Paul Craig Roberts: Good-Bye

[annie aronburg]

Today I cannot publish in, or appear on, the American “mainstream media.”

Boo hooty-hoo, Grampaw, ever heard of the internet?

[Nordic]

Man, what's with the animosity toward this guy?

We're all guilty of being something different in our past than we are in our present.

Maybe I'm an overly forgiving person, but if somebody "goes whistleblower" I'm very forgiving.

I'd hate to be judged now by my attitudes from 20 or 30 years ago.

[AlicetheKurious]

Man, what's with the animosity toward this guy?

I don't get it, either. PCR's has been among the most informative and rational and ethical voices in the anti-war movement during this past decade.

[Simulist]

Thank you, Nordic. It isn't easy for an ideologue to come to his senses — but, on the rare occasion that one does, I think it's something to be grateful for.

One of my personal heroes (long before the recent film) has been Claus von Stauffenberg. Prior to coming to his senses, he aided the Nazis — but he got better, and even tried to assassinate Hitler.

It seems to me that "sinners" should not only be allowed to repent, but encouraged.

[Seamus OBlimey]

I'd hate to be judged now by my attitudes from 20 or 30 years ago.

I wouldn't..

America

[barracuda]

I forgive Roberts, I even extend him my love, as I would any and all humans. But that doesn't mean I like him, or would let him hold my wallet. He was a prime architect of policies which substantially widened the rift between the rich and the poor in this country. Policies he had direct input on and support of caused the suffering and degradation of untold and unrepresented millions here. We're still suffering because of it. The deregulation of industry and finance which occurred on his watch have ultimately led to many of the worst aspects of the criminal elements overseeing the breakdown of society we now experience.

C'mon - he was an associate editor of the Wall Street Journal. That right there is a war crime.

You think he's a whistleblower? Perhaps you'd like to let me know exactly what whistle he's ever blown. As far as I'm concerned, he's a criminal whose expertise and position is based on his resume as a criminal and an enabler of criminal policies. Not to mention his stance as a vocal global warming denier.

I'm glad he's anti-war. He should be. I consider that attitude to be a fundamental baseline for claiming to be a living, breathing human being capable of the human trait of empathy. I don't usually see that particular position as emminently lauditory. It had ought to be pretty much a standard issue understanding that the slaughter of war is BAD.

Other than that stuff, I guess he was okay.

[Joe Hillshoist]

I don't care how many obvious criticisms of the indefensible someone comes out with, they also write bollocks like this:

I remember when, following CIA director William Colby’s testimony before the Church Committee in the mid-1970s, presidents Gerald Ford and Ronald Reagan issued executive orders preventing the CIA and U.S. black-op groups from assassinating foreign leaders. In 2010 the US Congress was told by Dennis Blair, head of national intelligence, that the US now assassinates its own citizens in addition to foreign leaders.

When Blair told the House Intelligence Committee that US citizens no longer needed to be arrested, charged, tried, and convicted of a capital crime, just murdered on suspicion alone of being a “threat,” he wasn’t impeached. No investigation pursued. Nothing happened. There was no Church Committee. In the mid-1970s the CIA got into trouble for plots to kill Castro. Today it is American citizens who are on the hit list. Whatever objections there might be don’t carry any weight. No one in government is in any trouble over the assassination of U.S. citizens by the U.S. government.

I remember when PCR was an unapologetic supporter of the economic policies of Pinochet, and of foreign policy practices like the School of the Americas. Has he ever apologised for that garbage. He was an economist during the Reagan era yet he whinges about the logical extension of those policies.

I just don't buy his bullshit the the 70s and 80s were some golden age. They weren't. It was the same story as now and if he is so anti war now why the fuck doesn't he publicly come out and say he was wrong then, and a prick, and wishes he had never given so much support to the US policies of supporting dictators who murdered elected politicians and many of their constituent populations, and the odd US citizen who just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

[82_28]

The Internet has changed everything. Perhaps he did not know the extent of the atrocities of the Pinochet regime -- information didn't travel as fast back then and even still the volume of said information was much smaller. I just got done watching some of the "Evidence of Revision" film. Look at the scene of the secret service standing down just as JFK's motorcade gets underway. Obvious confusion. Nobody knew what was up. Is this the case with PCR? Who knows, but he has written many, many and essay over the last 10 years that each one I firmly agree with. And that he was in the Reagan cabinet makes him even more valuable IMO. I can send his shit out to Reagan people and say "see? It's ok to be anti-war".

