A Brief History of the 21st Century; Chapter 11: The Former United States

A Brief History of the 21st Century

Chapter 11: The Former United States
by Brian McLaren

(excerpt)

As a result, doubts about the U.S. Ruling Party’s competence became widespread, along with questions of the party’s integrity, in large part because the invasion was justified on unflinching assertions that turned out to be false. These doubts caused the Ruling Party to fear loss of dominance in the 2006 elections. Party leaders responded by intensifying their long-term strategy of dividing the American voting public over fringe issues upon which they never planned to take action. Fearing that this strategy would not suffice, they also worked to increase fear and present themselves as the “homeland security party” by diverting attention from recent failures in Afghanistan and Iraq to a new threat: the nuclear aspirations of neighboring Iran.

(snip)

The Ruling Party also enlisted notable religious leaders to support the war effort, which many saw as a fulfillment of obscure biblical prophecies. Those who opposed the build-up to war with Iran were labeled as “peace-at-all-costs liberals,” “unpatriotic cowards,” and “naïve leftist idealists,” including a growing minority of conservative religious leaders who opposed the impending war on moral and economic grounds. A series of air strikes was launched against Iranian targets shortly before the 2006 elections, based on so-called intelligence reports (later proved bogus) that the Iranians were “nearly at the brink” of producing weapons of mass destruction.

(snip)

In a stunning case of violating the ancient dictum “Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me,” U.S. voters confirmed the Ruling Party’s dominance in 2006 and again in 2008, paving the way for the 40 years of Hot Wars that erupted full-scale in early 2009 and continued until the Global Financial Meltdown of 2051, which was the fifth and most catastrophic financial crisis of the period, the others occurring in 2010, 2018, 2023, and 2040.

The Hot War period began, then, with a series of terrorist attacks on U.S. targets in 2007-08, leading to a reinstitution of the draft in 2009, quickly followed by troop deployments to sites around the world in 2010. That year, the Defense of Freedom Act (DFA) invested the executive branch with sweeping power to suspend First Amendment and other civil rights provisions. It also authorized the executive branch to disregard provisions of the Geneva Conventions indefinitely. It specifically provided for the establishment of extensive secret torture camps (called DFA Intelligence Facilities) and prohibited the echoing press from reporting on any DFA activities. Although these measures served to increase animosity toward the U.S. and encourage terrorist recruitment abroad, they enjoyed widespread support by the American public, largely due to the sympathetic reporting of the echoing media.

(snip)

Could the 40 Hot War years of the 21st century have been avoided? In light of the catastrophic effects of four decades of constant war and the human suffering involved, compounded by the environmental devastation caused directly and indirectly by the Hot Wars, this question has preoccupied historians and political scientists for 60 years. Most scholars agree that greater vigilance by the public, and especially by the press and religious leaders, could have made a difference, especially in the crucial years leading up to the invasion of Iran, 2006 to 2008. For this reason, many ....

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