The Bubble of American Supremacy

Here is a quick read which summarizes the case against the Conquest of Iraq and the Great White Bandit's Administration. While written as a manifesto for the November 2004 election, the book holds up pretty well: not much has changed since October, 2003. (If anything, things have gotten worse since the election.)

The first half of the book is an overview of how the United States got into the Iraq quagmire. While Soros does not detail every aspect of the political wars that went on prior to the American invasion, he does lay blame for the Conquest squarely on the Great White Bandit and his neo-conservative advisors. There can be no doubt the neo-cons were itching for Conquest at least since the Bush pere government. Once those junior officers were promoted by Bush junior, they led the charge. Of course, like apprentices and sophomores everywhere, the junior officers were grossly mistaken about the results of the course they pursued.

The second half of the book is a less clear presentation of what American foreign policy and domestic goals should be. Mr Soros pleads for multilateral policies, and opposes Bandit unilateralism in all its forms. The case for the more traditional, liberal foreign policy he advocates is, simply, that it makes sense. He believes the United States would get more support and compliance if it would co-operate with others rather than ride roughshod over them. Mr. Soros correctly predicted such a policy will not happen as long as the incumbent remains in office. (For his 2^nd term, all the neo-con hardliners have been retained, or even promoted, by the Bandit.)

The difficulty Soros has in explaining a statesman's crafted policy is that it relies on moderation, compromise and good judgement. Unlike ideologues, statesmen do not "bring it on" or start wars unless forced to do so. Twisting and turning to avoid an unnecessary conflict, bloodshed, ruin and chaos, is always hard to explain. It is not a forthright policy. It is always susceptible of comparison with the infamous 1938 Munich Agreement. It lacks the clarity of ideological challenge, the sort of challenge involved, say, in Jihad or Crusade.

Soros opines several times that the neo-conservatives. have goaded the United States government into policies and activities that 'play into the terrorists hands.' George W Bush's incompetence and lack of foresight are demonstrated by his approval of those policies. It should be apparent to anyone who watches the news that things have gotten worse since Soros wrote his book. (One even hears voices among conservatives saying things like 'Iraq was a mistake.') In fact, Iraq has become a recruiting station and training ground for fundamentalist, anti-American Jihadists of all stripes. All that was predicted by those opposed to the Conquest of Iraq, including George Soros. That is why the Great White Bandit is one of Usama Bin Laden's leading recruiting agents.

The Epilogue and Appendix of Soros' book are worth reading, as they give an inkling of his philosophical foundations. Soros' philosophy is not explicated in full-blown philosopher's language; but, he is not an official philosopher. We need not take him to task about concepts like "open society," as he explains them in his other books. I do think, however, more must be said about deep concepts such as 'reflexivity,' 'radical human fallibility,' and 'human uncertainty principle.' These notions are applied to people by analogy with Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle, and by way of Karl Popper's philosophy of science. (Apparently, Soros is a Popperian.) While I don't disagree with the generality presented, and I certainly want to affirm the notions of reflexivity and fallibility (as I understand them), the issues need a more extensive and thorough examination. Popper's insight about the fallibility of science is important, but not the last or latest.

Generally, I found very little to disagree with in this book. It is, after all, a manifesto, not an academic history. The first half, how the U.S. got into Iraq, is a worthy subject for some academic to record and ponder. I suspect there will be a plethora of books on the Conquest just as soon as the Great White Bandit is removed from office. In the meantime, it is important not to forget as many of the facts and circumstances of this War as possible. Given the nature of the present government, living memory will be an important antidote to the historical revisionism conservatives have already undertaken.

The political philosophy that underlies modern liberalism - democratic socialism - needs a much better foundation and exposition than Soros has offered. I don't know of anyone with the stature of a Locke or Kant who has come forward or is ready in the wings (it is not me). We do need someone like that, who can correlate the circumstances of an evolving technological society with the ideals of liberty, equality, fraternity.