R.I.P. Howard Zinn

many things to many people and it cannot be forgotten that we have often been the "good guys". Like in 2005 when we went into Indonesia at great expense and at great risk to pull people out of the greatest natural disaster in our time. I don't personally believe we went into Indonesia for resources or to protect our "vital interests" (if I hear one more president say that I swear I'll scream). No, we went in to help pure and simple. And I can tell you that the people of Indonesia remember that and us with gratitude. The government of Indonesia? Not as sure about that arrangement, but the people were helped. And they remember a country--our country-- standing tall in those dark days. We have stood tall many times over the years.

But governments are not countries, try as they might to convince us of that.

Our government (in the name of the country) has done good things yes. But Howard Zinn and others felt/feel that our government has done some bad deeds; some very very bad deeds. I find the History of the USA and our involvement in world affairs to be a bit, shall we say, murky over the last 75 years or so. Some cynical person once said,

history is written by the winners

and while I don't pretend to know if that is true, I do recognize murkiness.

There is a tendency to dismiss folks like Howard Zinn as conspiracy theorists, wearing their tinfoil hats and espousing all kinds of crackpot ideas. But I think he had some insight into that murky last century, insofar as anyone does. Indeed Howard Zinn experienced first hand some of the on-the-ground consequences of war, and those memories changed him.

Once, Dwight D Eisenhower asked his Sec of State, "Why do they hate us?" The answer given is not germane, but the question was asked by a sitting president in 1956. 1956.

I want to believe that we are *always* the good guys; that we stand for good and decent things in the world. But I fear we lost our way some time back there--made some choices based on power, influence, control and self-interest. Nationalism instead of patriotism.

...Until the latest of our world conflicts, the United States had no armaments industry. American makers of plowshares could, with time and as required, make swords as well. But now we can no longer risk emergency improvisation of national defense; we have been compelled to create a permanent armaments industry of vast proportions. Added to this, three and a half million men and women are directly engaged in the defense establishment. We annually spend on military security more than the net income of all United States corporations.

This conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the American experience. The total influence -- economic, political, even spiritual -- is felt in every city, every State house, every office of the Federal government. We recognize the imperative need for this development. Yet we must not fail to comprehend its grave implications. Our toil, resources and livelihood are all involved; so is the very structure of our society.

In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the militaryindustrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.

Public Papers of the Presidents, Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1960, p. 1035- 1040

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