Thursday, March 09, 2006
(2:18 PM) | Adam Kotsko:
Spreading Death Squads
Via Cliopatria, I come across this article comparing Iraq to Vietnam. What I'd really like to see is an article comparing Iraq to Latin America, viewing Iraq as a more heavy-handed and direct version of what we (we, America) did and sponsored in Latin America. That would have the virtue of allowing us to draw connections -- "Hey, this thing happened in Latin America under Reagan, and now... hey! wait a minute! The exact same person is ordering the exact same thing in Iraq!"I think there's a pretty simple reason that such things are not done in the mainstream press -- which reported on the "Salvadoran option" without drawing out any of the consequences or displaying any protest whatsoever. That is, it's pretty easy to oppose the bastard son of the containment doctrine, particularly if you can associate the worst excesses with Nixon. All of it is behind us, and "everyone" agrees that Vietnam was bad -- yet somehow it is perceived as an isolated unfortunate incident. It's hard to pull off the same effect vis-à-vis the fucking Monroe Doctrine -- that's been with us since pretty early on. The Carter Doctrine expanded the same basic concept to the Middle East, so we shouldn't be surprised that the same techniques are being used.
