“The technetronic era involves the gradual appearance of a more controlled society. Such a society would be dominated by an elite, unrestrained by traditional values. Soon it will be possible to assert almost continuous surveillance over every citizen and maintain up-to-date complete files containing even the most personal information about the citizen. These files will be subject to instantaneous retrieval by the authorities.” – Between Two Ages: America’s Role in the Technetronic Era, 1970
“Moreover, as America becomes an increasingly multi-cultural society, it may find it more difficult to fashion a consensus on foreign policy issues, except in the circumstance of a truly massive and widely perceived direct external threat.”
“I once put it rather pungently, and I was flattered that the British Foreign Secretary repeated this, as follows: … namely, in early times, it was easier to control a million people, literally it was easier to control a million people than physically to kill a million people. Today, it is infinitely easier to kill a million people than to control a million people. It is easier to kill than to control….”
“The mistakes of the Iraq war are not only tactical and strategic, but historical. It is essentially a war of colonialism, attempted in the post-colonial age.” – The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, January 11, 2007.
“[President George W. Bush] has a vision which can be described with two other words: Manichaean paranoia … the notion that he is leading the forces of good against the empire of evil, that in that setting, the fact that we are morally superior justifies us committing immoral acts. And that is a very dangerous posture for the country that is the number one global power. … The fact is he squandered our credibility, our legitimacy, and even respect for our power.” – The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, March 14, 2007.
Benchmarks are targets that have to be fulfilled. They cannot be fulfilled in an indefinite period of time, so there are timetables in benchmarks.[62]
“This will require a review of our policy toward Pakistan, more guarantees to it, more arms aid, and, alas, a decision that our security policy toward Pakistan cannot be dictated by our non-proliferation policy.”
Memo to President Carter following the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan (1979)
“It is also a fact that America is too democratic at home to be autocratic abroad. This limits the use of America’s power, especially its capacity for military intimidation. Never before has a populist democracy attained international supremacy. But the pursuit of power is not a goal that commands popular passion, except in conditions of a sudden threat or challenge to the public’s sense of domestic well-being. The economic self-denial (that is, defense spending) and the human sacrifice (casualties, even among professional soldiers) required in the effort are uncongenial to democratic instincts. Democracy is inimical to imperial mobilization.”
“I personally view with great skepticism all this talk about us creating an Iraqi national army, creating a nation, nation-building and so forth. The problem is we have smashed the state; we have given an enormous opportunity for narrow sectarian interests and passions to rise.” – 2007 testimony to Senate Foreign Relations Committee
“Is Taliban a terrorism organization, or is it an ugly, medieval-type throwback of a purely local character?…Now, the Taliban does terrible things. I was talking to someone about this last night at dinner. And this person said ‘yeah, but what about the horrible things they do to women,’ and so forth. That’s the painful part – but the same things happen in some other parts of the world. Are we going to go everywhere and tell them how to structure their social questions?” -On MSNBC’s Morning Joe[64]
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