I think the case here is that he was possibly a useful idiot for the machinations of 70s and 80s vintage politics. He certainly is not an idiot and possibly his great tomes of essays and articles over the last ten years or so, could possibly be his way of atoning for past sins. Were there a vast, heavily used, distributed method in which information could be disseminated in his Reagan years, he may not have gone along. But, who knows? Just my $.02.

[Hammer of Los]

Hmm.

Now let me see.

Everyone is chiming in on this one.

I very much admire PCR's writing. His criticisms of America and the mainstream media are cogent.

I very much hope he continues to write for his public, here, on the internet. I would be disappointed if he didn't.

Joe, Barracuda and Annie all piling in eh? You are very unkind, you know.

We need PCR to continue writing for the sake of our informational diversity.

Unless you think his writings might lead to political extremism.

I mean, that might undermine democracy. Or something.

[Hammer of Los]

Furthermore, I'm not sure exactly what PCR's connection to the School of the America's is. Perhaps someone might provide more details of any concrete connection.

Nor do I know the details of his attachment to Pinochet. I daresay it would be possible to be in favour of economic policies, without supporting murders and "disappearances." Perhaps again, some information might be forthcoming.

Perhaps he is a mole for the right. A faker. I very strongly doubt it. In fact, it barely warrants mention as a possibility.

Not like that Morgan Reynolds fellow at all, no, you are right about that.

And Seamus too. I rather like this version;

[barracuda]

Joe, Barracuda and Annie all piling in eh? You are very unkind, you know.

We need PCR to continue writing for the sake of our informational diversity.

Unless you think his writings might lead to political extremism.

I mean, that might undermine democracy. Or something.

I'm not sure I appreciate your muttered equivocal insinuations, though I'm certain your lack of forthrightness doesn't concern me too much. However, if you want to champion former Reagan era officials who've chosen to come to Jesus, at least give their victims their due. I'd hasten to suggest that ten years of Paul Craig Roberts' lusty cluckings over contemporary injustices, such as he sees them, can hardly occupy a tithing towards the damage he committed when he was in a position to actually affect policy.

I very much hope he continues to write for his public, here, on the internet. I would be disappointed if he didn't.

I have a feeling you are in for a disappointment, then, as I vaguely recall reading some where that he had written an article in which he resolved that he would no longer publicly air his thoughts. Oh, wait!... that would be the OP.

In any case, I wouldn't worry too much about Roberts' future. I'll bet he's juggling handsome offers from a variety of swanky libertarian think tanks wooing him to take up residence as hand-wringer emeritus mulling in his dotage over the fate of the people he betrayed in his hey-day.

[23]

Atonement
is a rare commodity
these days.

Unless you've had a reason
to practice it,
it's unlikely that
you will appreciate
someone who does.

[Joe Hillshoist]

Atonement my arse.

the prick still worships Pinochet.

(EDIT)

How the fuck this tripe appeared on or stayed on antiwar is beyond me:

http://www.antiwar.com/roberts/?articleid=6254

[Joe Hillshoist]

Anyone read this poorly disguised racist tripe?

http://www.counterpunch.org/roberts03022010.html

Poor Paul.

Your white man's burden get too heavy so you had to put it down?

[barracuda]

Atonement
is a rare commodity
these days.

How exactly do you know that? Have you got some magical calculator that allows you to quantify levels of atonement throughout history versus "these days"?

Unless you've had a reason
to practice it,
it's unlikely that
you will appreciate
someone who does.

Why exactly do you think that? Because, on the contrary, I should think that atonement would be most appreciated by those against whom the crimes were committed which must be atoned for. The innocent, in other words. Please spare me your pompous haikus.