Exposing the Empire of Lies w/ Charles Goyette & Keith Knight
Summary
Keith Knight interviews Charles Goyet, author of *Empire of Lies: Fragments from the Memory Hole*, to explore how state deception fuels imperial wars. They analyze historical pretexts like the Gulf of Tonkin incident and the 2003 Iraq War, arguing that leaders fabricate threats to secure public support. The discussion also addresses the psychological "combat envy" of media figures who exaggerate war narratives, concluding that truth is fundamentally incompatible with the perpetuation of empire.
Topics discussed
Introduction and the origin of the book title
Why empires rely on deception and pretexts for war
The Gulf War lies: WMDs and the Saudi border hoax
Deceptions regarding Iran and the 'Britney Spears' excuse
Bin Laden's motives and the failure to understand Iraq
Debunking the 9/11 pretext and the invasion of Afghanistan
The false alliance between Al-Qaeda and Saddam Hussein
Combat envy: Media war heroes and fabricated narratives
Political figures and the mythic vs. sensory reality of war
Psychological motivations for destruction and state-created shortages
The Gulf of Tonkin incident and the Iran hostage backstory
Blank check war authorizations and shifting justifications
Exploiting patriotic motivations and the fraud of conscription
The cost of the Afghanistan war and partisan accountability
Imperial overstretch and the economic cost of global hegemony
The 'civilizing mission' and the alternative of role modeling
The Syria policy failure and the Assad double standard
State incentives, central banking, and funding wars via inflation
The importance of history and truth in preventing future wars
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