In a way, John Tirman's excellent book is a journey into the American psyche,or, to be more precise, into the minds of those who hold the power and have the ability to destroy the lives of others without giving a thought about the horrendous possible outcome of their decisions.
In Tirman's view, it all started when the conquest of the wilderness and the subjugation of the Native Americans has resulted in mass genocide and the extemination of the others, thus creating and forging the American values, most of them based on violence. This was the famous American frontier myth, which became a seminal topic discussed by yet another historian, Richard Slotkin. The Americans regarded themselves as the Messiahs coming to rescue the other, uncivilized parts of America, and all the other wars were an extension of this raison d'etre. American history is based on violence and upon the premise that the others, such as the Orientals were and still are inferior compared to the White Man. In the name of civilizing those who are "gooks" or those who embody the "yellow peril", many atrocities were committed, causing the unnnecessary loss of the lives of tens of millions. This manifested itself during the wars of the twentieth century, in particular the Korean War,in WW2, during Vietnam and the Iraqi adventures. True, there was no other choice but to join the other allies in fighting for the interests of the American people. However, the Americans gave very little thought to the death of so many innocent civilians and this makes all the difference.
All the means were employed in order to terrorize and frighten the enemy and its civilians, including the atomic bombs in Japan, the use of napalm and the Orange Agent in Vietnam and other weapons of mass destruction, which were meant to destroy the morale of whole nations and their civilians. This manifested itself in particular in Vietnam, which became a war of statistics and where the obsession with body counts did not differentiate between soldiers and civilians. One study published by the US government in the late 1970 found that one in eleven US soldiers committed "an act of abusive violence, such as torturing prisoners, raping civilians, or mutilating a corpse", and one-third of all soldiers said they witnessed such crimes.
Afghanistan, Nicaragua and Angola showed up next and were the result of the Reagan Doctrine. The US culpability varied greatly from case to case.
Tirman is right when he states that atrocities are committed by everyone in each war. No one is a saint. Still, the difference is that other nations question themselves, while the American people remain indifferent to the fate of millions of civilian casulaties. Therefore, another part of the book, the last one, analyzes in detail the possible reasons for this indifference. In Mr. Tirman's view, there are three factors which can explain it. They are :racism, the frontier myth and psychological aversion. Racism was and is a prime molder of American perspectives on domestic and global affairs, and this is not only pertaining the the USA .There were many other empires which employed this view of discrimination and regarding the others as inferior. However, Americans regarded the other nations which became their enemy as those who cannot govern themselves, leading to the conclusion and calculation that only strong American leaders could tame the savagery of the others.
Concerrning the second motive, that of the frontier myth, it started with the Puritan experience which held the view that the Americans were blessed with the Manifest Destiny, hence the justification of imperialism and vlolence, no matter what. To use again a term by Richard Slotkin, the regeneration of the Americans was to be through violence, or in other words: the wars of the global era were and are depicted as defensive violence. It is precisely this kind of violence which nourishes the American political thinkers, who are concerned with the peril of the other savages throughout the world.
The third factor, which is about "Psyche and Thanatos", explains the social psychology behind the indifference displayed by the Americans, and, according to some research published by specialists, the sufferings of the other civilians was regarded as necessary, since they are the enemy. The indifference toward the fate of the civilians in US war zones provides an implicit license to war planners and field officers to do whatever they must to win. This is the central thesis of the book.
In other words, the author calls this phenomenon "the collective autism" of the Americans. John Tirman has written a very disturbing book, with many intriguing chapters about case studies and the various wars, with a superb analysis. His opus must be on the reading menu of every intelligent person, including bureaucrats and army men. It is a warning that those who perpetrate crimes in the name of "civilization" lay the ground for self-destruction, for ignorance and for illusions, leading to the death of many more soldiers whose name might be inscribed on the war monuments in Washington and elsewhere.
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