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By Big Tent Democrat, Section Other Politics
Posted on Sat Sep 18, 2010 at 11:33:52 AM EST
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The debate over the use of the phrase American Talban, which was always absurd, now reaches new heights of absurdity. The American Prospect's Adam Serwer writes:

I've written pieces with the intent of breaking down the very kind of arrogance that presumes the bad acts of our countrymen are different from those of our enemies, so I can hardly be thrown in that camp. I have no problem with pointing out individual instances in which conservative figures embrace the premises behind the arguments of religious extremists; I do it all the time. That doesn't mean that conservatives are "indistinguishable" from the Taliban "in their tactics and on the issues."

Serwer's argument appears to be it's ok if he, or some other American Prospect writer (Serwer, like all of the American Prospect writers, still ignores the fact that the American Prospect published Robert Kuttner's article "American Taliban") makes comparisons of American figures to foreign theocratic reactionaries, but it is not ok if Markos Moulitsas does. Of course, this makes no sense. Alternatively, one could argue that Serwer is saying pointing out one instance where American theocratic reactionaries resemble foreign extremists is ok, but pointing out serial instances of resemblance is not ok. Serwer does not explain this argument, so I'm not sure what reasoning underlies it. And again, since the Kuttner article published by the American Prospect does not focus on a single instance of resemblance, it seems to me that Serwer needs to address why it is ok for the American Prospect to do that which he is condemning. Glenn Greenwald writes:

I must note how odd it is for Serwer and The Prospect, of all people, to be leading this charge, given that Serwer himself six months ago wrote a (genuinely superb) piece for The Atlantic entitled "American Takfiris" which equates John Yoo, Jay Bybee and their "cohorts in the [Bush] Office of Legal Counsel" with Al Qaeda leaders ("takfirism," Serwer explains, is what "allowed al Qaeda to, for all intents and purposes, kill anyone they wanted without violating the laws of Islam": somehow, "American Taliban" is beyond the rhetorical pale, but "American Takfiris" is perfectly acceptable). And then there's the fact that TAP's Editor-in-Chief, Robert Kuttner, wrote an article in February of this year -- in that very magazine -- entitled . . . . wait for it . . . . "American Taliban," which repeatedly compared the American Right to the Taliban with sentences like this one: "With the complete takeover of the GOP by an American Taliban, the party should be doomed to minority status." How can Prospect writers possibly rail against Moulitsas as though he committed some grave sin without grappling with these identical "transgressions," including from TAP's own chief editor and from Serwer himself (Serwer claims that his Al Qaeda comparison was narrowly focused on Bush OLC lawyers while Moulitsas generalized much more, but I wonder if Serwer even read American Taliban because Moulitsas is quite specific in citing his culprits, as opposed to Kuttner, who applied the term to the GOP generally).

(Emphasis supplied.) In the end, the argument of the American Prospect writers is sufficiently clear - It's Ok If You Are The American Prospect.

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    IOKIYATAP | 4 comments (4 topical)

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    What Upton Sinclair said (5.00 / 2) (#3)
    by Harry Saxon on Sat Sep 18, 2010 at 01:23:27 PM EST

    "It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends upon his not understanding it!"



    It certainly seems to have hit (5.00 / 1) (#4)
    by Militarytracy on Sun Sep 19, 2010 at 07:53:49 AM EST
    a giant nerve.  The United States as a whole has allowed the American Taliban to be legitimized and empowered.  This has damaged us, but few of us were willing to approach and fight the extremists.  We can see much more clearly what the Taliban has done to Afghanistan, but when someone points out our own version and such a list of comparable similarities, it seems to disturb us.  I would guess many of the writers at the American Prospect are having a difficult time dealing with their own now discernable legitimizing of having a possible theocratic America.

    The writers at the (none / 0) (#1)
    by Ga6thDem on Sat Sep 18, 2010 at 12:24:52 PM EST
    Prospect are practicing high broderism. Anyone else pointing out the the GOP is nuts gives them vapors I guess. Frankly, I find all this talking about Kos' book rather silly. He used the term "American Taliban" back when I used to post there. It's not anything new with him but I guess they just never bothered to check into that little fact.

    Actually (none / 0) (#2)
    by kaleidescope on Sat Sep 18, 2010 at 12:35:46 PM EST
    Greenwald would argue that the real premise of the American Prospect writers is: IOKIYAA (I's O.K. if you are American) and that the American establishment must defend at all costs the myth of a qualitative difference between Us and Them, between the American imperial establishment and "killers and terrorists" like the Taliban or Hizb'allah.  This qualitative "distinction" is essential if "we" are to "gookify" others -- dehumanize them -- so we can perpetrate unspeakable crimes against them.

    The irony is that this tribalistic dehumanization of "the Other" is one of the key features the U.S. establishment shares with the Taliban.

    I thought Greenwald was very restrained in his recitation of how much like terrorists and murderers the American establishment is.  He focused on the crime against humanity that was aggressive war against Iraq, the thousands of innocent Iraqi civilians who were killed there.  Greenwald could just as easily have brought up the School of the Americas and its role in training death squads in El Salvador, Honduras and Guatamala.  He could have brought up the Nicaraguan contras.  He could have brought in the Ford Foundation and its role in training the Indonesian bureaucracy that supported Suharto in his coup and that enabled his massacre of 500,000 Indonesians, most of them ethnic Chinese.  He could have pointed to the C.I.A's training and support of Cuban exile terrorists, Cubana Flight 455 and Luis Posada Carriles.  Greenwald could have talked about Jonas Savimbi.  He could have mentioned Vietnam.

    The point is that writers at The American Prospect have to be either evil or stupid (or both) to be outraged by a comparison of the Republican (or Democratic) imperial establishment to "killers and terrorists" like the Taliban.  Both groups of criminals share many essential features.  Only one, however, has a global reach.

    IOKIYATAP | 4 comments (4 topical)

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