{"id":34041,"date":"2013-09-30T12:00:23","date_gmt":"2013-09-30T11:00:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=34041"},"modified":"2015-05-06T08:59:01","modified_gmt":"2015-05-06T07:59:01","slug":"bragging-rights-eight-exceptionally-dumb-american-achievements-of-the-twenty-first-century","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2013\/09\/bragging-rights-eight-exceptionally-dumb-american-achievements-of-the-twenty-first-century\/","title":{"rendered":"Bragging Rights: Eight Exceptional(ly Dumb) American Achievements of the Twenty-First Century"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cBut when, with modest effort and risk, we can stop children from being gassed to death, and thereby make our own children safer over the long run, I believe we should act.\u00a0 That\u2019s what makes America different.\u00a0 That\u2019s what makes us exceptional.\u00a0 With humility, but with resolve, let us never lose sight of that essential truth<\/em>.\u201d
\n— Barack Obama, address to the nation<\/a> on Syria, September 10, 2013<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s be Americans, which means being exceptional, which also means being honest in ways inconceivable to the rest of humanity.\u00a0 So here\u2019s the truth of it: the American exceptionalism sweepstakes really do matter. Here. A lot.<\/p>\n

Barack Obama<\/a> is only the latest in a jostling crowd of presidential candidates<\/a>, presidential wannabes<\/a>, major politicians<\/a>, and minor figures<\/a> of every sort, not to speak of a raging horde of neocons and pundits<\/a> galore, who have felt compelled in recent years to tell us and the world just how exceptional the last superpower really is.\u00a0 They tend to emphasize our ability to use this country\u2019s overwhelming power, especially the military variety, for the global good — to save children and other deserving innocents.\u00a0 This particularly American aptitude for doing good forcibly, by killing others, is considered an incontestable fact of earthly life needing no proof. \u00a0It is well known, especially among our leading politicians, that Washington has the ability to wield its military strength in ways that are unimaginably superior to any other power on the planet.<\/p>\n

The well-deserved bragging rights to American exceptionalism are no small matter in this country.\u00a0 It should hardly be surprising, then, how visceral is the distaste when any foreigner — say, Russian President Vladimir Putin — decides to appropriate the term and use it to criticize us<\/em>.\u00a0 How visceral?\u00a0 Well, the sort of visceral that, as Democratic Senator Bob Menendez put it<\/a> recently, leaves us barely repressing the urge to \u201cvomit.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now, it\u2019s not that we can\u2019t take a little self-criticism.\u00a0 If you imagine an over-muscled, over-armed guy walking into a room and promptly telling you and anyone else in earshot how exceptionally good he is when it comes to targeting his weapons, and you notice a certain threatening quality about him, and maybe a hectoring, lecturing tone in his voice, it\u2019s just possible that you might be intimidated or irritated by him.\u00a0 You might think: narcissist, braggart, or blowhard.\u00a0 If you were the president of Russia, you might say<\/a>, \u201cIt is extremely dangerous to encourage people to see themselves as exceptional, whatever the motivation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yes, if you\u2019re a foreigner, this country is easy enough to misunderstand, make fun of, or belittle.\u00a0 Still, that didn\u2019t stop the president from proudly bringing up our exceptionalism two weeks ago in his address on the Syrian crisis.\u00a0 In that speech, he plugged the need for a U.S. military response to the use of chemical weapons by the Syrian military.\u00a0 He recommended launching a \u201climited strike,\u201d assumedly Tomahawk missiles heading Damascus-wards, to save Syria\u2019s children, and he made sure the world knew that such an attack would be no passing thing.\u00a0 (\u201cLet me make something clear: the United States military doesn\u2019t do pinpricks.\u201d)<\/p>\n

Then, in mid-speech, in a fashion that was nothing short of exceptional (if you were considering the internal logic of the address), he suddenly cast that option aside for another approach entirely. But just because of that, don\u2019t let first impressions or foreign criticism blind you to the power of the president\u2019s imagery.\u00a0 In this century, as he suggested then and in an address to the U.N.<\/a> two weeks later, American exceptionalism has always had to do with Washington\u2019s ability to use its power for the greater planetary good.\u00a0 Since, in the last decade-plus, power and military power have come to be essentially synonymous in Washington, the pure goodness of firing missiles or dropping bombs has been deified.<\/p>\n

On that basis, it\u2019s indisputable that the bragging rights to American exceptionalism are Washington\u2019s. For those who need proof, what follows are just eight ways (among so many more) that you can proudly make the case for our exceptional status, should you happen to stumble across, say, President Putin, still blathering on about how unexceptional we are.<\/p>\n

