There’s so much going on in US politics right now that it’s hard to know what to write about. With all the shouting about the election, impeachment, Trump’s bogus Palestine “deal” and so many other important political issues competing for airtime with Kobe Bryant’s death and coronavirus fear porn, it feels like we’re already at white noise information saturation, and it’s not even February yet. Things are going to get a whole lot noisier next month when the Democratic presidential primaries (and all the establishment manipulations that will necessarily accompany them) get underway, and Julian Assange’s extradition trial begins.

One of the many interesting developments that I can pluck out of this cacophony to earn my keep here has been the hysterical response to Bernie Sanders’ polling bump from the Bush-era neoconservatives who’ve been rehabilitated by a weird new alliance with the Democratic Party in the age of Trump. In just the last few days we’ve seen a deluge of smear pieces against Sanders published in mainstream news outlets by virulent “never-Trump” neocons Bret “Bedbug” StephensDavid “Axis of Evil” FrumJennifer “John McCain is too dovish” Rubin, and Max “The Case for American Empire” Boot.

Which has turned out to be a good thing so far, for two reasons. Firstly it has ripped off the mask of woke progressivism that these neoconservative war whores slapped on their faces three years ago to promote mass murder within the Democratic establishment’s astroturf “Resistance” to Trump. Secondly it has educated an entire new generation of young voters about the evils of the Iraq invasion, and who helped facilitate it.

https://twitter.com/MaxBoot/status/1222641403299106816

It is always a good sign when a bunch of pundits who push for increased military aggression at every opportunity are upset about the same thing, but I’m going to single out Max Boot here because his Bernie tantrum has been especially hilarious to watch.

In an article for The Washington Post titled “Bernie Sanders is ‘insanely consistent.’ That’s nothing to brag about.“, Boot bizarrely decided to attack Sanders on the fact that he hasn’t often had to admit that he’s been wrong about things.

“But it is true that I’ve rethought my views on some important matters, such as the Iraq War, and started speaking out on issues such global warming, gun control and white privilege where reality conflicts with conservative dogma,” Boot writes, adding that he can be trusted now “precisely because I have changed my mind. Don’t trust anyone who hasn’t.”

It is fascinating that Boot should choose consistency as a line of attack against Sanders, because he himself has been remarkably consistent throughout his entire career. He’s just been consistent in the other direction.

Promoting fiendishly aggressive interventionist agendas everywhere from Iraq to Afghanistan to Libya to Syria to Iran to Russia, the former PNAC member Boot has been a leading narrative manager for some of the most catastrophically disastrous military interventions in living memory. He has not just promoted imperialist agendas which destroyed the lives of untold millions of human beings, but has also consistently promoted the pernicious underpinning philosophy of that imperialism as in his 2001 masterpiece “The Case for American Empire“.

And that is the one and only reason Boot remains gainfully employed as a famous and widely circulated mainstream foreign policy analyst. He has no redeeming characteristics. He is not smart. He is not charming. He is never, ever right about anything. He simply advocates for the deployment of expensive military equipment consistently and reliably. The oligarchic media love that in a guy.

https://twitter.com/MaxBoot/status/1222667748896989184

Boot, who has been giddy with excitement that his fellow traveller John Bolton has entered his side of the impeachment debate, wrapped up his unintentional self-parody by cheerleading Trump’s regime change interventionism in Venezuela and the right-wing military coup in Bolivia. After its publication he quickly found himself under fire on Twitter by the Sanders campaign’s David Sirota, who rightly criticized his forceful promotion of the Iraq invasion. Boot responded by whining that the “Bernie Bro” should accept his admission that Iraq was a mistake and forget about the whole thing.

“Me: I was wrong and I admit it, but I learned from it. Bernie should too. He’s been wrong about some stuff. Bernie Bro: You were wrong. Why should we listen to you?”, Boot tweeted.

“LOL. Exactly,” Jennifer Rubin responded.

