W.J. Astore
American exceptionalism in action in Yemen
The so-called SignalGate scandal centered on the bombing of Yemen is highly revelatory. First, some resources. CNN has a useful annotated account of the chats exchanged at the highest levels of the Trump administration. At their respective Substacks, Lenny Broytman and Caitlin Johnstone have telling dissections of these chats as well. At Jacobin, Branko Marcetic has an important article that reminds us of the illegality of the attacks. As the article’s subheading puts it: The press [mainstream media] is mostly framing the Yemen group chat scandal as a story of incompetence. There’s little attention being paid to the deadliness, illegality, and ineffectiveness of the strikes themselves.
To me, among the most telling “chats” came from Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth. It highlights the “exceptional” nature of America:
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Pete Hegseth to Vice President JD Vance: I fully share your loathing of European free-loading. It’s PATHETIC.
But Mike [Waltz, the National Security Adviser] is correct, we are the only ones on the planet (on our side of the ledger) who can do this. Nobody else even close. Question is timing…
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This is precisely the problem for America since the Vietnam War, if not before then. We’ve created a monster military, a “global strike” force, that is capable of destroying any target anywhere around the globe. “Nobody else even close,” SecDef Hegseth correctly says. And because we can do it, because we are exceptional in military force, our leaders believe we should do it, even if it’s only to send a “message” to the world how tough we are, how committed we are to killing others.
Other countries—like those “free-loading” European ones—are PATHETIC because they don’t have America’s military might. Only we can smite evildoers around the globe, only we can do so while also arming Israel to the teeth and covering its flanks while it continues its annihilation of Gaza, and this is something we are immensely proud of.
My fellow Americans, this is not something to be proud of. Consider if America’s military in the 1960s had lacked the ability to deploy over half a million troops to Vietnam while also facing down the Warsaw Pact in Europe. Consider if America’s military had lacked the ability to invade Iraq in 2003 while also waging war in Afghanistan and garrisoning the globe with roughly 800 military bases. Consider how much blood would not have been spilled, and treasure wasted, if the U.S. military was smaller, focused on defense, and led by people who didn’t put muscle and flame emojis in their chats to celebrate U.S. military prowess at killing people in Yemen.
That U.S. military forces are the only ones who can kill globally with such comparative ease, that “nobody else even close,” is exactly what is wrong with our government. We place far too much faith and pride in military prowess, so much so that the Pentagon becomes the Pentagod, something we worship, something we make immense sacrifices to, as in budgets that approach $1 trillion yearly.
Not for nothing did President Dwight D. Eisenhower say in 1953 that this is no way of life at all—that we are crucifying ourselves on a cross of iron. Tell me again, who are the pathetic ones?
We must end our intoxication with military power before it ends us.
Bracing Views 
Madelaine Albright said of the American military something to the effect of “what good is it if you don’t use it?” The obvious answer is that it is no good, but the rhetorical question assumes the listener will think that logic dictates it must be used.
All power at all levels must be restrained. The worst case of abuse is illustrated by Israel. It has effectively all of the power of the US at its disposal and on the receiving end are the helpless Palestinians. If ever there was an invitation to be a bully, even a murdering bully, this is it. The party that should be the schoolyard monitor, the US, is instead saying to the bully, “what more do you need?”
One might also look at the US and Greenland. Trump, as a lifelong bully, looks upon this as a golden opportunity to intimidate, just as Netanyahu is delighted to have a free hand to destroy with a will, disregarding the Israeli hostages and the enraged public that wants the war to end. No occupant of the White House has ever felt so much enjoyment from threatening others, and going after them with a will, stretching his power to the limit and beyond.
We have a tyrant. All that remains is for the Supreme Court to either cower before him or exercise its right to restrain unlimited power. Place your bet.
I can’t close without mentioning the bully tactics of Zionist wealth used on Congress and university administrations. With reps and senators in Congress it is, “be pro-Israel or we will fund someone to defeat you” and with the schools it is “stop the pro-Palestinian demonstrations or we will no longer donate”. It works. We have standing ovations for Netanyahu and quiet universities.
We are in the Age of the Bully. America has always glorified wealth and wealth has taken over. What could be more predictable?
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Of your several good points, I will respond to just one, the influence of Zionist money and intimidation not just on our government, but on our laws, our institutions, our values, our very society. The Zionist investment in this project has been longstanding, and includes control of our media, surveillance of our campuses, infiltration and exertion of pressure on academia, the militarization of our police agencies, and more. In brief, the warping of our society. The parasite is devouring the host.
