The Ant Man Exits: War Crime Accomplice Canned for Insufficient Groveling

by Chris Floyd, 11 March 2008


If Admiral William Fallon really was the only man standing between us and a new war with Iran, as Esquire magazine claimed recently [1] -- well, he's gone now.

Top U.S. Commander in Mideast to Retire Early (NYT) [2]

As we noted here the other day [3], the magazine's view of Fallon as some kind of secret peacenik was laughable: after all, Fallon, as head of U.S. Central Command, has been directing Bush's murderous and illegal Terror War actions in Iraq [4], Afghanistan [5] and Somalia [6] for the past year. Multitudes of innocent people have died in the imperial satrapy under his command. And while it's true that he voiced some disagreement over the timing and tactics of the White House's bellicose approach to Iran, he also made his true opinion of the possibility of an assault on Iran abundantly clear, telling Esquire:

"These guys are ants. When the time comes, you crush them."

But it seems that a minion's willingness to commit war crimes to further America's "full spectrum dominance" of the earth is not enough in eyes of the Dear Leader. There is now an elaborate system of ritual crawling and kowtowing that must be followed to the letter by imperial courtiers. A prime example of this has been the sight of "tough, independent-minded" Attorney General Michael Mukasey constantly twisting himself into circus-freak contortions [7] in order to countenance the Leader's policies of torture and executive tyranny.

It's obvious that Fallon -- for all his skill and experience in exterminating the ants that infest those happy lands where the American elite seek to exercise their wholly benevolent sway -- never quite learned to simper sufficiently. We noted this possibility the other day:

...it could well be that Fallon will be fired in the end for not groveling obsequiously enough to the Leader, in the required Petraeus-Franks manner. Or indeed, that he might even resign rather than commit what he sees as the tactical error of crushing the Iranian ants at this particular time. But so what? If he quits, someone else who would be happy to do the stomping will be appointed in his place. If Bush decides to attack Iran, then Iran will be attacked. There is no one standing in the way. It's as simple, and terrifying, as that.

And now, even the man whom a few hopeful souls deluded themselves was standing in the way is not standing in the way anymore. Do you get the message now? Certainly everyone in the Pentagon does. If Bush wants war, there will be war. And not even the appearance of the slightest tactical divergence from the sovereign's desires will be tolerated.



REFERENCES:


[1]  http://www.esquire.com/features/fox-fallon

[2]  http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/11/washington/11cnd-fallon.html?_r=2&hp&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

[3]  http://www.chris-floyd.com/content/view/1448/135/

[4]  http://www.chris-floyd.com/content/view/1446/1/

[5]  http://news.yahoo.com/s/ucru/20080304/cm_ucru/afghanistanawarwecantbelievein

[6]  http://www.chris-floyd.com/content/view/1384/135/

[7]  http://harpers.org/archive/2008/03/hbc-90002595



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excerpt from "Crushing the Ants: Admiral Fallon and His Empire"

by Chris Floyd, 6 March 2008


"Fallon himself has long denied the hearsay evidence that he had
declared, upon taking over Central Command, that a war on Iran "isn't
going to happen on my watch." And in fact, the article itself depicts
Fallon's true attitude toward the idea of an attack on Iran right up
front, in his own words. After noting Fallon's concerns about focusing
too much on Iran to the exclusion of the other "pots boiling over" in
the region, Barnett presses the point and asks: And if it comes to
war? Fallon replies with stark, brutal clarity:

"'Get serious,' the admiral says. 'These guys are ants. When the time
comes, you crush them.'"

The article makes clear that Fallon's main concerns about a war with
Iran are, as noted, about tactics and timing: Sure, when the time
comes – no shuffling on that point – we'll crush these subhumans like
the insects they are; but we've already got a lot on our plate at the
moment, so why not hold off as long as we can? After all, Fallon is
conducting two wars, in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as overseeing an
on-going "regime change" operation in Somalia, where the United States
has been aiding Ethiopian invaders with bombing raids, death squads,
renditions and missile strikes against Somali civilians – such as the
one this week that killed three women and three children.

The most remarkable fact about the Esquire article is not its
laughable portrayal of the man in charge of mass slaughter and
military aggression across a broad swathe of the globe as a shining
knight holding back the dogs of war. Nor is it the delusion on the
part of Barnett --- and much of the commentariat as well – that Bush
would ever appoint some kind of secret peacenik as the main commander
of his Terror War. (Although it could well be that Fallon will be
fired in the end for not groveling obsequiously enough to the Leader,
in the required Petraeus-Franks manner. Or indeed, that he might even
resign rather than commit what he sees as the tactical error of
crushing the Iranian ants at this particular time. But so what? If he
quits, someone else who would be happy to do the stomping will be
appointed in his place. If Bush decides to attack Iran, then Iran will
be attacked. There is no one standing in the way. It's as simple as
that.)"



URL:  http://www.chris-floyd.com/content/view/1448/135/