And that just says so much about the coddled, insulated, completely unchallenged life that these mass media pundits are accustomed to, right there. To believe that you can help pave the way for a war that kills a million people based on lies and then years later say “Oh yeah I made an oopsie with that one, I need a do-over” requires an unbelievable amount of entitlement and privilege, let alone to be able to self-righteously hold that admission up as some kind of superior virtue that is worthy of praise and deference.

You don’t get to help murder a million human beings and then act indignant when people bring it up. That is not a thing. Your admission of wrongdoing does not undo the wrong that you did, and only someone who has been raised in a consequence-free environment their entire life could possibly believe that it would.

https://twitter.com/MaxBoot/status/1221991182898802689?s=20

Hey Max? If you ever get tired of being completely wrong about everything, here’s a hot tip for you: maybe start with crossing off the idea that murdering a bunch of people is an ideal solution to every problem. Normal people don’t think that way. That’s why you’re wrong more often than any normal person. It really is that simple.

Nobody who promoted the unforgivable Iraq invasion should ever be listened to about anything for as long as they live. They certainly should not be elevated in prominent slots on mainstream news outlets. They should not even be able to find employment anywhere more glamorous than a McDonald’s.

It is good that these people are exposing themselves, and it is good that more people are learning about the Iraq invasion. Nothing has ever been done to make right the unfathomable evils which were inflicted upon our species by that one horrific act, let alone the many other disastrous interventions which have been endorsed by Max Boot.

Let’s all hope for a sane world where mass military slaughter is seen for what it is, and where war whores like Max Boot are seen for what they are, and where both of these things fade into obsolescence forever.

_____________________________

Thanks for reading! The best way to get around the internet censors and make sure you see the stuff I publish is to subscribe to the mailing list for my website, which will get you an email notification for everything I publish. My work is entirely reader-supported, so if you enjoyed this piece please consider sharing it around, liking me on Facebook, following my antics on Twitter, checking out my podcast on either YoutubesoundcloudApple podcasts or Spotify, following me on Steemit, throwing some money into my hat on Patreon or Paypalpurchasing some of my sweet merchandise, buying my new book Rogue Nation: Psychonautical Adventures With Caitlin Johnstone, or my previous book Woke: A Field Guide for Utopia Preppers. For more info on who I am, where I stand, and what I’m trying to do with this platform, click here. Everyone, racist platforms excluded, has my permission to republish or use any part of this work (or anything else I’ve written) in any way they like free of charge.

Bitcoin donations:1Ac7PCQXoQoLA9Sh8fhAgiU3PHA2EX5Zm2

Liked it? Take a second to support Caitlin Johnstone on Patreon!
Become a patron at Patreon!

50 responses to “Iraq-Raping Neocon Upset That People Keep Bringing Up The Iraq Thing”

  1. Maybe they will just start eating one another when they are fully denied the humans which they so badly crave.

  2. What you said is right, Caitlin, but it could be even more encompassing. I would like to have seen it expressed like this: “It is good that these sociopaths are exposing themselves, and it is good that more people are learning about sociopathy. Nothing has ever been done to make right the unfathomable evils which were inflicted upon our species by that one horrific psychological archetype…” But even so, a great article, as usual.

  3. It’s a shame they https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/weekly-standard/the-case-for-american-empire dont allow comments. You see how he opens with the myth of what happened on 9/11? I wonder if he knows how ridiculous he sounds? This is why it is so important to speak out in support of 9/11 Truth. Because it is not simply a matter of opinion, or open for debate. If we allow these lies, we help enable the worst of what they serve as pretext for.

  4. Max Boot needs to be tarred and feathered and run out of Washington on a rail along with his butt buddy,” degenerate” John Bolton.
    In fact the entire lot of zionist /israel first neo-cons need to be washed out of Washington, sorta like cleaning the toilet bowl. Air freshener applied afterwards.
    Boot, besides being a total war mongering neo-co is a buffoon of the first order. The only response he offers to any critique of his misguided foreign policies is”you’re a Russian stooge!”
    Tucker Carlson made him look like the total idiot he is.
    Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.