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American Jews are very successful and fully integrated into all levels of our society as they should be under liberty and justice for all. The difficulty for our country is that a good percentage of these successful, and therefore wealthy, individuals have a keen interest in Israel, believing as Zionists that its success is vital as an outpost of civilization in a jungle of vicious animals, the Palestinians.
This has nothing to do with US interest or national security. I would argue it undermines national security. Since it does nothing to ensure the safety of American Jews or improve their situation in the US in any way, I believe it is counterproductive in that it can only increase antisemitism when people who proudly identify as Jews are killing freely and eagerly.
But the concept of antisemitism on the rise in the US is useful for Israel because it seems to validate the idea that Jews are only safe there, in this bizarre inversion of reality appearing to validate Zionism. We see the current effort to trumpet antisemitism in the US and make the awful ethnic cleansing foundation of Israel look necessary. It is farcical when you see such concern over Jewish students on campus “feeling uncomfortable” compared to entire families and residential areas in Gaza wiped out. Yet the timidity of Americans who fear being (falsely) called antisemitic is widespread and a natural result of lifetimes being saturated with holocaust accounts, plays, books, movies, the Jew as eternal victim.
None of the above is a conspiracy, but the key thing that Zionists must maintain is a pro-Israel stance by the US government and thus the long term effort to not just influence Congress, but gain control of it for Israel. When we see Congress wildly cheering for the war criminal Netanyahu, we can plainly see that the effort has been frighteningly successful and is undoubtedly a source of pride for Zionists in America.
A tiny country 1/40th the population of the US has captured US power, an awesome accomplishment, but one that should be terrifying to Americans because it puts our safety at risk for a fanatical movement that denies the humanity of millions of people whose crime is to refuse to be evicted from their own land.
There is an excellent book titled The Fatal Embrace about the historical practice of Jews to ingratiate themselves with power in order to protect themselves. But time after time, the power will run into trouble and find the Jews a convenient scapegoat. Hitler targeting the Jews is nothing new. What is new in the US is that it is the survival of a foreign country, Israel, that is promoted. The neocons are heavily Zionist and have a strong connection to the disaster of Iraq and, quite likely, the disaster of a US/Israel war with Iran to come.
This is very thin ice to be on particularly since there is no need for American Jews to protect themselves because they are accepted and successful. The phony “Story of Israel” that has been put over on Americans is coming apart. The irony is that American Jews are risking everything they have achieved in the US, the real promised land, for a distant land they do not live in.
I can well understand how American Jews might be worried, but the crazy thing is that they (looking at you, Chuck Schumer) cannot see that it is the Zionist fixation that is putting them at risk. It isn’t a matter of Nazism reborn in the US, it is the quite natural revulsion of Americans seeing our own country leveraged to have helpless people slaughtered by arrogant and self-righteous Israelis.
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Clif,
Wow. Quite a piece. I have not a word to add to it. Except this: I cannot understand American Jews’ support for Israel. Of course many don’t, for various reasons (e,g., religion, America is their home country), and whether they are the majority I don’t know. Further complicating the matter for me is that I have long associated the Jews with concern for social justice (among other attributes) and for that reason (among others) I draw a sharp distinction between them and Israelis/Zionists, who are too busy reloading to give any consideration to such a concept. I see the Israelis/Zionists as something (I don’t consider them “people”) wholly apart from Jews.
The only thing I can think of is that the American Jews who support Israel fell for the lies, the mythologies, the propaganda, the marketing, etc., in other words “The Story of Israel” as did the rest of us. Hell, I still remember as a kid hearing the “help plant a tree for Israel” pitch. And how many people believe that Leon Urus’ “Exodus” is a work of non-fiction? I think a lot of people held on to the lies up until Oct. 7th, which not only exploded the myths, but also pulled back the curtain on American complicity with Israel, as well as the true nature of the American Empire. And as you point out, that is a dangerous combination.
Norman Finkelstein offers a further explanation, that of “Jewish Exceptionalism”, the notion that Jews consider themselves the “chosen people” and as such have special dispensations and can do no wrong. Combine that with holding onto the myths and you have a pretty toxic 100-proof cocktail.
Your closing paragraph is simply excellent. American Jews don’t see the Zionist fixation putting them at risk, and the rest of us. I don’t know if there is a surgical team skilled enough to remove the malignancy.
