Taking on the Shibboleths of Peak Oil and the Neocons

Dave McGowan:

Myth #1: A "neocon" cabal has hijacked the Bush administration's foreign policy, setting America on a new and dangerous course.

I should first mention here that, although it may have escaped many readers' attention, the word "neocon" has never before appeared in one of these newsletters. That is because I like to, as much as possible, focus on things that actually exist. And that is also because I haven't felt the need to find some elaborate way of explaining the alleged change in U.S. foreign policy, primarily because I haven't been able to detect a noticeable change in U.S. foreign policy. The change that others perceive is based on several more myths, beginning with:

Myth #2: Team Bush set a dangerous new precedent by introducing the notion of 'preemptive' wars.

And that is, I guess, in stark contrast to our past military ventures, which have been, I suppose, purely defensive actions (self-defense being the only legally defensible reason for undertaking military actions against another sovereign state) -- like when we defended ourselves against Serbia. And Bosnia. And Somalia. And Panama. And Grenada. And Vietnam. And Laos. And Cambodia. And all the other countries that apparently attacked us first, or at least seriously threatened to, although I can't, off the top of my head, recall the specific attacks that we were responding to in any of those cases.

To be sure, under Team Bush we were fed lies to garner our support for two (yes, two) unprovoked, illegal, unjustified wars. But what exactly is new about that?

Myth #3: Team Bush's disdain for international treaties and agreements is unprecedented.

Not by any objective standard, although it may seem that way to those who until very recently viewed America as some great and benevolent force in the world. Wake up and smell the coffee, folks: the U.S. did not suddenly abandon its previous role as international do-gooder and become an international menace overnight. The record is very clear: America has been, for a very long time, the single greatest impediment to the establishment of international human rights standards, international arms control agreements, and an International Criminal Court.

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Myth #4: The "neocons" have taken a new, hardline stance in support of Israeli aggression. By some accounts, Israel now dictates U.S. foreign policy, through Jewish "neocons" like Wolfowitz and Perle.

The truth is that the United States has always taken a hardline, pro-Israel stance, and has always looked the other way while Israel commits egregious human rights violations in the occupied territories. In fact, the U.S. has made a habit of being the only nation to consistently side with Israel and defend its actions in the face of worldwide opposition. In 1981 alone, many years before the 'neocons' took the reins, the U.S. was Israel's sole defender during UN voting on 11 different resolutions. As many as 141 countries voted against the U.S./Israeli positions.

And so, once again, we see that what has been portrayed as a radical change in course is, in truth, the perpetuation of an historical pattern. America has always armed, protected and quietly supported Israel -- which is essentially an enormous, nuclear-armed, Western military outpost in the Middle East. Israel, to put it bluntly, is a tool of the West, not the other way around.

"But wait," you say, "isn't America fighting Israel's war in the Middle East?" No. America is fighting for the same thing America always fights for: the advancement of American corporate interests. Those interests happen to be shared by the corporate/political elite of Israel.

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Myth #8: The real reason for the war in Iraq is concern over "Peak Oil."

The notion of "Peak Oil" seems to have been carefully seeded throughout the 'progressive' community, most prominently by Michael Ruppert, but by many others as well. Personally, I ain't buying it. It positively reeks of bullshit. What the "Peak Oil" promoters are essentially saying is: "I am outraged by the fact that Team Bush has waged a war of aggression motivated solely by the pursuit of oil ... but (wink, wink, nudge, nudge) it's a damn good thing that they did, because the world is quickly running out of oil and if we don't grab it now, we're going to be in big trouble, and soon."

Now don't get me wrong -- I really want the "Peak Oil" thing to be true. I can't really think of a better scenario, at this point, than the world running out of oil. The entire global fascist system (or GFS for short, which is kind of like the NWO, only different, since the NWO is usually pitched as some sort of global communist/socialist system), you see, runs on oil. The military machine can't operate without it. The global corporate infrastructure can't run without it. It is the life-blood of global capitalism. So there would be a certain poetic justice if those who had toiled so long to achieve their dream of world domination were to suddenly find themselves - on the eve of declaring game, set and match - unable to operate the empire they had created. We would then be forced, alas, to start over -- to rebuild and restructure.

It would be nice if that were true. It would save the American people, and the world's people, a lot of work. But I don't see it happening. And, yes, I am aware that 'experts,' with far more knowledge in the field than I, have warned of "Peak Oil." But I am also aware that if the right people consult with the right 'experts,' those 'experts' will say pretty much anything they are asked to say.