1.<\/strong> What other country could have invaded Iraq, hardly knowing the difference between a Sunni and a Shiite, and still managed to successfully set off a brutal sectarian civil war and ethnic cleansing campaigns<\/a> between the two sects that would subsequently go regional, whose casualty counts<\/a> have tipped into the hundreds of thousands<\/a>, and which is now bouncing back<\/a> on Iraq?\u00a0 What other great power would have launched its invasion with plans to garrison that country for decades<\/a> and with the larger goal of subduing neighboring Iran (\u201cEveryone wants to go to Baghdad; real men want to go<\/a> to Tehran\u201d), only to slink away<\/a> eight years later leaving behind a Shiite government in Baghdad that was a firm ally of Iran?\u00a0 And in what other country, could leaders, viewing these events, and knowing our part in them, have been so imbued with goodness as to draw further \u201cred lines\u201d and contemplate sending in the missiles and bombers again, this time on Syria and possibly Iran?\u00a0 Who in the world would dare claim that this isn\u2019t an unmatchable record?<\/p>\n

2.<\/strong> \u00a0What other country could magnanimously spend $4-6 trillion<\/a> on two \u201c<\/strong>good wars\u201d<\/strong> in Afghanistan and Iraq against lightly armed minority insurgencies without winning<\/a> or accomplishing a thing?\u00a0 And that\u2019s not even counting the funds sunk into the Global War on Terror and sideshows in places like Pakistan, Somalia, and Yemen, or the staggering sums<\/a> that, since 9\/11, have been poured directly into the national security state. \u00a0How many countries, possessing \u201cthe finest fighting force<\/a> in the history of the world,\u201d could have engaged in endless armed conflicts and interventions from the 1960s on and, except in unresisting Panama and tiny Grenada, never managed to definitively win anything?<\/p>\n

3.<\/strong> \u00a0And talking about exceptional records, what other military could have brought an estimated 3.1 million pieces<\/a> of equipment — ranging from tanks and Humvees to porta-potties, coffee makers, and computers — with it into Iraq, and then transported most of them out again (while destroying the rest or turning them over to the Iraqis)?\u00a0 Similarly, in an Afghanistan where the U.S. military is now drawing down its forces and has already destroyed<\/a> \u201cmore than 170 million pounds worth of vehicles and other military equipment,\u201d what other force would have decided ahead of time to shred, dismantle, or simply discard $7 billion worth of equipment (about 20% of what it had brought into the country)?\u00a0 The general in charge proudly calls this \u201cthe largest retrograde mission in history.\u201d To put that in context: What other military would be capable of carrying a total consumer society right down to PXs, massage parlors<\/a>, boardwalks<\/a>, Internet cafes<\/a>, and food courts<\/a> to war?\u00a0 Let\u2019s give credit where it\u2019s due: we\u2019re not just talking retrograde here, we\u2019re talking exceptionally retrograde!<\/p>\n

4.<\/strong> What other military could, in a bare few years in Iraq, have built a staggering 505 bases<\/a>, ranging from combat outposts to ones the size of small American towns with their own electricity generators, water purifiers, fire departments, fast-food restaurants, and even miniature golf courses<\/a> at a cost of unknown billions<\/a> of dollars and then, only a few years later, abandoned all of them, dismantling some, turning others over to<\/a> the Iraqi military or into ghost towns<\/a>, and leaving yet others to be looted<\/a> and stripped?\u00a0 And what other military, in the same time period thousands of miles away in Afghanistan, could have built more than 450 bases<\/a>, sometimes even hauling in the building materials, and now be dismantling them<\/a> in the same fashion?\u00a0 If those aren\u2019t exceptional feats, what are?<\/p>\n

5.<\/strong> In a world where it\u2019s hard to get anyone to agree on anything, the covert campaign of drone strikes that George W. Bush launched and Barack Obama escalated<\/a> in Pakistan\u2019s tribal areas stands out.\u00a0 Those hundreds of strikes not only caused significant numbers of civilian casualties (including children<\/a>), while helping to destabilize a sometime ally, but almost miraculously created public opinion unanimity.\u00a0 Opinion polls there indicate that a Ripley\u2019s-Believe-It-or-Not-style 97% of Pakistanis consider such strikes \u201ca bad thing<\/a>.\u201d\u00a0 Is there another country on the planet capable of mobilizing such loathing?\u00a0 Stand proud, America!<\/p>\n

6.<\/strong> And what other power could have secretly and illegally kidnapped<\/a> at least 136 suspected terrorists<\/a> — some, in fact, innocent<\/a> of any such acts or associations — off the streets of global cities as well as from the backlands of the planet?\u00a0 What other nation could have mustered a coalition-of-the-willing<\/a> of 54 countries to lend a hand in its \u201crendition\u201d operations?\u00a0 We\u2019re talking about more than a quarter of the nations on Planet Earth!\u00a0 And that isn\u2019t all.\u00a0 Oh, no, that isn\u2019t all.\u00a0 Can you imagine another country capable of setting up a genuinely global network of \u201cblack sites<\/a>\u201d and borrowed prisons (with local torturers on hand), places to stash and abuse those kidnappees (and other prisoners) in locations ranging from Poland<\/a> to Thailand<\/a>, Romania<\/a> to Afghanistan<\/a>, Egypt<\/a> and Uzbekistan<\/a> to U.S. Navy ships<\/a> on the high seas, not to speak of that jewel in the crown of offshore prisons, Guantanamo<\/a>?\u00a0 Such illegality on such a global scale simply can\u2019t be matched!\u00a0 And don\u2019t even get me started on torture<\/a>.\u00a0 (It\u2019s fine for us to take pride in our exceptionalist tradition, but you don\u2019t want to pour it on, do you?)<\/p>\n

