Iggy

“America’s empire is not like empires of times past, built on colonies, conquest and the white man’s burden. We are no longer in the era of the United Fruit Company, when American corporations needed the Marines to secure their investments overseas. The twenty-first century imperium is a new invention in the annals of political science, an empire lite, a global hegemony whose grace notes are free markets, human rights, and democracy.”

Michael Ignatieff has taken a well-deserved slagging for his pseudo-apology on the Iraq invasion. Particularly to the point were articles by Joey Slinger, Haroon Siddiqui and Rick Salutin

Ignatieff stunned progressives here with his shocking apologia for the Empire. For a public intellectual to hitch his wagon to such a crew seemed simply unfathomable. Unless Iggy was the type who saw the neocon wave rising and wanted to ride the wave. One wonders to what end? To be in the “inner ring” like David Frum? At least one knew where Frum was coming from. But Ignatieff with his royal blood lines, and Canadian background, what gives? Could he be this craven?

One could not say he was stupid. His education was stellar. Did he really believe those words he penned in 2003 and embarrassed progressive Canadians when he wrote about America as Empire lite, “whose grace notes are free markets”, an America that was not as crude as that which suborned Guatemala in 1954. Did he really believe America was interested in human rights in Iraq? No mention of oil and control of the same? Free markets as grace notes? Did the man have such a poor grasp of history—particularly with people like Wolfowitz, Cheney, Abrams and Rumsfeld running the show?