Hillary Clinton's "Exceptionalist" Warpath

Reprinted from Consortium News

t take exception to the doctrine -- only enemies do:

"When we say America is exceptional, it doesn't mean that people from other places don't feel deep national pride, just like we do. It means that we recognize America's unique and unparalleled ability to be a force for peace and progress, a champion for freedom and opportunity. Our power comes with a responsibility to lead, humbly, thoughtfully, and with a fierce commitment to our values. Because, when America fails to lead, we leave a vacuum that either causes chaos or other countries or networks rush in to fill the void."

It's either American tutelage or Armageddon, in other words, which is why countries that are smart and sensible know better than to resist. To round out her pro-war package, Clinton also promised to respond to foreign cyberattacks with military means -- perhaps sending out drones to bomb Wikileaks? -- and promised to deal with the world's bullies as well.

"I know that we can't cozy up to dictators," she said. "We have to stand up to them."

All this from a woman whose family foundation has received up to $25 million from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, perhaps the most repressive government on earth, plus up to $50 million from other Persian Gulf sources. (The Saudis also donated $10-million to the construction of the Bill Clinton presidential library.)

American Legion's Dubious History

Moreover, it was before an organization, born amid the post-World War I Red Scare that:

--So admired Mussolini that it invited him to address its annual convention in 1923.

--Proclaimed to the world that "the Fascisti are to Italy what the American Legion is [to] the United States," in the words of founder Alvin Owsley.

--Took part in the notorious Centralia massacre in Washington State in which Wesley Everest, a member of the Industrial Workers of the World, or Wobblies, was lynched from a railway trestle and then shot for good measure.

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