7. <\/strong>Or how about the way the State Department, to the tune of $750 million<\/a>, constructed<\/a> in Baghdad the largest, most expensive embassy compound on the planet — a 104-acre, Vatican-sized citadel with 27<\/a> blast-resistant buildings, an indoor pool, basketball courts, and a fire station, which was to operate as a command-and-control center for our ongoing garrisoning of the country and the region?\u00a0 Now, the garrisons are gone, and the embassy, its staff cut, is a global white elephant.\u00a0 But what an exceptional elephant!\u00a0 Think of it as a modern American pyramid, a tomb in which lie buried<\/a> the dreams of establishing a Pax Americana<\/em> in the Greater Middle East.\u00a0 Honestly, what other country could hope to match that sort of memorial thousands of miles from home?<\/p>\n

8.<\/strong> Or what about this?\u00a0 Between 2002 and 2011, the U.S. poured<\/a> at least $51 billion into building up a vast Afghan military.\u00a0 Another $11 billion was dedicated to the task in 2012, with almost $6 billion more planned for 2013.\u00a0 Washington has also sent in a legion of trainers<\/a> tasked with turning that force into an American-style fighting outfit.\u00a0 At the time Washington began building it up, the Afghan army was reportedly a heavily illiterate, drug-taking, corrupt, and ineffective force that lost one-third to one-half<\/a> of its personnel to casualties, non-reenlistment, and desertion<\/a> in any year.\u00a0 In 2012<\/a>, the latest date for which we have figures, the Afghan security forces were still a heavily illiterate, drug-taking, corrupt, and inefficient outfit that was losing about one-third of its personnel annually (a figure that may even be on the rise<\/a>).\u00a0 The U.S. and its NATO allies are committed to spending $4.1 billion annually<\/a> on the same project after the withdrawal of their combat forces in 2014.\u00a0 Tell me that isn’t exceptional!<\/p>\n

No one, of course, loves a braggart; so, easy as it might be to multiply these eight examples by others, the winner of the American exceptionalism sweepstakes is already obvious.\u00a0 In other words, this is a moment for exceptional modesty, which means that only one caveat needs to be added to the above record.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m talking about actual property rights to \u201cAmerican exceptionalism.\u201d\u00a0 It\u2019s a phrase often credited to a friendly nineteenth century foreigner, the French traveler Alexis de Tocqueville.\u00a0 As it happens, however, the man who seems to have first used the full phrase was Russian dictator Joseph Stalin.\u00a0 In 1929, when the U.S. was showing few signs of a proletarian uprising or fulfilling Karl Marx\u2019s predictions and American Communists were claiming that the country had unique characteristics that left it unready for revolution, Stalin began denouncing<\/a> \u201cthe heresy of American exceptionalism.\u201d \u00a0Outside the U.S. Communist Party, the phrase only gained popular traction here in the Reagan years.\u00a0 Now, it has become as American as sea salt potato chips.\u00a0 If, for instance, the phrase had never before been used in a presidential debate, in 2012 the candidates couldn\u2019t stop wielding it.<\/p>\n

Still, history does give Vladimir Putin a claim to use of the phrase, however stomach-turning that may be for various members of Congress.\u00a0 But maybe, in its own way, its origins only attest to… well, American exceptionalism.\u00a0 Somehow, through pureness of motive and the shining radiance of the way we exercise power, Washington\u2019s politicians have taken words<\/a> wielded negatively by one of the great monsters of history and made them the signature phrase of American greatness.\u00a0 How exceptional!<\/p>\n

_____________________<\/p>\n

Tom Engelhardt, co-founder of the <\/em>American Empire Project<\/em><\/a> and author of <\/em>The United States of Fear<\/a> as well as a history of the Cold War, <\/em>The End of Victory Culture<\/a> (recently published in a <\/em>Kindle edition<\/em><\/a>), runs the Nation Institute’s <\/em>TomDispatch.com<\/em><\/a>. His latest book, co-authored with Nick Turse, is <\/em>Terminator Planet: The First History of Drone Warfare, 2001-2050<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2013 Tom Engelhardt<\/i><\/p>\n

Go to Original \u2013 tomdispatch.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s indisputable that the bragging rights to American exceptionalism are Washington\u2019s. For those who need proof, what follows are just eight ways (among so many more) that you can proudly make the case for our exceptional status, should you happen to stumble across, say, President Putin, still blathering on about how unexceptional we are.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34041","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-anglo-america"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34041","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34041"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34041\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34041"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34041"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34041"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}