  5. I feel that you should not refer to people like Max Boot as whores, since many whores are decent individuals who certainly don’t go around killing innocent people for fun and profit.

    1. Yep. Using the term in a derogatory way is really rubbish. That shouldn’t have to be justified by referencing the existence of virtuous whores.

      1. The comparison is well summed up by this application of a colloquial anecdote: Q. What is the difference between Neo-cons like Max Boot and a prostitute? A. One does disgusting, obscene, immoral and depraved things for money. The other is an honest sex-worker.

        1. Step O'Rafferty Avatar
          Step O’Rafferty

          Is there actually a word in the English language that accurately describes depraved politicians and public office holders? Slime and scum are both useful biological entities and I wouldn’t want to insult bacteria.

          1. We don’t have such a word Step. We very much need one, but if we had it, it’s use would be effectively disallowed via subversively reinforced attack upon the character of those who employed it. Just on one of those avenues of attack, do smart-phones appear intelligent by way of sucking the brains out of the millions who spend most of their waking moments staring vacantly and obsessively into them?

        2. Max Boot doesn’t do what he does for money. What he does , is for the sake of the zionist establishment. For israel. Although he probably gets paid well for his work, it consists primarily for the cause of zionism.

          1. Very interesting observation. Thanks for that!

          2. The concept of ‘money’ is employed within the aphorism in a generic sense. It identifies an arch-value that motivates the questioned behaviour. At the risk of severely complicating the essential simplicity of the aphorism, it could be interchanged with any core-identity level concept such as ‘Zionism’, or ‘grandeur’ or privilege’ or whatever function of imaginary psychological value might be identified as a primary motivator to the ‘bad’ side of the equation. But let’s never subordinate the correct repetitive iteration of preferred ideology to any consideration of the broader meaning of things.

    2. Am trying to reach you – this is your latest posting that I can tell.

  6. Hoping for a sane world is a step in the right direction. Exposing evil is another step, as Caitlin rightly says and does. Then we must apply effective revolutionary actions. Like-minded people should network and synergize with other activists who love justice more than money, truth more than praise, and knowledge more than blind faith in officialdom. Then we should withdraw all support for the evil empire as a collective action. Don’t waste time arguing with ignorant and complacent people.

  7. To understand the depth of depravity that was part and parcel of “enhanced interrogation,” it is useful to consider Dr. Mitchells own testimony relating to the torture of prisoner Abu Zubaydah, a procedure that was implemented at one of the Agencys secret prisons.
    The prison was likely the one located in Thailand, where current director of Central Intelligence Gina Haspel was in charge. Please read this relevant article here:
    https://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2020/01/30/torturers-and-ticking-bomb-how-torture-became-routine-in-global-war-terror/

  8. Ah, Goering and the rest had such incompetent lawyers at Nuremberg. They should have been advised that all they had to do was to declare an “Ooopsie”, and all would have been forgiven.
    And if you think I’m joking, notice how John LeCarre writes about post war Germany in the 50’s – how all the old faces were quietly back in charge again. That is the ones who didn’t get free trips to scenic destinations like the Alabama hillbilly country to build rockets.

  9. Q: How to know when the coronavirus outbreak is contained?
    A: When the “fear porn” transforms into a narrative about how China violated human rights in their efforts to contain the virus.
    That’s how you’ll know the virus is contained.

  10. Let’s get a few things straight about Iraq.
    1. The Iraqis pleaded with us to remove the evil dictator Saddam.
    2. The invasion was a cakewalk in which no Americans or Iraqis were harmed.
    3. Saddam had (cue fanfare) Weapons of Mass Destruction. The fact that we didn’t find them shows the depths of his cunning.
    4. We sent billions in cash to rebuild Iraq. It’s not our fault it all disappeared.
    5. Abu Ghraib was a holiday camp for Iraqis weary of the war where they could spend a few happy, stress-free days.
    6. Those who preferred to travel overseas were offered places in Poland, Thailand, Cuba and other picturesque countries.

    1. Step O'Rafferty Avatar
      Step O’Rafferty

      There are quite a few American voices pleading to be rid of Trump. There is also an enormous stockpile of weapons of mass destruction in the USA. What should the rest of the world do?

