EMPIRE

Nemesis is Chalmers Johnson‘s third volume from his "inadvertent trilogy". Edith Hamilton, an expert in ancient Greek mythology, says Nemesis stands for “righteous anger.”

The first of this trilogy was Blowback, the term, invented by the CIA, refers to the unintended results of American actions abroad. In this incisive and controversial book, Chalmers Johnson lays out in vivid detail the dangers faced by our overextended empire, which insists on projecting its military power to every corner of the earth using American capital and markets to force global economic integration on its own terms.

Volume two was The Sorrows of Empire: Militarism, Secrecy, and the End of the Republic. “This book is a guide to the American empire as it begins openly to spread its imperial wings.” Johnson tries to show that Bush, the Pentagon and vested interests are bankrupting the nation, undermining the constitution and are the greatest obstacle to diplomacy and peace, and that the “Imperial presidency” is eroding the democratic underpinnings of our constitutional republic.

The third, and the last, of the “inadvertent trilogy” is Nemesis: The Last Days of the American Republic. Johnson characterizes it as dealing "with the way arrogant and misguided American policies have headed us for a series of catastrophes, … disgrace and … even the extinction that befell our former fellow “superpower”, the Soviet Union. Such a fate is probably by now unavoidable; it is certainly too late for mere scattered reforms of our government or bloated military to make much difference.”

Johnson warns us, sounds a wake up alarm to the American citizens about the misguided policies of its government before it is too late! He answers our collective question after the 9/11 attack: WHY DO THEY HATE US?

President Bush said: “they hate our freedom-our freedom of religion, our freedom of speech, our freedom to vote.”

“But Osama bin Laden made clear why he attacked us. …He gave three reasons… The U. S. imposed sanctions against Iraq from 1991 to 9/11:”

“One million Iraqi children have thus far died although they did not do anything wrong”

“America will not live in peace before peace reigns in Palestine …”

“And all the army of infidels {American soldiers} depart the land of Muhammad {Saudi Arabia}.”

There is not a single word about Muslim anger or hatred of Western civilization, American freedom, prosperity or values! No support for the lies and deception of our media, as in the New York Times’ contention that the hijackers had left no list of demands because they had none, that “their act was their demand.”

The day after 9/11, Simon Jenkins, the former editor of the Times of London, insightfully wrote: “The message of yesterday’s incident is that, for all its horror, it does not and must not be allowed to matter. It is a human disaster, an outrage, an atrocity, an unleashing of the madness of which the world will never be rid. But it is not politically significant. It does not tilt the balance of power one inch. It is not an act of war. America’s leadership of the West is not diminished by it. The cause of democracy is not damaged, unless we choose to let it be damaged.”

Had we followed Jenkins’s advice:

We would have retained the cooperation and trust of our allies and most of the world community;

We would have reduced Al-Qaeda to a criminal organization and not revolutionary freedom fighters;

We would have avoided undermining the Geneva Conventions covering the treatment of prisoners of war and would have never gone the torture route;

“The U.S. government would have had no need to lie to its own citizens and the rest of the world about the nonexistent nuclear threat posed by Iraq or carry out a phony preventive war against that country.”

Johnson writes: “Despite the administration’s endless propaganda about bringing freedom and democracy to the people of Afghanistan and Iraq, most citizens of those countries who have come into contact with our armed forces (and survived) have had their lives ruined. The courageous, anonymous young Iraqi woman who runs the Internet Web site Baghdad Burning wrote on May 7, 2004: “I don’t understand the ‘shock’ Americans claim to feel at the lurid pictures {from Abu Ghraib prison}. You’ve seen the troops break down doors and terrify women and children … curse, scream, push, pull and throw people to the ground with boot over their head. You’ve seen troops shoot civilian in cold blood. You’ve seen them bomb cities and towns. You’ve seen them burn cars and humans using tanks and helicopters. … I sometimes get emails asking me to propose solutions or make suggestions. Fine. Today’s lesson: don’t rape, don’t torture, don’t kill, and get out while you can-while it still looks like you have a choice...

Chaos? Civil war? We’ll take our chances-just take your puppets, your tanks, your smart weapons, your dumb politicians, your lies, your empty promises, your rapists, your sadistic torturers and go.”

Chalmers Johnson writes: “… I advocated reforms intended to head off these outcomes but warned that failing such reform, Nemesis, the goddess of retribution and vengeance, the punisher of pride and hubris waits impatiently for her meeting with us.”

I strongly recommend and urge you to read Chalmers Johnson’s trilogy: Blowback, The Sorrows of Empire and Nemesis.

Chalmers Johnson is professor emeritus of the University of California, San Diego, where he taught for 30 years as well as at UC, Berkeley (where he was educated). At Berkeley, he was chairman of the Center for Chinese Studies and its Department of Political Studies.

From 1967 through 1973, he served as a consultant to the Office of National Estimates (ONE) within the CIA, and during the Cold War years was, by his own characterization, a former "spear-carrier for the empire."

Johnson radically transformed himself into one of the nation's sharpest and most important intellectual critics of America’s imperial hubris and overreach which has undermined the republic.