America’s current strategy of dominance now explicitly includes removing leaders of other countries by force or outright killing them. Killing political leaders used to be called assassination, a widely condemned practice. We used to place such brutality in a low moral category, even when it felt satisfying to see someone considered evil brought to justice. Assassination, however, is a low form of justice, if justice at all.
Justice implies a process, one that determines guilt through the testimony of witnesses and the presentation of evidence. Dropping a bomb on the home of the leader of another country is not justice (see photo). If another country did that to America’s leader, it would be considered an act of murder.
The United States has played a part in the assassination of leaders of other countries. Using the CIA and its various front organizations, we’ve regularly meddled in the affairs of other nations in pursuit of our “national interest.” Such operations were generally hidden or disguised; openly murdering the leader of another country was viewed as “bad form.” One might argue that we’ve been hypocritical, posturing as morally superior while engaged in the lowest form of political intrigue, and that’s true, we have been hypocritical. And yet, we appeared to have abandoned such activities until recently.
Our Defense Secretary, having rechristened himself the Secretary of War, takes pains to point out that we are no longer constrained by international rules or order and will do what we choose to do in making war. He speaks of our military actions in nearly apocalyptic terms and evidently takes great pleasure in glorifying our vicious pursuit of “victory.” Not just limited to the idea of winning, Hegseth pursues the idea of punishment. The United States is employing a policy of barbarism.
Perhaps our stance at the moral high-ground was always political posturing, but at least it implied a rejection of cruelty. No more. Cruelty appears to be a goal intended to make our “enemies” cower in fear of our power. That such callousness is now national policy places us among history’s worst actors. In sacrificing even the appearance of holding the moral high-ground, we have descended to the depths of depravity, raining death down upon both the guilty and the innocent.
The international accords which defined war crimes and the treatment of opponents in a military conflict have dissolved. Agreement that took centuries has been discarded in a matter of months. While it is possible to recover, it will take a long time and trust in America may be irrevocably lost forever. Not just a single president is responsible for this debacle, but an entire political apparatus. We are experiencing a moral collapse of monumental proportion, a failure of our ability to uphold the humanistic values upon which our survival depends.
The philosophy of “might makes right” is the philosophy of beasts and predators. Domination of others by force is not what has allowed human society to thrive, but cooperation. Dominance by force is an anti-diluvian strategy, and if humanity has any chance of survival, such behavior must be suppressed and discouraged. Despite its many setbacks, the 20th Century was one of progress towards cooperation. Now that progress has been squandered.
The history of the United States is one of emancipation, an albeit slow but steady movement towards cooperation and acceptance. One can only hope there’s time to recover that momentum before it’s lost forever.
