Nemesis: The Last Days of the American Republic
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U.S. House-Senate Conference Committee, 265
U.S. Senate, 14, 55, 100–101, 110, 266. See also Church Committee
Appropriations Committee, 227, 264
Armed Services Committee, 34, 44–45, 144, 158, 211, 221, 262
Budget Committee, 265
Intelligence Committee, 99, 250, 264
Military Construction Appropriations Subcommittee, 149–50
Republican Policy Committee, 45
U.S. Strategic Command, 210
U.S. Supreme Court, 8, 16, 39–40, 175–76, 248–49, 252–54, 258, 266–68
unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), 218, 233
Ur excavations, 51–52
Uruguay, 108, 164, 167, 169
Uruzgan province, Afghanistan, 31
USAPatriotAct (2001), 254
Uzbekistan, 36, 112, 140, 151–53
V-2 rockets, 238
Valech, Sergio, 108
Vandenberg Air Force Base (California), 210, 222, 240
Venezuela, 20, 94, 148, 164–66
veterans, 8, 277–78
Veterans Affairs Department, 263, 276
Veterans of Foreign Wars, 144
veto, 61–62, 68, 258
Victoria, queen of England, 72, 82
Vidal, Gore, 18
Vietnam War, 1, 3, 20, 29, 40, 96–97, 126, 161, 182, 249, 254, 258, 274
Vikan, Gary, 50–51
Virgil, 57
Voltaire, 120
von Braun, Wernher, 232
Wade, Mitchell, 260–61
Wagner, Richard, 11
Wagner Act, 272
Wag the Dog (film), 119
Wahhabi movement, 117
Wald, Charles, 137
Wall Street Journal, 275–76
war, 274, 279. See also preemptive or preventive war
of choice, 20–22
Congress and, 16, 253
liberty and, 18, 62
powers of presidency and, 249–53
War Crimes Act (1996), 37
war crimes tribunals, 39–40, 200–201
Warden, John A., III, 27
Warner, John W., 34, 45
War of the Triple Alliance (1865-70), 170
war on drugs, 164–65
war on terror, 35–37, 91, 99, 152, 164, 167–68, 199, 231–32, 244–45, 255, 261, 275–78
War Powers Act (1973), 13, 250
Washington, George, 15, 16
Washington Post, 26, 38, 45, 98, 106, 112, 124–26, 160, 163, 209, 214, 257
Wastrels of Defense (Wheeler), 265–66
Watergate scandal, 92, 94, 247, 249
weapons. See also defense contractors; defense spending; and specific weapons
Afghanistan and, 113–14, 116–17
corruption and, 229–30
domestic bases and, 138
of mass destruction, 98–100
military Keynesianism and, 273, 275–76
prepositioned, 147
space and, 209–18, 233, 240–42
Weekly Standard, 38
Weiner, Tim, 135, 209–10
Weldon, Curt, 212
Weller, Jerry, 262
Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (formerly School of the Americas), 163
West Germany, 94
Westmoreland, William, 96–97
Wheeler, Winslow, 265–66
White, Thomas D., 208
“White Man’s Burden, The” (Kipling), 74
Wicksell, Joshua, 52
Wiesbaden, Germany, military bases in, 153
Wilkes, Brent, 260–62
Will, George, 244
Williams, Tennessee, 271
Wilson, Charlie, 113–17, 175
Wilson, Joseph C., 99–100
Wilson, Woodrow, 244
Wilson v. Girard, 175–76
Wimert, Paul, 107
Wingo, Jonathan, 230
Winter, Bill, 14
Wireless World, 238
wiretapping, 254–56, 266
Wolfowitz, Paul, 29, 58, 191, 208
Woodland, Timothy, 182–84
Woodward, Bob, 38, 95
Works Projects Administration, 272
World Bank, 81, 164
World Factbook, 167
World Is Flat, The (Friedman), 80
World Policy Institute, 212, 230
World Trade Center. See September 11, 2001, attacks
World Trade Organization, 164
World War I, 20, 46, 87, 244
World War II, 15, 20–21, 24, 39–40, 76, 85, 126, 145, 157, 176, 200, 211, 238, 263, 271, 273–74
“worldwide findings,” 103–4
Würzburg, Germany, military bases in, 153
X-band radars, 221, 223–24
Yamashita, Tomoyuki, 39
Yasukuni Shrine, 200–201
Yemen, 35
Yokosuka, Japan, military base in, 178, 202, 206–7
Yokota, Nobuyuki, 187–88
YokotaAir Force Base (Japan), 202
Yongsan Garrison (South Korea), 145
Yoo, John C., 36–38, 251–53
Young, Adam, 14
Youngstown Sheet and Tube Company v. Sawyer, 253
Yugoslavia, 19
Yunis, Fawaz, 122
Zahir Shah, king of Afghanistan, 111
Zaitchik, Alexander, 210
Zapatero, José Luis Rodriguez, 10, 154
Zawahiri, Ayman al-, 112
Zawhar Kili camp, 119
Zery, Muhammed al-, 129–30
Zhou Enlai, 54–56
Zia-ul-Haq, Mohammed, 112–13, 115–17
Zimansky, Paul, 47
Zinni, Anthony, 15
Zulus, 74
About the Author
CHALMERS JOHNSON, president of the Japan Policy Research Institute, is the author of the award-winning Blowback and The Sorrows of Empire. A frequent contributor to Harper’s Magazine, the London Review of Books, and the Nation, he appears in the 2005 prizewinning documentary film Why We Fight. He lives near San Diego.
