Hegemony
or Survival: America's Quest for Global Dominance (The American Empire
Project) (Paperback) by Noam Chomsky
Noam Chomsky is considered the
father of modern linguistics. In this richly detailed criticism of
American
foreign policy, he seeks to redefine many of the terms commonly used in
the ongoing American war on terrorism.
Surveying
U.S. actions in Cuba,
Nicaragua, Turkey, the Far East and elsewhere over the past half a
century
along with the modern American war in Iraq, Chomsky indicates that
America
is just as much a terrorist state as any other government or rogue
organization.
George W. Bush's 2003 invasion of Iraq drew worldwide criticism, in
part
because it seemed to present a new philosophy of pre-emptive war and an
appearance of global empire building. But according to Chomsky, such
has
been the operating philosophy of American foreign policy for decades.
Opponents
of the Bush administration's tactics consistently point out how the
American
government supported Saddam Hussein for many years prior to the 1990
invasion
of Kuwait (pictures of Donald Rumsfeld shaking Saddam's hand are easy
to
come by) as a means of pointing out how the United States is happy to
fund
despots when it's in American interests. But Chomsky, armed with
extensive
historical notation, takes this notion further, arguing how the
repression
of other nations' citizenry is, in fact, the very reason Americans
support
certain foreign leaders. The charges made throughout the book are
severe,
as are the dire consequences he posits if current trends are not
reversed,
and Chomsky is no more likely to make friends or gain supporters from
the
mainstream now than he's ever been. But Hegemony or Survival is
relatively
dispassionate. Instead of relying on camp or shock value or personal
attacks
as some of his contemporaries have done, Chomsky drives his
well-supported
points steadily forward in an earnest and highly readable style.
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