Resurgence of the Warfare State: The Crisis Since 9/11
by Bob Cheeks | View comments |
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In his recent book, Dr. Robert Higgs argues that war always ratchets up the power of the state and that its primary product is death and suffering.
Resurgence of the Warfare State: The Crisis Since 9/11
Dr. Robert Higgs
The Independent Institute
Oakland, Ca 2005
Ppbk, 252 pgs., index
ISBN: 13-978-0-945999-56-0
Dr. Robert Higgs’s latest book, Resurgence of the Warfare State: The Crisis Since 9/11, is a compilation of “dozens of statements, commentaries, and other forms of expression…” that he has written and disseminated since the massacre of 9/11. It is a timely and erudite book that takes the position that the Islamic attack on America would “primarily provide government and business interests the opportunity to enrich themselves at the expense of the public’s wealth, lives, and liberties in the U.S. and around the world.”
Higgs’s finest attribute is his ability to deftly apply arcane government statistics, weave them into the appropriate historical background, and in a few adroit sentences explain to the lay reader just how Leviathan has empowered itself at the expense of our public treasure and liberties. For example, in his essay "Free Enterprise and War, A Dangerous Liaison," Higgs writes,
In World War I, the government imposed a variety of unprecedented controls on business. It nationalized outright the firms in the railroad, telephone, and telegraph industries…It fixed scores of industrial commodity prices, intervened extensively in management-labor relations, and promoted unionization and collective bargaining. It hiked corporate income taxes to undreamt-of heights and added a huge excess-profits tax on top of them. The net result of all this government dictation, taxation, takeover, and all around meddling became known to contemporaries as ‘war socialism.’
Higgs’s forte is economics and he shines when revealing to the public the spending proclivities of the federal government. Unfortunately, economics can make my eyes glaze over, but the author has that ability to sustain and expand even my short attention span. In his essay "The Defense Budget is Bigger Than You Think," he reveals that their (Department of Defense) “super-grand total in fiscal year 2004 will reach the astonishing amount of nearly $754 billion…”
The author’s criticism of the American government is non-political in the sense that, regardless of the party affiliation of the man in the presidency, he is opposed to the constant expansion of state power. He is an honorable reactionary and an advocate of the old republic’s first principles and in that I applaud his efforts (he’s written ten books) and agree with his conclusions. In his essay "George Bush’s Faith-Based Foreign Policy," he writes, “Whatever else Iraq may be, it certainly is not a democratic success story waiting to be told by American crusaders. Indeed, given the violent ethnic, religious, and political conflicts that ravage this unfortunate country, it may not be viable under any form of government except dictatorship — nothing in its history suggests otherwise.” Higgs, of course, has hit the proverbial nail on the head. President Bush’s much touted efforts “to bring democracy to the Middle East” are fraught with peril and any American history book available to any high school student across the land tells us as much.
But what if George Bush was fighting the right war, but for the wrong reasons. The question of WMD’s (weapons of mass destruction) is superfluous; Iraq’s WMD’s were used against the Kurds and perhaps they were later destroyed or buried. The question is, were they a threat to the U.S. and the answer is no. Were they a threat to our ally Israel, the answer is yes. And, if Iraq was a threat to Israel, what should be our response? Also, we might ask if Iraq has participated in a causa belli against the United States.
In his essay "What’s So Special About Those Killed by Hijackers on September 11, 2001?", Higgs argues that the Murrah Federal Building bombing (April 19, 1995) is not remembered to the degree that the 9/11 massacre is because the perpetrators were two disgruntled, former U.S. soldiers (the now deceased Timothy McVeigh and his cohort, Terry Nichols) who blew up the building in response to “the government’s own murderous assault on the Branch Davidians at Waco precisely two years earlier.” Higgs has it right on the Branch Davidian massacre, but errs, I think, on the Murrah bombing.
If former T.V. journalist Jayna Davis is correct (see her book, The Third Terrorist), and I believe she has done a great service for her country, then the Murrah building bombing was orchestrated under an umbrella group, The Armed Islamic Movement, which was established by the secret services of Iraq and Iran in retaliation for Gulf War I. AIM utilized former Iraqi special ops soldiers for the assault while planning, coordination, and financial support came from Osama bin Laden’s henchman, Ramzi Yousef. Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols were utilized to assist in assembling the bomb’s ingredients and help take it to the target; they were merely “mules.” If Ms. Davis’s findings of fact are accurate, and she has reams of documentation, then Iraq and Iran perpetrated an act of war against the United States and America’s invasion of Iraq is justified. The Clinton administration’s cowardly obfuscations of the Murrah bombing and the Bush administration's abject failure to reveal the truth of the matter will forever cloud America’s response in its war with Islam.
I agree with Dr. Higgs’s argument that war always “ratchets up the power” of the state, that war’s primary product is death and suffering, and that the Patriot Act has the potential of weakening our liberties; however, we must make a sober examination of the current state of affairs. Osama bin Laden has called for the death of four million Americans (two million must be children) and, according to some sources, has located sleeper cells and suitcase nukes inside the United States (see Paul Williams’ The al Qaeda Connection). Islamic terrorists have been at war with us since 1979 and whatever their reasons for war we must accept the fact that we are in a fight for our lives against a fanatical foe that has no intentions of laying down their arms.
Until we recognize that we are at war with a significant majority of Islam and act accordingly we are doomed to suffer significant casualties at the hands of the Muslims. Dr. Higgs’s book is an astute critique of the Bush administration and the Orwellian concept of “perpetual war for perpetual peace,” but commingled within the muck and mire of Bush’s mishandling of objectives of the Iraq war is the very real war with Islam. On this matter Dr. Higgs is silent.
Resurgence of the Warfare State is available on Amazon.com.
Bob Cheeks has written for The American Enterprise, Human Events, Southern Partisan, and The Pittsburgh Tribune Review.
robertcheeks@core.com
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