Selling US Wars

A searing volume issued by the Transnational Institute consisting of a collection of essays by international relations experts about the real reasons behind US wars in Iraq and elsewhere. We know that these real reasons - oil, expansion of US power, establishment of US bases in the strategic Middle East and defence of Israel – were kept hidden in the run-up to the 2003 invasion of Iraq, which was fought under the aegis of rhetorical slogans connected with the war on terrorism, keeping nuclear weapons away from rogue states and bringing democracy and freedom to the Middle East. A legitimising discourse was constructed on the basis of neoliberal ideology, which then provided the banner under which foreign policy interventions are conducted. The authors explain how this came about and the assumptions on which it is all based. These include the proposition that what is good for America is good for the world, which may or may not be called empire building. In any event it involves the manipulation of the people of the world through fear, maintenance of the military-industrial complex and an emphasis on military solutions to conflicts. Many people realise that the construction of a better world entails the dismantling of the US's hegemonic ambitions, and the balance is shifting against this even in America itself. However, as the editor point out at the end of the book, the essential requirement is to capture the moral imagination of enough people to create a tipping point, as Nelson Mandela realised with apartheid. This aim also provides the rationale for this provocative and well-informed volume.