Editor's Note:
A rash of security issues inside and outside the US, from the Snowden case to the relations with Iran, has put the spotlight on Washington. Will Snowden trigger a domino effect that ensures more whistle-blowers? Will US diplomacy continue to be dominated by the Pentagon, rather than the Department of State? Lawrence B. Wilkerson (Wilkerson), a retired US Army colonel and the former chief of staff for Colin Powell who served as US secretary of state from 2001 to 2005, shared his ideas with the Global Times (GT) on these issues.
Lawrence B. Wilkerson
GT: You said in a recent media interview that Edward Snowden
was not a symptom, but a disease, caused by the "never-ending culture
of war," and that the US government is a "draconian government" and a
"tyranny." Why do you call the US a tyranny?
Wilkerson: First, the US is not a pure democracy and has never been one. It is a democratic federal republic. Second, with the so-called War on Terror, that republic has made war its raison d'être.
My fellow Virginian, James Madison, wrote eloquently of how a constant state of war breeds tyranny. The Patriot Act, the FISA Amendments Act, the NSA surveillance programs, the national security letter, the legal inclusion of the armed forces in domestic law enforcement, all of these are acts of tyranny.
Benjamin Franklin is supposed to have said that we had created a republic - if we could keep it. Since 1972, Americans unfortunately have not been keeping it very well.
Wilkerson: First, the US is not a pure democracy and has never been one. It is a democratic federal republic. Second, with the so-called War on Terror, that republic has made war its raison d'être.
My fellow Virginian, James Madison, wrote eloquently of how a constant state of war breeds tyranny. The Patriot Act, the FISA Amendments Act, the NSA surveillance programs, the national security letter, the legal inclusion of the armed forces in domestic law enforcement, all of these are acts of tyranny.
Benjamin Franklin is supposed to have said that we had created a republic - if we could keep it. Since 1972, Americans unfortunately have not been keeping it very well.
