Editor’s Note: Starting from this issue, we shall, from time to time, making a review of books and publications whose message we deem relevant and important as we reflect on the current state of events that impacts on everyone’s daily lives.
As our initial installment, we take a look at ‘Irregular Army’ (How the US military recruited Neo-Nazis, Gang Members, and Criminals to Fight the War on Terror),’ authored by Matt Kennard, a former staff writer at the Financial Times, a UK (London) publication. It was first published in 2012 by Verso and its second edition was published, also by Verso, in 2015.
Since the book was published, Kennard, also a Fellow at the Center for Investigative Journalism in London and co-founder and chief investigator at ‘Declassified UK,’ which analyzes UK foreign policy, has also published two more books, ‘The Racket: A Rogue Reporter Vs. The American Empire’ (Bloomsbury Academic, 2015; 2024), and ‘Silent Coup; How Corporations Overthrew Democracy’ (Bloomsbury Academic; 2023) that Kennard co-authored with Claire Provost, a former journalist from The Guardian and co-founder of the ‘Institute for Journalism and Social Change.’
I also have copies of the two books but have not managed to read them yet; I would soon decide if they are, like ‘Irregular Army,’ a good recommendation to the readers and followers of Pinoy Exposé.
GIVEN the names of illustrious and respected and principled intellectuals who reviewed Irregular Army—Noam Chomsky, Amy Goodman, and the late John Pilger (who died in December 2023), among others— you get the confidence that money invested ($34.95 or about P2,000.00) is money well spent. And indeed, it is.
This book, in fact, should be read by—and reflected on—by those in our defense and national security establishment, as well as those involved in policy such as the Office of the President and the Department of Foreign Affairs.
As Noam Chomsky commented, “Matt Kennard’s careful and judicious investigations reveal an aspect of the modern US military system that should be of deep concern to American citizens—and to everyone.”
“And to everyone,” indeed, Filipinos included, because we are again back in the tight embrace of US Imperialism thru their increased military bases on our territories and with them, the permanent stationing of US troops whose increasing number no longer represents the “best” in all its services, that is, professional, levelheaded and morally upright.
This is important because, moving forward, we may have to deal again with all sorts of US soldiers’ criminality involving the rape of our women or the killing of our citizens after being mistaken for a “wild boar” by bored US soldiers on patrol, as was the case before we boot the Americans out in 1991.
In this regard, our officials should not treat as “isolated incidents” the case of transgender Jennifer Laude, brutally killed by US Marines Lance Corporal Joseph Scott Pemberton, while on ‘R&R’ in Olongapo City in October 2014 and the rape of Susette Nicolas in November 2005 in Subic Bay inside a van also by 3 US Marines, where one of them was even “cheering” while she was being assaulted.
In the light of what Kennard has detailed in his book, such incidents should be seen in the context of the US military’s degeneration as a force for evil and criminal acts and not as a force for good. These are warnings that we should always be reminded of.
In the light of what Kennard has detailed in his book, such incidents should be seen in the context of the US military’s degeneration as a force for evil and criminal acts and not as a force for good. These are warnings that we should always be reminded of.
In the aftermath of America’s successful aggression against the sovereign state of Iraq under President Saddam Hussein (Operation Desert Storm) that culminated in his illegal removal in 2003, US President George Bush including his fellow war criminals in his Cabinet, bragged the result finally removed the so-called ‘Vietnam Syndrome,’ whereby the US is hesitant to launch military aggression against other countries for fear of defeat.
However, this Syndrome has other malignant manifestations that the Pentagon have not addressed—mental instability by combat troops due to PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder), alcoholism, drug addiction, including involvement in drug trafficking (a lucrative trade involving the Mafia, the US military and the CIA detailed by Alfred McCoy in his book, ‘The Politics of Heroin’).
During America’s ‘War on Terror’ (2001-2022) that spilled from Afghanistan into Iraq, it compelled the Pentagon to recruit anyone capable of carrying a gun and shooting at any target as the US military was unable, up to now, to solve its perennial problem of meeting its recruitment quota. This resulted to the recruitment of the dregs of American society that Kennard identified—Neo-Nazis, criminal gang members (accepted thru a ‘moral waiver’), the mentally unstable, the physically unfit (accepted thru a ‘health waiver’) and the plain dumb.
Another indication of an American military as an organization in disarray and unable to solve the blowback of its decision to lower the standard for recruitment just to fill its ranks, is the New Year’s Day “terrorist attack” in Bourbon Street, New Orleans by an alleged “lone wolf,” Shamsud Din Jabbar.
Jabbar, a former US soldier, drove his pick-up truck, with an ISIS flag fluttering in front, into a crowd celebrating the New Year resulting to the death of 14 people and injuries to 35 others before he was killed by responding policemen.
He was later identified as “inspired” by the ISIS the international terrorist group wanted by the US. Why an ISIS supporter ended up in the US Army only validates Kennard’s assessment that all sorts of persons are now being recruited to serve the aggressive and imperial interest of dear Uncle Sam.
In Las Vegas, also on New Year’s Day, an active US soldier, Matthew Alan Livelsberger of the Green Beret and who is allegedly suffering from PTSD, blew up a Tesla Cybertruck in front of President Donald’s Trump hotel in Las Vegas, killing one person and injuring seven more.
As reports in the US mainstream media stated, both Jabbar and Livelsberger served time in Afghanistan where some of the most horrendous crimes were committed by US soldiers as attested by Kennard’s book and by Wikileaks (that led to nearly 10 years of persecution by the US and the EU of Wikileaks founder, Julianne Assange).
There are more anecdotal incidents involving US soldiers throwing mayhem in their own communities that Kennard detailed in Irregular Army. Indeed, the roster has come back to roost.
And yet, here we are, still mystified and in awe of US forces. If our officials still know about the meaning and essence of ‘decency’ they should immediately reassess in favor of caution in our relationship with the Pentagon.
For a start, any US serviceman in violation of Philippine laws must no longer be immune from our jurisdiction and must be surrendered to Philippine authorities immediately. If we are a self-respecting nation, we must not allow criminals in US military uniforms to trample on our human rights and sovereignty all in the name of “friendship” and “ironclad” alliance.