of Quakers who were driven out of early Puritan towns in MA and when they returned to get their stuff, they had their tongues cut out and were beaten. Bush continued the Puritan torture justifications, too.
There is another reason, though. Religious fervor may have played a part, but it was certainly bolstered up by Big Oil's greed. Right now, the consortium of oil companies who got together to claim Iraq's oil and its profits are doing quite well, as reported this morning on the BBC World News. Funny how we never hear anything about how the oil companies are making out in Iraq because of Bush's invasion on the American media, regardless of false political leanings.
Chris Hedges