September 11’s Legacy: War as Franchise
August 26th, 2003By Naomi Klein The Marriot Hotel in Jakarta was still burning when Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, Indonesia's coordinating minister for political and security affairs, explained the implications of the day's attack."Those who criticize about human rights being breached must understand that all the bombing victims are more important than any human rights issue."In a sentence, we got the best summary yet of the philosophy underlying Bush's so-called "war on terror." Terrorism doesn't just blow up buildings; it blasts every other issue off the political map. The spectre of terrorism, real and exaggerated, has become a shield of impunity, protecting governments around the world from scrutiny for their human rights abuses.Many have argued that the war on terror is the United States government's thinly veiled excuse for constructing a classic Empire, in the model of Rome or Britain. Two years into the crusade, it's clear that this is a mistake: the Bush gang doesn't have the stick-to-it-ness to successfully occupy one country, let alone a dozen.Bush and the gang do, however, have the hustle of good marketers, and they know how to contract-out. What Bush has created in the WoTâ„¢ is less a "doctrine" for world domination than an easy...