The powers of the plutocracy weigh heavily upon US foreign policy regardless of the personality or political party that occupies the White House. In 2008, when the Bush/Cheney reactionaries were replaced by the reputedly forward-looking Obama administration, it proved to be more a changing of the guard than a changing of policy.
President Obama made no dramatic cuts in military spending and actually raised the Pentagon’s budget after taking office. He increased funding for the costly and bloody aggressions in Iraq and Afghanistan. By August 2010 he was claiming an end to the engagement in Iraq and supposedly had removed all combat units. But 50,000 US troops remained in that country, with an even larger number of privately contracted mercenaries whose presence kept growing as regular troops were withdrawn.7 While the remaining US troops were no longer to engage in combat, they would continue to “fight terrorism” and were slated to stay for years to come. In addition, the door was left open for the eventual return of additional combat units should they be needed. Ending the war seemed to resemble continuing it.
Also overlooked was the fortress-like compound that the US continued to occupy in Iraq, the “green zone,” reportedly the largest and most heavily fortified “diplomatic post” in the world, the size of Vatican City or some other mini-state, with its own rigorous security and defense perimeter, and its own self-contained energy and water systems—not exactly the embassy of a nation-state performing normal diplomatic tasks.
Meanwhile in Afghanistan, American forces were declared by Obama to be engaged in a “war of necessity”—supposedly to prevent another 9/11. But of the hundreds of thousands of people killed by US and NATO forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, not one has been identified as linked to the events of 9/11. According to one critic, the United States was drawn into Afghanistan to provide a stronger US presence in the oil-rich Persian Gulf and Caspian Sea region, and another military perch from which to bear down upon nearby Iran.8 (It also has recently been announced that Afghanistan has vast and rich mineral deposits.)
Has the invasion of Afghanistan really prevented acts of terrorism? Has an occupational force in that country really made it impossible for any handful of terrorists to gather in a room, make plans, and plant bombs in heavily trafficked and congested areas of New York, Madrid, and London (all of which have been hit by terrorist attacks even after 9/11 and after the invasion of Afghanistan). Small groups of terrorists intent upon attacking unguarded civilian populations need to be hunted down and arrested by specially trained units before they can perform their murderous acts. But we do not defend against such threats by invading far-off countries, bombing whole villages, and killing large numbers of innocent people who have no link to any war of terror against the United States.
The empire expands its military reach in other areas. In 2010 Costa Rica, a nation whose constitution disallows any armed forces, agreed to having 7,000 US Marines within its territory and 46 US warships in its waters, along with 200 Black Hawk helicopters and other aircraft, thus augmenting the already substantial US military presence in Central America.
The previous year, Colombia signed a ten-year agreement permitting the United States to occupy seven military bases and all necessary civilian installations for the professed purpose of combating “the constant threat ... of anti-US governments in the region.” The bases are to be endowed with “full spectrum military operations,” meaning they would be capable of launching forces at full-scale levels of combat, including all-out war throughout South America. With this agreement, Washington deepened its ties to a Colombian military known for having the worst human rights record in Latin America, which is saying quite a lot.9 (In August 2010, the Colombian Supreme Court ruled that the agreement could not come into force until it was approved by the Colombian Congress.10)
President Obama gave an impression of charting a new course by declaring (when receiving the Nobel Peace Prize in 2009) that disarming America’s nuclear arsenal would be a centerpiece of his foreign policy. But his budget the following year revealed an increase of $7 billion for the research and further development of nuclear weaponry, “the most money ever requested by an Administration for nuclear weapons.”11
The country that receives the bulk of US foreign aid is Israel, a nation that defies classification as either satellite or enemy of the US imperium. Israel imposes a continually repressive policy of land incursions and colonization upon the Palestinian population in Gaza and the West Bank without incurring any restraints from Washington. It is said that in the Middle East, Israel plays a subimperialism role to the United States, acting as a “stabilizing force,” a curb against revolutionary upheaval in the region. Debate continues among political writers as to whether it is the US or Israel that has the upper hand on Middle East policy. To be sure, with its well-financed Zionist lobbies and big-moneyed contributions to both Republicans and Democrats— unmatched by anything the anti-Zionists can muster—Israel exercises a most impressive influence over US policy in the region, an influence that extends into Congress, the State Department, and the White House itself, regardless of which party is in charge.12