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I just read an article in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz (I subscribe) about Jews in South Africa that are fearful because their chief rabbi is backing all that Trump is doing. It is as you imply, how could anyone BUT Jews like Israel, ethic supremacist state that it is. How can Jews not expect that the world would not look kindly on a place that explicitly rejects liberty and justice for all and awards itself a license to kill without limit?
Regarding your mention of the distinction between Zionism and Judaism. I had two Zionists come up to me today on the sidewalk at my vigil and tell me that there is no difference between Zionism and Judaism!!! I was at a loss for words, this coming from Jews themselves.
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I can see why the South African Jews are fearful over their chief rabbi backing Trump, that makes me fearful too and, not being Jewish myself, leaves me perplexed as well. Perplexed because I do not understand the place of the rabbi in Judaism, my presumption being that he (or she?) is akin to the priest in the Christian church learned in ethical teachings (e.g., the Golden Rule, “Thou shalt not kill”) which I think would be found across all religions (and even among those of no religion).
Thus I was left dumbfounded when the likes of Bezalel Smotrich, Itmar Ben-Gvir, Yoav Gallant, and Israel Katz made public statements such as these:
“Humanitarian aid to Gaza? Not a switch will be flicked on, not a valve will be opened, not a fuel truck will enter until the Israeli hostages come home. Humanitarian for humanitarian. Let no one lecture us about morality.” [Katz, Oct. 12, 2023]
“We can’t, in the current global reality, manage a war. Nobody will let us cause 2 million civilians to die of hunger, even though it might be justified and moral, until our hostages are returned.” [Smotrich, Aug. 5, 2024]
I was left dumbfounded not only because of the rank effrontery to human sensibilities of these statements by high-ranking Israeli officials, but also to find out that they conceivably found a basis for them from Rabbi Manis Friedman on how he thinks Jews should treat their Arab neighbors:
“I don’t believe in western morality, i.e. don’t kill civilians or children, don’t destroy holy sites, don’t fight during holiday seasons, don’t bomb cemeteries, don’t shoot until they shoot first because it is immoral.
“Living by Torah values will make us a light unto the nations who suffer defeat because of a disastrous morality of human invention.
““The only way to fight a moral war is the Jewish way: Destroy their holy sites. Kill men, women and children (and cattle).” [The Jewish Chronicle, June 22, 2009; Haaretz, June 9, 2009].
How can a (supposedly) learned exponent of a (supposedly) humane religion rationalize such thinking? This is well beyond the untethered imaginings of their fellow travelers, the Christian Right, themselves Zionists. Again, not only Jews but the rest of us as well should be fearful that such zealotry, such rabidness is running unchecked in the world.
As for the two Zionists who approached you, they’ve been well indoctrinated to dispense the conflation of Zionism with Judaism. Jehovah’s Witnesses wearing yarmulkes and carrying sniper rifles, or is it Uzis? I don’t think it’s too farfetched to think they work for Israeli intelligence or something affiliated. It’s not even a secret anymore, pro-Israeli groups are almost boasting about fingering those foreign students illegally swept up by ICE, and the ongoing surveillance that will lead to others.
Israel ‘R’ Us.
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The common theme in empire, big as in the US empire or small as in the Israeli empire, is arrogance evident in the comments you quoted. People who crave power will always rise to the top and once there will think little to nothing of what they do to others since it is clear they, the wealthy, are superior.
This can’t help but alienate the majority of people even as the power of the mighty only grows. The antagonism mounts, the offenses of the few toward the many increase in number as the sense of entitlement becomes solidified.
But the wrongs are not forgotten and the determination to right wrong drives the many to begin to take risks. The craving for power that is so human is matched by the craving for justice. The inevitable result is collapse of empire, wiping the table clean, preparing it for the next group of power hungry to rise.
In the US, it appeared in the 20th century that this cycle was broken evidenced by the truly remarkable civil rights movement, only to be followed by reaction – getting the little guy angry at institutionalized authority (government) so that wealth could ride the trojan horse of blind emotion into the White House and Congress.
We now have the man of the people, Trump, clearly showing he has no regard for the people and the country once of liberty and justice for all going all out for a tiny ethnic cleansing colony with 1/40th the population of the US.
We the people have been duped, our corrupted democracy putting into power those whose last concern is for us. But we are surely part of the problem in that the majority of us did not rise up in outrage, instead tolerating what “the two party system” presented to us as we concentrated on our own personal lives. The price is now being paid. We were apathetic thinking the US was exceptional and the course of empire could not follow the course it always does.