    2. USA-ma Bin Laden Avatar
      USA-ma Bin Laden

      Don’t forget:

      7. As George W. Bush promised, Iraqis welcomed the Americans and its Coalition partners as liberators, showering them with flowers (and an occasional IED).

      8. Oh yeah, Mission Accomplished !!!!!

      😉

  11. Johnstone’s use of the metaphor is completely apt. It is not even – in the case of some Iraqi women – a metaphor. It is a fact. And who cares about your fake ‘woke’ preferences? This is a political website, not the blog of some Californian macrobiotic club.

    Johnstone tells it like it is. If you don’t like truth, go someplace else.

  12. Charles Andrew Robinson Avatar
    Charles Andrew Robinson

    Breaking out of the collective hypnotism that your vote matters. Voting only shows that you go along with / buy into the lie and are very happy being a slave to the monied interests.

    1. How true. One need only take an honest look at the characters currently leading the two parties , which are actually one, and ask themselves “is this the best we can do?” They are all either morons or monsters.

      1. “Not Voting” is the only way to make certain that absolutely nothing changes after an election.
        If you think everything is absolutely perfect, then please do not vote.
        —————
        The first votes in the American presidential contest begin in a few days. I’d love to see if someone studies the frequency of the “please do not vote” messages on the internet and whether they increase at times when the oligarchs face an election.

    2. I totally agree that voting for Democrats or Republicans just props up the system. I watched the video you linked to, and I thought it was mainly right, but weird there was no mention of third party voting. I respect a principled boycott of the entire election process, but I think a third party or write-in vote is more effective. They can steal your vote whether you participate or not, but not even a boycott by near-half of eligible voters can make them stop dismissing all non-voters as lazy and disinterested in who rules them. Voting Green Party gets me all kind of abuse, but the message that I reject both Democrats and Republicans is clear. And we don’t have to win to break the system. We just need a critical mass.
      I don’t think voting third party is the only thing we have to do. It’s just one thing that requires no effort, money, or risk, that everyone could easily do, in addition to other things.

      1. Step O'Rafferty Avatar
        Step O’Rafferty

        In Australia we have a Green Party. In the Federal election they were chosen by 12% of the electorate but they only won 1 seat out of 150 seats in parliament. If the election was fair the Green Party should be sitting in 18 seats.
        Having a third popular party has made the situation worse because in that situation a party that wins 34% of the vote can rule over the 66% of the people that did not want them, should the other two parties receive 33% each of the vote. If it was a “two party state” then 51% can rule over the 49% that did not want them.
        So if up to 66% of the population are continually disenfranchised, can you blame them for losing faith in the system?

        1. The U.S. has the same problem, perhaps worse since surveys indicated more than half of those who voted for Hilary or Trump hated the one they voted for and only thought the other was worse. So, maybe 12% of eligible voters got someone they want as president, and the same if Hilary had won. This is obviously a mockery of democracy, and I certainly don’t blame people for boycotting the system any way they can. I still say more Green Party votes is better than less, because if you don’t like the minority rule, maybe don’t vote for a party that continues to enforce it (Democrats and Republicans in the U.S.), and vote for a party that takes election reform seriously (the Green Party). The Green Party is for ranked choice voting, proportional representation, and getting rid of the electoral college (in the U.S.). Jill Stein is still involved in the ongoing lawsuit over the 2016 election vote-counting.

    3. “If voting really mattered, they wouldn’t let us do it.” Mark Twain

    4. George Carlin said it best: Why I don’t vote http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxsQ7jJJcEA

  13. I stopped using ‘rape’ as a metaphor in solidarity with victims of rape.

    I know as a writer, the word is tempting to use as it conveys strong emotion.

    I don’t call people I disagree with or dislike ‘retards’ either, in solidarity with anybody with a disability.

    After reading many of your articles, this was the first time I felt I needed to add a comment, it does seem that you are well intentioned and care for people.

