You Can't Handle the Truth...

Justin Raimondo has written an interesting piece about the recent decision to resume bombing in Iraq called Iraq: Why Bomb Now? which takes a deeper look at the US government's claim that bombing must be resumed to avert a humanitarian crisis.  Turns out saving an obscure religious clan named the Yazidi sect is perhaps not the main driver, and Raimondo provides some great background material to consider when analyzing this policy.  I am reminded of the famous scene in "A Few Good Men" where Jack Nicholson barks, "You want the truth?!  You can't handle the truth!".  It is amazing that seemingly every policy governments take on seem to have a hidden agenda never discussed by those proposing said policy.  It is also amazing to me that people seem to be hoodwinked over and over again, and continue to turn to government for the narrative which will shape their perspective of a particular event.

The truth is, most people probably can't handle the truth.  Namely, that (despite all its humanitarian rhetoric) the intention of the US government is to dominate every square inch of the Earth.  Such humanitarian bombing campaigns as the one the US government is currently embarking upon reminds me of Rothbard's famous article from September of 1994, Invade the World.  Indeed, Rothbard sheds light on the implications such policies contain, and the absurdity which must be believed by those who are taken in by the latest "need" to bomb some group here or there into submission:

"We must face the fact that there is not a single country in the world that measures up to the lofty moral and social standards that are the hallmark of the U.S.A.: even Canada is delinquent and deserves a whiff of grape.  There is not a single country in the world which, like the U.S., reeks of democracy and "human rights," and is free of crime and murder and hate thoughts and undemocratic deeds.  Very few other countries are as Politically Correct as the U.S., or have the wit to impose a massively statist program in the name of "freedom," "free trade," "multiculturalism," and "expanding democracy:"   And so, since no other countries shape up to U.S. standards in a World of Sole Superpower they must be severely chastised by the U.S., I make a Modest Proposal for the only possible consistent and coherent foreign policy: the U.S. must, very soon, Invade the Entire World!"

Indeed, since 1945 the US government has been on a crusade- with or without public support- to make Rothbard's absurdity the reality of foreign policy.  This seemingly boundless perpetual war by the US is a scourge on all people inhabiting the planet- not just the unfortunate innocents whose lives are cut short (collateral damage), the poor and misguided soldiers killed, maimed, and psychologically destroyed, or the people living in the US who watch as more and more of their liberty and money go down the drain.  Unfortunately, the people affected by such policies (all people directly or indirectly) have not shown the ability or inclination to resist such domination; actually such dissenters will predictably be cast as "Terrorists" just as during the Cold War dissenters would be labeled "Communists", or simply be seen as "aiding the enemy".  Are these old saws really so persuasive that people can continue to be fooled over and over again until the end of time, or will there be a moment in the near future where people will actually be able to "handle the truth", and will see the warmongers in the US government and in the media for the liars they are?  Or, will people just continue along the same path- distracted, neutered, and irrelevant until the entire world is turned inside out?