Humanitarian Imperialism : Using Human Rights to Sell War

Contents: Preface. Introduction. 1. Power and ideology. 2. The Third world and the west. 3. Questions to human rights defenders. 4. Weak and strong arguments against war. 5. Illusions and mystifications. 6. The guilt weapon. 7. Prospects, dangers and hopes. Notes. Bibliography. Index.

"Since the end of the Cold War, the idea of human rights has been made into a justification for intervention by the world\'s leading economic and military powers--above all, the United States--in countries that are vulnerable to their attacks. The criteria for such intervention have become more arbitrary and self-serving, and their form more destructive.

Jean Bricomont\'s Humanitarian Imperialism is both a historical account of this development and a powerful political and moral critique. It seeks to restore the critique of imperialism to its rightful place in the defense of human rights. It describes the leading role of the United States in initiating military and other interventions, but also on the obvious support given to it by European powers and NATO. Timely, topical, and rigorously argued, Jean Bricmont\'s book establishes a firm basis for resistance to global war with no end in sight." (jacket)