    1. Johnstone’s use of the metaphor is completely apt. It is not even – in the case of some Iraqi women – a metaphor. It is a fact. And who cares about your fake ‘woke’ preferences? This is a political website, not the blog of some Californian macrobiotic club.

      Johnstone tells it like it is. If you don’t like truth, go someplace else.

    2. What was the invasion of Iraq and its aftermath if not rape, both literally and figuratively? Go to Iraq and ask some women about it. More thought and genuine empathy needed – much less pretence.

    3. Lots of men and boys and girls got brutally sodomized and tortured, and in front of family members, to break their will. Heard of “Abu Ghraib prison”?
      War is hell, and these features of war say the US deep state has put “us” on the Satanic side.

  14. These corporate capitalists spend hundreds of millions of dollars to fund organizations such as Business Roundtable and the Chamber of Commerce and think tanks such as The Heritage Foundation to sell the ideology to the public. They lavish universities with donations, as long as the universities pay fealty to the ruling ideology. They use their influence and wealth, as well as their ownership of media platforms, to transform the press into their mouthpiece. And they silence heretics or make it hard for them to find employment. Soaring stock values, rather than production, become the new measure of the economy. Everything is financialized and commodified. Please read this great article here:
    https://www.truthdig.com/articles/the-disaster-of-utopian-engineering/

  15. Max Boot is saying now that he was wrong about Iraq. Is he going to say in a few years time that he was wrong about what he was saying now? This sounds a bit like not learning from one’s mistakes! It reminds me of growing up as a Catholic (not a practising one anymore for decades if you wonder!), going to confession every week and confessing to the same “sins’ every time. According to Boot’s logic, I was a to be trusted member of the faith!

  16. Step O'Rafferty Avatar
    Step O’Rafferty

    Why do the opinions of Max Boot hold any more weight than opinions expressed in this forum? Why does he have a platform and why do people listen to him?

    1. Because he is a member of the Tribe and as a member of the Tribe, his voice carries more authority than yours.
      The Tribe being the Sabbatean-Frankist/zionist cult.

  17. Thank you again, Ms. Johnstone, for your wise words. I, for one, would be intrigued by your answer as to why you haven’t considered or completed the transition to anarcho-capitalist. I believe it to be just a matter of time. Is a future without coercing governments something people fear? While no one can know, what we do know is the state of the world with coercing governments. It is not good.

  18. There is quite a lot of Brilliance in your work. When I listen to what is said–everywhere, in an effort to sift for truth like some sort of aloof prospector brain-panning for the Fool’s Gold on offer–I am generally compelled to judge that Truth on the basis of the arguments posed…. For me, this is not something that I can ever avoid. As such, I assume you observe the censures imposed on certain discussions for the same reasons that Amy Goodman and Noam Chomsky do…? I will give them the benefit of the doubt when it comes to the issue of bubble dwelling Idiocy and intellectual failure tied to programmed academic mythology and so forth as opposed to the compromised gatekeeping of tools…. Whatever intelligence is at the heart of Caitlin Johnston, should not lend itself to either category…. In a sense, we all disport ourselves within an arena, and you are most dead-on when you highlight the fact that we are engaged in fakery, spectacle and Religious–Faith Based behavior. Nevertheless, failure to, not merely acknowledge certain events–as one does others–but to fail to apply the implications to all other subsequent activities…also relegates oneself to the mere sporting arena of gamesmanship and pitted wits raged against the cognitively benumbed…in an aloof and Contained sporting arena…. You generally seem to make a great effort to ascertain shunned information and expose the base religious idiocies and illogic of esteemed, aesthetically correct fashionistas…. Social opprobrium and disregard accompanies the most appalling scrutinies. Everyone sets boundaries on what they will look at or allow themselves to know. Anyway, within the cage fighting you are very good. I look forward to every post. All the Best, Chris Skillings

  19. How about another round of Nuremberg trials? We’ll try every neocon in government and media responsible for agitating for the fraudulent Iraq war. We could put a stop to this with:

    * 10 or 15 public hangings
    * decades of reparations extracted from the ethnic group totally coincidentally shared by each neocon Caitlin mentions, and shared by many others she could have mentioned
    * Iraq war memorials in major cities across the west and in whatever middle east country seems appropriate
    * an endless stream of moralizing books and movies
    * a mandatory semester of Iraq war sermonizing in every 10th grade class.

