"Exterminate All The Brutes!"

The conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan (not to mention our other overseas Imperial adventures in Somalia and various former Soviet Republics) are heating up again; "fighting season" they call it, like our own crippled "summer driving season." And the Imperial answer is to kill them all. Obliterate the native foe. Exterminate the brutes.

After a NATO outpost was overrun by "Taliban" in Afghanistan killing 9 American troops, wounding 15, (oddly only a day or so after yet another wedding party was exterminated by air power, 50-60 dead, dozens wounded, all civilians, all headed to a wedding) the first stories I heard about it on the radio suggested that revenge was swift, that the village where the insurgents had supposedly come from had been leveled, and all its inhabitants killed. Never heard that story again. No, later stories said the outpost had been abandoned and there was no hint of "revenge."

But these are Imperial times, and the Empire is not to be denied; we can be certain there was swift and brutal retaliation, many natives slaughtered, and so it will go until the slaughterers are exhausted, the slaughterers on both sides, for resistance to Imperial assimilation has become a very serious cause among the jibbering natives of far away lands. And they have honed their resistance efforts to cause maximum discomfort to their Imperial foe, with minimal outlay.

It's been plain for some time that a slow-motion depopulation of Mesopotamia is a desired outcome of the 2003 American-led invasion; there is no Imperial need for a "population" there in any case, only some workers to man the oil industry, and that's about it. Everyone else is superfluous, so, let them go away or die, since they have no appreciation for their Liberation, no language, no culure, no religion that would permit them to become Civilized through the gentle ministrations of chain-guns and AC-130 gunships; let them be gone.

And so it is. Millions -- millions -- of refugees; a million or more dead; many, many wounded; orphans, widows everywhere; the smell of death is the first thing people notice when arriving in Iraq. The whole place stinks of carnage.

And they call this "progress." Of course they do! The fewer Iraqi devils they have to deal with, the less time it will take to consolidate the tribute and the treasure that is the Imperial due.

The same treatment has been applied in Somalia; soon, there will be similar moves in Afghanistan, since once again, the jibbering natives don't appreciate their Liberation sufficiently to be allowed to live.

And make no mistake: this is the policy of the United States of America. You may not agree with it, but you have no effective say in the matter. Your voice will not be heard, even if your voice rises with tens of millions of others, an outcry from the deepest soul of America, it doesn't matter. Your objection is of no consequence.

The Empire is not to be denied.

But, bbut, bbbut elections!!! More and Better Democrats! O-ba-ma!

Sigh.

The naivete of "Progressives" is sometimes striking. After all these years of experience -- how can "Progressives" still believe that "elections" and/or charismatic Leaders will somehow alter the course of Imperial expansion?

Well, they say, we have to give it Time; we didn't get in to this mess quickly; we won't get out of it for many years, decades, generations, centuries. We have to keep at the task of supporting and electing More and Better Democrats and Pushing Our Agenda. Eventually this dreadful phase will be over.

In fact, we did get into this Imperial mess at home and abroad very quickly indeed, and we can get out of it almost as quickly, but there is a narrative in Progressive Blogistan that overrides everything else. It is a narrative in which losses are "wins" -- because every loss is a Learning Experience; there was no Knowledge before Progressives began to become active in politics. It is a narrative in which the metaphor of the Task We Face is "turning the ship of state" -- which obviously cannot be done quickly; it must be done in "inches" and "baby steps," ever so slowly, ever so cautiously, and it will take many, many, many years. It is a narrative in which people who are not satisfied with the pace of positive change are called "childish" for wanting everything NOW, and not "understanding" -- like adults do -- that it takes time to accomplish objectives, and there hasn't been nearly enough time for all the things we ALL want to have a chance of coming true; it is a narrative which proposes that we are up against a "Village" of gasbags and chatterati and compromised electeds who gossip and preen for one another, but who we make allowances for and gently mock and ridicule, but it's just a "Village," so there's no real reason to take it all that seriously. What can they do, after all but gossip and preen? And what's the real harm in that?

Our warriors are to be pitied for the abuses they suffer. Our banks are to be -- gently -- reregulated for their own good. The economic catastrophe yawning before us is to be parceled into discreet segments to be dealt with in turn, eventually, but a wholistic approach is to be avoided at all costs. Those who suffer are to be empathized with -- or blamed for their own misfortune -- depending on who they are and what their specific situation is.

The Constitution is to be fiercely defended, though there is no popular constituency for it.

And above all, the narrative elevates the Argument to the pinnacle of endeavor. The Argument, the Rational Examination of Opposing Views, can -- and must -- go on forever, passionately but rationally, an endless scrutiny, with never a decision or action beyond it.

While we're arguing, the Brutes continue to be exterminated.

The Perfect shall never again be the enemy of the Good.