Thread by @ProfPaulPoast

1/ Hmmm...this type of talk by Pompeo makes me a tad nervous

cnn.com/2019/03/22/pol…

2/ On the one hand, there is a LONG tradition in US foreign policy of tying religious (specifically Christian) motivation to foreign policy pursuits.

amazon.com/Sword-Spirit-S…

3/ I mean, westward expansion was dubbed "Manifest Destiny" for a reason

4/ But more recently, it's important to recall George W Bush's view of the world. He very much embraced the notion that the world was divided into "the good" and "the evil".

amazon.com/President-Good…

5/ Such a world view was reinforced by the 9/11 terrorist attacks, but also likely fueled his interest in removing Saddam Hussein from power

c-span.org/video/?c472652…

6/ Now I think it's valid to claim that the Iraq War was launched for "performative" reasons (to send a message), as recently discussed by @ahsanib

aljazeera.com/indepth/opinio…

7/ And Bush was likely inclined to pursue that objective for the purpose of sending a message to "evil doers"

8/ But in the end, it's not clear that the war actually accomplished Bush's stated goal

9/ In short, the type of world view expressed by Pompeo can set the stage for pursuing policies that end up being harmful for all parties involved, including the US.

That is why it makes me nervous

(end)

Addendum 1: Christian Militarism is by no means confined to the US

jstor.org/stable/563655?…

Addendum 2: And if one is going to talk about Christian Militarism leading to bad outcomes, can't leave out the Crusades (cc @mchorowitz):

mitpressjournals.org/doi/abs/10.116…