    “Punch a neocon” here we come.

    1. “Surly you jest”

  20. Ah ha, Cait, I see you’re not advocating “boots on the ground”; you’re advocating for Boot’s grounding. c|:-&

  21. Mr. Max Boot is a next to god United States of American ” exceptionalist ” that is never wrong about anything of importance. Hail the masters and the owners running the world for you. Ms Johnstone if Mr. Sanders wins any early primaries these ” talking head Evil Empire shills ” will all be coming out of their holes to smear Mr. Sanders with every vile name they can think of.

  22. There was also this shocking tweet from _The Atlantic_ itself, which sunk far below even my expectations for traditionally respectable msm:

    ‘The members of the team around Bernie Sanders “are about to experience what happens when a militia faces off in on [sic] an open field against a ruthless modern army armed with cluster bombs and napalm,” warns @DavidFrum. “They will be shredded an torched.”‘

  23. http://www.johndayblog.com/2020/01/predicting-interesting-2020.html

    Russian intelligence sources have claimed that Michael D’Andrea, head of CIA operations in Iran and who orchestrated the assassination of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani, was killed in a US spy plane downed yesterday in Ghazni, Afghanistan.
    ​ ​The plane with US Air Force markings reportedly served as the CIA’s mobile command for D’Andrea, who earnt several nicknames including: Ayatollah Mike, the Dark Prince, and the Undertaker. He is one of the most prominent CIA figures in the region, appointed head of the agency’s Iran Mission Centre in 2017. Under his leadership, the agency was perceived to take a more “aggressive stance toward Iran”.
    https://www.veteranstoday.com/2020/01/28/middle-east-monitor-cia-chief-behind-soleimani-assassination-killed-in-downed-plane-in-afghanistan/

    ​Video of downed mobile CIA Afghan command and control center:
    The downed plane was the mobile CIA command for Michael D’ Andrea, head of operations against Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan, America’s most advanced spy platform and mobile command center with all equipment and documents now in enemy hands
    https://www.veteranstoday.com/2020/01/28/vt-had-it-first-pentagons-top-spy-plane-downed-by-taliban-crypto-gear-docs-captured-warning-unpleasant-photos/

    1. John, your blog is worth going to.

  24. Great post, Caitlin. Just a side note, Boot is following the Karl Rove method of attacking the opponent’s strengths. Unfortunately, it will backfire since Sanders’ consistency is an admirable character trait, not a policy position, or a particular world view.

    Just as you and a few others have predicted, the smear campaign against Sanders has ramped up in line with his rise in the polls.

    Watch for the DNC establishment to continue doing everything it can, whether above board or in the dark to prevent Sanders from getting the nomination on the first ballot.

  25. you should ask Bot how he was wrong first of all, so that he will be forced to run into himself over his new current event positions. force him to admit now that he’s wrong about everything else as well as iraq war.

    equally importantly, ask Bernie about his zionism. he calls himself socialist of some sort, so ask him what makes him socialist as opposed to other neoliberal candidates. then he will have to choose either zionism or socialism, as zionism is a most virulant racist imperialist ideology that doesnt mix with socialism. yes, Israhell has universal healthcare funded by imperialist crimes. that’s what Bernie is promising to the americans: spreading a fraction of the blood-soaked $$$ around domesticly, wealth gained from imperialist war crimes, neo-colonialist exploitation of other peoples, and pure thuggery of robbing other peoples of their resources.

    1. Even the Most Progressive U.S. Foreign Policy Blames Foreigners:
      davidswanson.org, jan 28, 2020

  26. Joe Van Steenbergen Avatar
    Joe Van Steenbergen

    I absolutely love everything you write, Caitlin. Please keep doing what you’re doing.

Trending