The flashing neon sign – the glaring symptom of our failure to face what we have done to ourselves by ignoring reality – is that every year the globe is warmer, statistics screaming at us, but we have elected a man who says global warming is a hoax, this the very last thing he is questioned about. We the people show no concern and make private decisions to buy bigger gasoline engine vehicles.
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Clif,
I am with you 98% of the way, the 2% departure being that I do not hold ourselves entirely culpable in the foundering of the ship of state. Granted, engagement in civic life could have been, should have been, more robust over the past century at least, but the limits for that perhaps were set when power and wealth (p&w) effectively put an end to the labor, socialist, and even communist movements in this country in the 1920s and ’30s. The Depression set in, but the economic and political order of capitalism (i.e. p&w) was saved by the “New Deal”, WWII, post-war prosperity, and the U.S. emerging as global hegemon.
I think it can be argued that a political complacency set in after the war, with a couple of exceptions being the civil rights movement and the short-lived aspirations of “The Great Society/War on Poverty”, the former being grudgingly acceded to by p&w, the latter being undermined by it. Divvying up just enough of the economic pie was the recipe to keep the pot from boiling over and maintain docility.
Of course to safeguard and extend its hold, p&w had to engage in “manufacturing consent” to all its undertakings in the economic, political, and social spheres. Thus we became inculcated with rallying cries such as: private sector good, government bad; socialized medicine (and fluoridation!) is part of the international communist conspiracy; we live in an ever-threatening world; the war against communism; the war on terror; we go to war to defend and promote democracy throughout the world; we go to war to defend our freedoms; we go to war there so we won’t have to fight them here; we are the greatest nation on earth; we are the exceptional nation; we are the indispensable nation; tax cuts spur the economy; don’t throw away your vote voting for a third-party candidate; the “Domino Theory” is real; thank you for your service/sacrifice; honor the fallen warrior; Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East and a force for stability in the region; and so on, and so on, and so on…
As a more immediate and particular example, I sometimes read and comment on articles and editorials in the Boston Globe, lately centering upon the illegal detentions of foreign students studying in the U.S., the capitulation of universities to Trump’s extortion, of course the genocide, and even the imbecility of Signal-gate (not just of Waltz, Hegseth et al., but also of the media’s coverage of the farce). I am flummoxed not only by the small-mindedness, the irrationality, the malevolence, and the outright stupidity of many of the comments (more than half of them I’d estimate), but also by the sheer ignorance of the paper’s editorial board, supposedly the professionals skills, resources, and sense of obligation to provide the public with meaningful, thoughtful, informative commentary.
It is rather distasteful to quote Goebbels, but his mastery of propaganda must be recognized: “This is the secret of propaganda: Those who are to be persuaded by it should be completely immersed in the ideas of the propaganda, without ever noticing that they are being immersed in it.”
And that’s where we are, where we have been. It’s been hard being in a hall of mirrors to face the realities of empire and its masters, when the consent for that empire has been so artfully, so craftily, manufactured.
In (merciful) closing, this recent (reality-based) news item:
“Earth is missing a lot of sea ice this year. Enough to cover the entire United States east of the Mississippi.
“That was announced by researchers at NASA and the National Snow and Ice Data Center on Thursday, who said the amount of sea ice on the planet had reached the lowest level ever recorded in March.”
Apart from this making Trump’s pitch for Greenland inadvisable, I don’t think we’re gonna make it.
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There’s not much more I can add to your succinct, spot-on except for this:
Thank you for the inclusion of the other references, Broytman, Johnstone, et al.
The chats of Vance, Walz & Company are indeed disgusting. These are the buffoonish malefactors “in the councils of government… [guarding us] against the acquisition of unwarranted influence… by the military-industrial complex”?
Jeffrey Goldberg, faux journalist, erstwhile member of and apologist for the IDF, had access to something akin to latter day Pentagon Papers, and gave it up. So much for the duty of the press to speak truth to power, to uphold the public’s interest in knowing what skulduggeries and illegalities its government is engaging in.
What runs through the minds of the pilots who dropped the bombs when they get back to their carriers and air bases and find out they hit residential buildings, killing kids and other civilians? This is what the billions spent on precision targeting systems and bombs buys? Maybe it does, and we have become further like Israel.
We not only “need to end our intoxication with military power before it ends us”, we need to undergo the catharsis and atonement for the millions of the dead/tortured/maimed/disappeared/displaced/impoverished by that military power.
Amen.
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Sorry for the difficulty in reading my previous comment, I draft before submission showed the paragraphs separated but somehow they didn’t come out that way.
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