The American Empire Project
In an era of unprecedented military strength, leaders of the United States, the global hyperpower, have increasingly embraced imperial ambitions. How did this significant shift in purpose and policy come about? And what lies down the road?
The American Empire Project is a response to the changes that have occurred in America’s strategic thinking as well as in its military and economic posture. Empire, long considered an offense against Americas democratic heritage, now threatens to define the relationship between our country and the rest of the world. The American Empire Project publishes books that question this development, examine the origins of U.S. imperial aspirations, analyze their ramifications at home and abroad, and discuss alternatives to this dangerous trend.
The project was conceived by Tom Engelhardt and Steve Fraser, editors who are themselves historians and writers. Published by Metropolitan Books, an imprint of Henry Holt and Company, its titles include Hegemony or Survival by Noam Chomsky, The Sorrows of Empire by Chalmers Johnson, Crusade by James Carroll, How to Succeed at Globalization by El Fisgon, Blood and Oil by Michael Klare, Dilemmas of Domination by Walden Bello, War Powers by Peter Irons, DeviVs Game by Robert Drey-fuss, In the Name of Democracy, edited by Jeremy Brecher, Jill Cutler, and Brendan Smith, Imperial Ambitions by Noam Chomsky, A Question of Torture by Alfred McCoy, Failed States by Noam Chomsky, and Empire’s Workshop by Greg Grandin.
For more information about the American Empire Project and for a list of forthcoming titles, please visit www.americanempireproject.com
A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER, NEMESIS IS CHALMERS JOHNSON’S “FIERCEST BOOK – AND HIS BEST (ANDREW J. BACEVICH).
In his prophetic book Blowback, Chalmers Johnson linked the CIA’s clandestine activities abroad to disaster at home. In The Sorrows olEmpire, he explored the ways in which the growth of American militarism and the garrisoning of the planet have jeopardized our stability. In Nemesis, the bestselling and final volume in wha
t has become known as the Blowback Trilogy, he shows how imperial overstretch is undermining the republic itself, both economically and politically.
Delving into new areas—from plans to militarize outer space to Constitution-breaking presidential activities at home and the devastating corruption of a toothless Congress—Nemesis offers a striking description of the trap into which the reckless ambitions of America’s leaders have taken us. Johnson confronts questions of pressing urgency: What are the unintended consequences of our dependence on a permanent war economy? What does it mean when a nation’s main intelligence organization becomes the president’s secret army? Or when the globe’s sole “hyper-power” becomes the greatest hyper-debtor of all time?
Writing “as if the very existence of the nation is at stake” (San Francisco Chronicle), Johnson offers his most bracing and important exploration of the crisis facing America.
‘IN THE THIRD VOLUME IN JOHNSON’S BLISTERING TRILOGY. HE WANTS THE SCALES TO FALL FROM AMERICAN EYES SO THAT THE NATION CAN SEE THE TRUTH ABOUTTTS ROLE IN THE WORLD. HIS IS A PATRIOTS PASSION: HIS MOTIVE IS TO SAVE THE AMERICAN REPUBLIC HE LOVES.’’
—JONATHAN FREEDLAND, THE NEW YORK REVIEW OF BOOKS
“LET US HOPE THE HISTORIANS OF WHATEVER FUTURE EMPIRES MAY ARISE WILL HAVE CAUSE TO FILE JOHNSON’S GLOOMY PROGNOSTICATIONS UNDER ADMIRABLY INTENDED BUT ERRONEOUS—AND NOT UNDER PROPHETIC AND ASTOUNDINGLY PRESCIENT.”
—TROY JOLLIMORE, SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE